This is in regards to the '89 Camaro in the sig...

It was closing fine at the beginning of the week, but I noticed now that it doesn't close very tightly. By that, I mean that it closes, but I can still push down and pull up on the hatch and it will still move about a half an inch from top to bottom. It's latched enough that it won't open, but not enough that it's sealed tightly.

The motor still works fine--I can hear it engage and then stop after I lower the hatch. I do notice, however, that even though I close the hatch hard enough for one click, I don't really see the hatch pulling down when I hear the motor like I used to.

I think this might have started when a friend closed the back like he thought he should have (i.e. if the car wasn't equipped with a motorized hatch). (Have you ever met anyone that doesn't slam these back hatches? ).

Thanks

 

people did that to mine more than a few times and it's still ok,.. but that still might have damaged it...

so suspect something is broken...

 

I'm trying to think of what could have broken, if anything. Checking it out visually, I don't see anything that looks broken. And, if something were broken in the motor/gear mechanism, I would know because the latching assembly wouldn't travel up and down (which it does)...

 

Well, I just took the rear panels off to take a look a the motor assembly, and several plastic fragments fell out. The whole moving assembly is now very loose, hence why the hatch won't close tightly. Dammit.

Since I need to get this fixed ASAP, I've got another question... I've got an '88 Camaro that is not currently being driven with a fully working rear hatch. The thing is, the '88 car does not have an indoor hatch release switch, and my '89 car (with the broken hatch) *does* have an indoor hatch release switch. So, my question is: will the unit from the '88 Camaro work in my '89 Camaro?

Thanks


EDIT: Just realized something else... Assuming that I could swap the assemblies, I noticed that there's a black cable going from the keylock to the latching unit. How is that cable supposed to be disconnected?