Hey whats up thirdgen,

I have been researching this problem of the rear hatch motor not doing anything on this website for a few days, and it seems that most of the information that I have found on here is in regards to the earlier style pull down. I can not find as much information on the 1991-1992 style pull downs.

I have been checking out the website top down solutions and would like to order the necessary parts that I will require to fix the rear hatch pull down in my 1992 z28 camaro. The only problem is, I am not really sure which parts that I am going to need and I would rather not just randomly start ordering parts to find the solution. Unfortunately, I already ordered another unit off ebay to try to fix the problem (was guaranteed to work when it was pulled from the vehicle) but that did not help the problem. My old motor was definitely broken from someone slamming down the hatch, and I thought replacing the unit would solve the problem, but unfortunately this is not the case.

Here is what is happening: The rear hatch pull down unit seems to have no power at all. I have not checked anything with a multi meter yet (where should I check for power with the multimeter?), but nothing is happening when I push down on that striker switch at the rear of the unit. Right now, the unit that I have installed seems to be stuck in the down position. I went over to the fuse panel, and checked the LID and ACC fuses and they both appear to be fine. I guess I should try to replace these with fresh fuses any way? Is there an additional fuse I should be looking for? Also, I heard there is a relay for the pull down in the trunk somewhere...could this be causing the problem (can anyone give me a link of where to buy this relay? Not the hatch release relay, the one in the trunk) I dont know if this is related to this problem, but my radio is also not getting any power at the moment (only including this because I thought it might be semi related to the problem).

I would greatly appreciate your help in this matter, and again I would be happy to buy whatever necessary parts from Top Down Solutions in order to fix this issue. I just completed an LS1/t56 swap in my car and this is the last thing standing between me and driving the car. Cant drive the car with the rear hatch flapping in the wind. I have a multimeter and am willing to trouble shoot whatever, but I wasnt sure where to start or what to check.

Any help you can provide would be amazing.

Thank you for your time,
Steve

 

Search TGO and google (or an actual manual) for a wiring diagram. HAVE to start there, no doubt.

Check grounds.

....from there, see what wires should have power, either hot or switched. Check those and see. If they're dead, i'd run a jumper a known hot or switched hot source, even if it's with a long jumper wire, just to test. If you KNOW you have power to the right place at the right time, and still nothing. Move on to the grounds and the motor itself.

If you have power....and the motor works....then perhaps it's a physical/mechanical problem.

....but if you don't have power at all, as you mention, I got a buck that says THAT is your problem.

 

https://www.thirdgen.org/forums/elec...l#&gid=1&pid=1

 

If you're not good electronics, don't worry. Neither am I. Some things are so intuitive, but electronics, and diagrams like the one in the post above really make me focus. ...what I always do is find that physical parts in the actual car. Look for the switches, the relays, the fuses, and actually LOOK for the proper color wires coming off of them. It's not hard, just time consuming. Doing this always gives me a better understanding of what I'm looking at, and normally the circuit will make sense.

 

Thank you for the reply and the information Abubaca, I really do appreciate it. I know exactly what you mean when you say to look at the wiring diagrams. That is what I did to understand the wiring harness for my LS1 swap. I guess I was just being lazy and looking for an easy fix. Im so tired to trying to track down wiring issues haha. You have given me good advice. I will look over the diagram that you gave me and start testing with a meter.

Side question, in the event that the relay in the trunk is bad (the one next to the hatch motor), do you know where I can find a replacement?

Thanks again for the help. Will report back when I get some more information.

 

I don't, but I'm sure a post in "electrical" will get you a quick answer.

I wired in my new Holley ECU/harness, with the racetronix hot wire/pump kit, using some of the OE wiring. I learned to read those diagrams real fast.

 

Might check the fuses in the "Convenience Center Block". It is located above your right knee in the dash. The block swings/pulls down. I believe the COURTESY FUSE is in there.
It controls all kinds of goodies.

