austingta

When I push the auto hatch release, it works, and the auto pull down raises the hatch, and then immediately senses the hatch and pulls the hatch down again.

To out run it, it looks like a chinese fire drill

I have replaced my struts with ones from AutoZone.

Anybody know what the problem is?
Thanks

HamSpiced

what i can suggest is.. take off that back panel.. where your hatch stuff is. look at the pull down motor, there shoul dbe three large bolts that hold it in place losen these bolts and push the hatch motor as far up(towards the sky) as you can then retighten the bolts.. i did that to mine and it works just fine.

scottmoyer

The rear hatch struts aren't strong enough to lift the hatch away from the contacts. I have louvers on my window and I have the same problem, even with the heavy duty struts. If I remove the louvers, the hatch releases and lifts about an inch or two. Get the heavy duty struts.

HamSpiced

At that angle i reallly dont think it is the hatch struts. my hatch struts are completly shot but ever since i moved the actual motor up, i dont have the problem.

you got to understand his problem is that when he presses the button it does move the hatch from its "contacts" (which i sure hope you dont mean those two little pieces of metal to the left of the hatch pull down unit {those are for the third eye})

See there is a small buton that is attached to the actual locking mechanism of the hatch. when the button is pressed to release the hatach the actual lock is unlocked, but the button is depressed. when the button is released this is when it kicks on the motor to push up the hatchlock. when the button is depressed again it activates the motor to pull down the lock.

his problem is that when he unlocks his hatch it rises, releasing the button and pushing the hatch up, which in turn relocks the hatch and activates the little button pulling the hatch back down. take a look at the actual locking mechanism, it is on the side that your taillights is on, its a small black tapered button attached to the lock. play with it a few times to get it right.you may find that you are going to have to un bolt the entire unit and just move it up an inch or two and rebolt it. or even screw your little rubber stoppers on either side of your hatch in so it doesnt put so much of a spring to the hatch lid.

i apologise for the mass of text, if i had a digital camera i would show you.

transam305

i've got this same problem but my rear support bar are out and i have not replaced them yet but my hatch motor goes up but then goes back down right away after it lifts the hatch up.

confucius101

contact Lon from tds he solved several problem's and know's a lot about these hatch systems

search for tds or lonsal

HamSpiced

has it always done this? if so then try removing your interior panel where the hatch is and losening those 3 bolts move the motor up a bit then retighten them.

if it hasnt alyays done this it may mean that something like those little rubber things on either side of the hatch are too far down, just screw them in a little more.

i tried a search on this, and usually when you do search you dont find the exact question you are asking.

scottmoyer

The problem he is having is exactly what I said. The weight of the rear window is keeping the metal contacts touching which engages the pull down motor. After the motor cycles through the release mode, the contacts are sending the signal to the motor to pull it back down. It has nothing to do with the position of the motor or whatever. If you put a piece of paper under the hatch contacts, the motor will not engage when closing the hatch. The struts are not strong enough to lift the hatch from the contacts.

HamSpiced

ok man i just did it, (i dont mean to offend you) but your wrong. the two metal contacts to the left of the hatch control the third eye light on the spoiler. those contacts have nothing to do with the hatch pull down unit. as stated before he needs to re-position something so that the button on the locking mechanism is depressed when he unlocks the hatch.

Drew

iTrader: (58)

Scott, he's right about the contacts, they're just for the taillight in the spoiler. 82-86 and 91-92 cars don't have them (except convertibles).

My guess would be this... the hatch isn't unlatching completely. Here's why I say that. If it was a bad switch, the hatch wouldn't latch. Since the hatch supports have been replaced the only other possibility is that the latch isn't unlatching, which causes the switch to sense that the hatch is closed and for it to go back down (pulling the hatch with it since its still latched).

What happens when you use the key instead of the release button on the dash?

Does the hatch open or does it go down again? Does it matter if you pull up on the hatch when you turn the key?

If it works when you use a key then look into the solenoid.
The solenoid that pops the hatch when you hit the dash button is $17 from a dealership, and is held in place with a single 10mm bolt. It shouldn't take more than a few minutes to change out.

scottmoyer

I stand corrected. I just went out to my car and opened the hatch. I pressed the brake and the spoiler light never came on. I thought those contacts sent the signal to the motor to pull the hatch down. I did play with the locking mechanism a little though and still think it could be related to the hatch not lifting high enough to deactivate the locking switch. If the latch is still making contact to the switch on the lock (because the hatch didn't lift above it), then the motor re-engages and pulls the hatch shut. Aren't the struts responsible for lifting the hatch when opened? I know my motor is not worn out and is properly placed and I have this problem with the louvers on the window. If I take them off, the hatch rises above the locking switch and the hatch stays open. By the way, it happens with the key also, since with mine, the hatch is pressing on the switch because of the meer weight of the hatch.

I was able to send the motor back down to it's resting place just by pushing the switch at the latch. The latch itself was still fully opened.

HamSpiced

first of all scott i wanna apologise, after rereading what i wrote i sounded like a real *** and i apologise. with that aside i can totally understand why those contacts would be related to the lock mech. if it werent for the fact when i first bought my car i had to take the entire hatch assembly apart i woulda never knew. i just wanted to say sorry if i came off sounding like a *****. that and i think your car is beautiful (it looks just like mine)

lonsal

iTrader: (2)

I'm glad someone already corrected the common misconception regarding the metal contact pad and spring-loaded pins. Depending on the year of the car, they were used for powering the wiper motor and later for the HMSL (high mount stop light). IMO the problem with the unit cycling up and immediately back down are a hatch strut problem. I know austingta already replaced them with AutoZone struts, but take them back and get the strongest ones they have (for a Firebird with the heavy spoiler). The latch hook is being released when you pop the solenoid. But it isn't clearing the latch.

To demonstrate what is happening, release and lift the hatch. The motor will drive the hatch pull-down unit up to the top and stop once it has flipped the reversing switch. Now press on the striker-sensing switch, (right next to and just forward of the latch). Continue pressing down on the switch until the unit finished cycling down and again clicks (flipping the reversing switch again). This is the position the unit is in when the hatch is fully down. Now briefly release your finger from the switch. The unit will start up. Now press down on the striker-sensing switch again (as if the hatch hook was resting just above it). It won't make any difference to the unit. It still powers up until it reaches the top of the cycle and flips the reversing switch. Immediately it powers down. Does this cycle seem familiar?

On my 88 IROC coupe (which I use to test rebuilt & re-manufactured hatch pull-down units) I replaced the worn GM struts with the Pro-Lift brand units from Pep Boys. When I pop the hatch it rises to full open. So you can see it won't be anywhere close to the striker sensing switch or latch. The cycling issue is really a problem for the Firebirds with the heavy wrap-around spoiler. The best thing to do there is to replace it with the aftermarket fiberglass unit (unfortunately not a cheap solution).

Lon

HamSpiced

that is why i suggest you move the entire motor up, that way there will be no fluxuation when you release it. the way i have it set up, the powermotor does not activate when i unlock the hatch until i move the hatch up myself. i cant afford new struts and this was the easiest fix for me yet.