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Ok, so I tried to fix my trunk motor assembly today, replaced the motor 1992 camaro for the trunk motor assembly, also replaced the plastic gear on the inside. I lightly shut the trunk, and it pulled it down nice and tight...I went to pop it open with my trunk open button on the center console and nothing happened...so I went to open the trunk with my key behind the license plate, and nothing happened it's SHUT even my key doesn't release it now?
what's the deal, it seems like I fixed 1 problem and now introduced another, now I can't open my trunk at all?
Also my trunk/cargo interior light is on, and all the doors are shut...it thinks the trunk is open or something? why would it stay on.
Ok, so I've managed to get the trunk to open. I took out the screw that holds the switch that plugs into the motor and I heard a click and the trunk started to raise up, then I used a screwdriver to turn the Key lock cylinder thing from the inside and lifted up the hatch...
I have a question: what is this piece for, what does it do and does anyone have a picture of it when the hatch is in the all the way down position..so I can see where and what the little metal arm that sticks out is and looks like...I'm thinking this might be part of my problem, because as far as I could tell, when my hatch was all the way down, it served no purpose in the position it was in. It wasn't on top of anything or holding anything down, it was underneath the trunk latch/striker and looked pined or under tension. So I would really like to see where this piece is supposed to be with the trunk in the all the way down position and what it looks like.
Ok, so I'm thinking that's just a spring load to help pop the hatch up once you use the key or power trunk release button to open the hatch? Problem is....once my motor pulls my hatch down, my key will not open the trunk, why not? Also from what I can tell is my trunk is all the way down and motor stops (before) the switch is triggered...I think this is why my trunk light stayed on, because the trunk switch never got flipped so it thought it was still open!....but on the exterior of the car, my hatch was all the way down, it couldn't go down anymore.
So what do I do about that? I replaced the plastic gear on the inside of the assembly, Does it matter if it was threaded all the way up or down when I put everything back together? Is there a write up or video on trouble shooting this? I'm excited that my motor is pulling my trunk all the way shut, but it's kind of useless if I can't open it back up using my key, and useless if by the time it hatch is all the way down, the switched didn't get flipped to make it think it was shut, so my light is always on.
Got to be some sort of adjustment I can make to make it so when the assembly rides on the tracks down, the metal prong flips the switch at the right moment, making it think it's shut and flush on the outside right?
Ok, my initial problem was my entire trunk motor assembly/backing plate was mounted too LOW...There is about 1'' of play that you can mount the backing plate up-down-left-right...mine required the backing plate to be almost all the way up and all the way to the right to line up with the latch. My trunk closes Beautifully now, and motor pulls it down flush and clicks the switch to let it know it's all the way down (AWESOME).
Now... new problem. when I use the trunk release switch in the center console, the trunk raises up, never unlatches, and then pulls the trunk back down. I've checked both plastic pieces on the back of the backing plate and they are both there and not damaged visibly, can they be damaged electronically? When I release my trunk via trunk switch from center console, it lifts the trunk all the way up, doesn't unlatch and pulls the trunk all the way back down again.
Thank you, I feel like I'm so close to having it all work, I just need the latch to let go of the striker when the motor gets to the top so it doesn't bring it back down.
ya I can try to raise it up about 1/8'' to 1/4'' see if that works. As of right now, I have to hit the trunk release button, and run to the back of the car while the motor is still raising the hatch up, put in my key and unlock the latch before the motor starts to pull the trunk back down again.
How is it supposed to work? Is the latch supposed to release as soon as I hit the trunk release button, or does it release when the motor is at it's "top" height?
I have the older style but... I think the hatch is supposed to be free as soon as you hit the trunk release button or use the key. The way mine acts: if it's hot out the hatch flies up, if it's cool out it rides up and waits to be lifted.
Maybe where it's adjusted now with the struts it has it's not getting the force to come up and it's catching again.
Mine always took 2 tries because it wasn't unlatched tho it would come up. But after having everything off and apart for another reason, I somehow inadvertently made a helpful adjustment putting it back together, cuz it started to work right 1st try every time after that.
For the 91.5-92 hatch pull-down units (tan colored molded plastic frame). Unlocking with the key opens the latch immediately to release the hatch hook. Pressing the hatch release button starts the motor in the up cycle. Before the latch assembly reaches the end of the "up" cycle a lever on the back side of the latch assembly makes contact with a small black plastic latch release block (mounted to the back side of the tan colored plastic frame with 2 small screws) causing the lever to rotate 90 degrees and release the latch.
If that block is missing, or (more commonly) if the lever that is mounted to the back side of the latch is broken off and missing, then the latch will not release during the up cycle. It will act exactly as you describe.
Could my hatch struts be the issue as well? Meaning my struts can't open my hatch, I have to hold it up with my hand and put a piece of pvc pipe on the glass to hold it up while working in the trunk area. So could my worn out struts be the problem, not giving the hatch enough juice to pop up out of the latch? Because I think all my plastic pieces are intact and where they are supposed to be on the pull down assembly.
With that said does anyone know a good set of STRONG struts to open the hatch, I have metal louvers so it has more weight, and I want a pair of struts that will open the hatch no problem.
Is there an image out there of the back of the pull down unit assembly with all the parts intact and in the right spots, to see if I'm missing anything or if anything is broken or miss aligned?
It is not as critical for the 1991.5-92 style pull-down units the spring-loaded lever will pop the hatch hook out of the latch regardless of the hatch struts. Of course you still need to replace them with good functioning struts to hold the hatch up if it will not stay up on it's own, which is the condition you describe. Yes replace them, but don't expect that to fix your latch not releasing issue.
Look at my picture in post #4 of the attached link. That is the lever that MUST be present and functioning properly.
I just ordered the latch assembly from you. I think my pivot latch/spring piece is messed up, the rivet/pin thing that goes through mine is bent and I think that's causing problems even if I have the plastic pieces you mentioned. I guess when I install your's I'll know for sure if that was the problem, or allow me to reverse engineer and find out the differences between yours and mine.
The lever was indeed mising from mine. BUT I was messing around with the new assembly I got from you lonsal and the level popped off and the spring too. I still have both the lever and spring (got lucky) but I don't know how the spring goes back on.
Also, does anyone sell just this circled part. It looks like that little lever must have popped off on my old hatch assembly, I found the spring that goes behind the lever, but never found the lever.
05-17-2016, 10:36 PM