HTHs

 

Or just look for the 15amp fuse in the regular fuse block that says "lid"

 

Having the same issue with my 92, but it's stuck in the up position. Hadn't ran the car in about 6 months, charged up the battery and ran it for about 1 hour on each of 2 days, went to the back and popped the hatch, the latch unlocked and lid came up but the motor didn't do anything for about 20 seconds, then it slowly came up, but will no longer go back down. Pulled the motor off, but now it won't go back in, going to pull the whole part off today to get it back in (if I can as it appears to be solid and not like the older ones where the motor and casing will come off.

Any way to make it manually go back down? I can push the lid down and it locks in place but doesn't pull down. I park it outside and it's covered but really do not like having it partially open and not fully secured.

 

I don't know which motors you guys have exactly. I had the same model on my 91 Firebird as I have on my 90 Trans Am. The one with the large metal back plate, the motor housing at the bottom to the side, the transparent gear housing and the black reverse switch box in the middle.

With those you can unscrew the clear housing and then adjust the height of the catch thingy, screw everything back together and as long as the motor doesn't receive power, it will not move.
Well, only if the gear and housing isn't damaged, of course.
The previous owner of mine had drilled holes through the back plate and screwed all movable parts down.

In my case the carbon brushes in the motor itself had come loose and all I had to do was take the motor housing off and reinsert the brushes into their recesses and it started to behave instantly. Perhaps that helps one of you guys.
It's just an a$$ of a job to get that housing back on AND not loosing the brushes while doing so.

 

This is what the pull-down looks like in my 92 RS (this is not min, pic from Hawks), think it was changed to this model mid 91's....



After looking closer at the picture it looks like the housing might be able to come off and not one solid peace, haven't taken mine full off yet.

 

give them a call. you can buy pretty much anything for the hatch pulldown.
http://www.top-downsolutions.com/hatch-pull-down-items

 

I see. I haven't had my hands on this model, so probably only my suggestion about those carbon brushes may help :/

 

Thread from the dead. The hatch pulldown on my 1991 Camaro appears to have failed. I have checked fuses, relays and voltages. I have spent the last few days/hours reading many threads on this topic and have come down to 2 questions.
One of the other threads referenced checking the motor by jumping power to 2 "tiny black clips" on the motor Does anyone have a picture of these ? I don't see where it is referencing. 2nd question, if the motor works, I'm pretty sure it has to be the up/down switch. Does anyone have a part number for this ?

Thanks for reading.


Quoted from a different thread.

 

PRAY its not your reversing switch... that was discontinued in 2005.

https://www.thirdgen.org/forums/memb...ml#post6474386 Post #42

"I followed the GMSM Chart 2 troubleshooting guide. Step 1 rigged up my test light and with the Connector Switch Assembly removed but still connected to the harness at both ends and got no light at the terminals that connect to the motor when the button was pressed in the car. Step 2 was connecting the test light between Terminal A (Blk Ground Wire) & Terminal E (Red Wht Strpie Always hot wire) on the actual connector and I got light!!!

Bad news lol is I've ripped half the car apart chasing down this issue and the GMSM only gives 2 solutions #1 being a poor connection or 2 replace the dang doohickey"

 

Thanks 92 RS Heritage, I did some more troubleshooting today and found that if I tested the motor wiring plug, I got 12v at the motor harness when testing the blue to white and no voltage blue to orange with the hatch switch depressed and then no voltage blue to white and 12v blue to orange with the hatch switch released, but I guess that still does not tell me if it could be the reversing switch. I did google the part number and there is one place that says they can rebuild your switch, so that's good. Still not sure if it it may be the motor itself. I looked around again for the tiny black clips on the right side of the motor described in another thread, but I guess I don't know what I am looking for, as I don't see anything that would look like I could jump a wire to.

Still going at it though. Thanks for the link to the other thread. That was one I didn't see yet and there was some good info in there as well.


Thanks !