I'm having an issue with the hatch motor. It's starting to get fairly cold out (-20C) and the hatch motor won't come up up when it's cold out. Once the car warms up it seems to be fine. But until then, I usually can't get the hatch closed. I'm sometimes lucky if I slam it pretty hard.

Any suggestions for how I can get the hatch motor working when it's cold?

 

Slamming is a bad bad bad idea - that's gonna cost you a whole new replacement motor soon - you cannot slam these - they break.

IF the motor is functioning but the hatch is not popping open, you need new struts - bad struts do not work in the cold at all.

If the motor is not functioning, then you'll need to get it open, and see why not. These are at best a bad design from factory, it's amazing they ever worked at all. TDS sells rebuild kits and parts if you find the issue. If it's making any noise at all, then motor is good, might be a bad gear. If no noise, check electrical connections and the POS switches that are activated by the closing of the hatch. Chances are, the first "slam" broke the switch inside the housing, or popped the spring off of it. These really are very very delicate pieces - never slam!

 

I just changed both struts, and they both work fine.

It makes no noise when it gets stuck down... or at the moment, stuck up. Where might I look for these switches? Would this me those 4 metal pads just to the left of the motor?

 

Those are for the third brake light - hatch motor connectors under the rear panel.

It's impossible to describe the switches inside, it's one of those things where you just have to pick a day it's not going to rain, and carefully tear into it to see what's not working and why.

There's a plastic lever that gets pushed down when hatch is closed. There's another one that rotates on a spring that tells it up or down (on some models) - that one is down inside. You just have to take the assembly off the car and fiddle with it.

 

Since it's currently below freezing where I am, I can only assume that one of these switches is freezing in place.

It's looking like my best option is to just avoid opening my hatch whenever possible until it warms up enough for me to pull the motor apart.

Thanks for the help

 

Sorry to butt in but it looks like your good for now.

Anyone know how to get the hatch down all the way until my broke **** can afford to buy a new motor.

How about any ideas on how to check for voltage back there. Does it have a constant supply of power on one of those lines? Couldnt find any info in the haynes manual. I would be happy with just closing the darn thing, I dont put anything in the trunk anyway.

 

i remember when my hatch motor casing cracked, the hatch lid wouldn't close (stuck about 2-3" up) cuz the motor wouldn't pull it down. i took it apart and realized i was SOOL until i got parts. I think it did jury-rig it for 1 last pull until the parts did arrive. used some epoxy.

the nylon guides were pretty disintegrated, but enough fragments to get 1 more pull.

I tried to replace it with a manual release, but i couldn't find a setup that would bolt into place.

i did have the benefit of the GM service manual to trouble-shoot.