Damnit man my rear hatch lock broke on me a couple of days ago. This car is really starting to show its age lol! The part that broke on me is that stupid plastic molding from the motor assembly that screws onto the metal plate. It's a common failing part I found out after doing a search. I'll post some pics of it later on today. Good news is I ordered some new parts from TDS to rebuild everything. So Shawn, if you want I can take a look at your lock setup on your track car after I'm done with mine & see if I can fix yours. I ordered a new plastic gear & the way you described how yours closes it sounds like your gear is stripped. So I can swap out my old gear & put it on yours to see if it works. I'll let you know when I'm done with mine ok.

 

Sweet!! heheh!! Thanks man!!

 

Here's some pics of the area I said that cracked.

Pic 1

 

Pic 2 (This is what cracks) Can't really see it very good but the circled area is where the 3 screws thread into when mounted to the metal backing plate. I think it was designed this way by GM without any reinforcement so you would have to buy replacements after a number of years. A.K.A. money making schemes The new housing setup I got has metal reinforcements epoxied on for strength. I got it from TDS. Unfortunately I found out that there were 2 designs made with different motor setups & I happened to have the more expensive & updated setup so the replacement parts I had to get were a bit more expensive. Oh well, at least I know after I rebuild it that it will be stronger than stock

 

Last Pic. Same as above but with more details

 

I thnk the term you're looking for is "Planned Obsolesence" where the designers actually dream up stuff to break or otherwise require replacement - although if we had our cars made with REAL stuff and REAL speed parts (like headers for example) tossed in them from the factory, they would cost a LOT more to buy.

 

Update!!!! I just got my hatch pull down repair kit from TDS today. Man I give props to Lon. His service is quick & I've never had a complaint with his company yet. I'll probably get to this on the weekend so I'll let everyone know how it goes.

 

Okay, I'm finally gonna finish this little project hopefully by the end of today. Man it's sure harder to do things nowadays. I love my daughter I'll post pics when done.

 

Sounds like fun, I had that happen to my latch too, but it was still able to function, so it still popped the trunk, so i'm no rush to fix it.

 

What's it supposed to do exactly? Do all the ones with remote hatch releases have whatever you guys are talking about?

I have some solenoids and stuff back there, nothing was hooked up when I got my 'bird. I just plugged in a few things and I can pop my trunk now, but is it supposed to do anything else? (I honestly like it the way it is, and I can't imagine it doin' anything else that I'd want it to do.)

Laters,
Scott

 

Mine actually had a motor on it, after it broke, I just pulled the motor off, and put it back on thew car.

 

My motor is stuck in the up position so the hatch isn't flush when its closed hahaha. I think it broke when I was drifting. How did it go Anthony?

 

Sup Scott. This is how my lock works. There is an electric motor that connects to the locking mechanism. When you close the hatch, a switch is pushed, thus causing the motor to pull the latching mechanism down. It's just a neat little thing that GM was famous for on their cars. In fact, some Caddys have that style too if I'm not mistaken. It's hard for me to explain but maybe when I post some pics when I'm done you will understand how it works.

 

Ok I was gonna wait till later to post the pics but what the heck lol! I just finished up everything not to long ago & took some pics. (I work better early in the morning lol!) I forgot to mention that I had one small setback that kinda ticked me off! Check out what happened to one of my struts as I took it off. Now I have no idea how this happened but I ended up having to get some new struts from Redline in Kalihi.

 

Here's a pic of the finished product. I got the rebuild kit from TDS. All in all, I'm happy with the kit & give it a 2 thumbs up. I love that everything that Lon sells comes with very detailed instructions & pics. Only problem that I ran into was when I put in the new nylon bushings that the latching unit slides on in the main bracket channels. The bushings are way better than stock & actually come as 2 different sizes to make up for factory tolerences & size differences. (Every channel can't be all the same size) So you can mess around with the order that you install them. Well, I couldn't get them to fit & slide easily in the channels after messing around with it for awhile. So I had to sand them down to get them to fit. Oh well, what fun would it be if everything went as planned I like challenges. So here is the final product. Oh yeah, hey Shawn, I can try & fix yours now when you have time. Just let me know what days are good for you.

 

One more, different angle

 

Oh! Like the Caddy's! That's all ya have to say, I know what you mean now. I didn't even think of that. Our old '88 fleetwood brougham had that - freaked me out the first time I slammed the trunk down and it sounded like I broke something. Then it pulled itself shut... cool....

What is the RPO for that?