My ('91 Camaro) power trunk pulldown is stuck in the up position. The motor makes no noises. The latch release works fine using either the key or the console button.

I tried pushing the little switch. Nothing happens by pushing this switch except that the light goes off and one of the wires that plugs into the motor goes from 0V to 12V.

What does the relay do? It has nothing to do with the latch release mechanism because it works fine even with the relay removed.

How do I know if the relay is bad?

How can I bypass the relay with a jumper wire to see if the motor works?

On the plug that connects to the motor there are 4 wires (blue, brown, orange, white ... I think). Two are constant 12V. One is 0V except when the switch by the latch is pushed then it is 12V. I don't really know what the other wire it does (exept that I didn't measure a voltage change on it).

The fuse is good. The wires look to be in good condition. The grounds seem good. Nothing looks to be physically damaged or broken. Everything worked fine earlier today.

Can anybody help me out? Any insight on how I can get this fixed?

 

Well you could try taking power from those 12V constant and tapping the other 2 wires. Umm there are 2 switches on the pull down. 1 plastic and the other is a metal bar. If you lay the hatch down into the hold down grove and lock it in will the motor still do nothing? You have to make sure its locked though. Hmmm I got tired of my hatch motor acting up so I put it slightly up(Roughly 1/2 inch) and unplugged the damn thing. SO I have not used it in a while(The motor that is)....

 

Uh oh.

The GM hatch pull-down motors were designed poorly. A metal gear on the motor spins a plastic gear on the pull-down mechanism. Over time, the plastic gear breaks a tooth. The motor than spins itself to death.

OR

I've also seen the plastic "case" break. This is the clear piece that holds the motor to the pull-down unit. If the case breaks, the motor can also spin itself into oblivion.

Best solution- buy a new hatch pulldown from a junkyard. You can also make a pre-86 latch work on your car. The pre-86 latches were not powered pull-downs. MAKE SURE YOU GET THE CORRECT KEY for the junkyard pull-down!!

I never had to rip mine apart, so I don't know what you can expect from the wires, or from what's inside.

When you remove the motor from the car, it's very important that you take an awl (or icepick or other sharp pointy object) and scribe a circle around the bolts that hold the latch to the car. "Draw" around the bolt/washer combos so you leave an outline of the washer. Why? This lets you re-align the pull-down unit EXACTLY as it was to begin with. This insures you don't get any leaks from the hatch weatherstripping.

And for all of us that still have a working pull-down, you might want to do what I do from now on- when the hatch pulls itself down, I "help" it by pushing down on the hatch window or hatch fill-panel. I figure the less stress on the plastic gear, the longer my baby will last.