Does anyone know what the tech article 'Rear Hatch Alignment 101' used to say?(It doesnt work anymore).

 

My hatch does not light up correctly. If you look at the back, the hatch hangs out from the body like a half inch. I tired to adjsut it but seems like there is no possible way. I thought maybe the hinges were bad, I bought new and it still sits the same. What do I do?

 

I believe it involves unbolting the deck lid, peeling away the sealer, apply new sealer and remount farthur back.

 

Yes, i've done it. That is exactly what you have to do... The adjustment is not in the hinges up top, it is in the decklid mouting. The holes through the glass which mount the deck lid are about an inch diameter, allowing a lot of adjustment.


Edit- Fixed some serious spelling errors.

 

Thank you, ill have to do that. Also my hatch is over to the left a little too much and it rubs on the side; I guess i just have to adjust the hinges up top?

 

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It is possible to align the rear hatch at the top where the hatch meets the body, but it doesn't give you too much room to move. My rear hatch was off to the right slightly too much and also about 1/4th an inch sticking out too far. I adjusted it from the top and got it to where it is even on the sides but is barely sticking out too much at the back. I still have to pull up the deck lid and adjust it there, but it should be easier than if I did it at the deck lid to begin with.

Here is a picture of what it looked like beforehand.

 

My hatch looks like yours does, mine isn't out that far though I dont think.


Sorry if I seem dumb, but ur saying,The deck lid mounts are the bolts of the hinge that go throught the hatch glass? I had all them bolts unscrewed and had some buddies push the hatch to the body and I could only get it in so far, still a quarter out. If I am not understanding the deck lid mount, does any one have an illistration. The reason I am so concerned is because I am getting the car painted and I have the 2z8 wing, if it is like it is now and I put that on, the wing is going to hang off the quarter panels a 1/4 inch.

 

The way I did it was I loosened the bolts the bolts that were on the inside of the car. Also I had a friend hold up the hatch while I removed the struts. You have to do that because if you don't the struts will push the hatch back.

So with the struts off and the bolts loosened, I just kinda lifted it along the side and then had a friend hold it in that position while I tighted the bolts on the inside. That is how you can adjust it at the hinges from the hatch to the body.

For the decklid, mark the position the decklid is in first with tape, so that the tape is flush with the decklid on the hatch glass. Then you measure how far off the back it is and make that mark on the tape, so you know how far up you have to go. Then you remove the 8 bolts that basically hold the 2 pieces of the decklid together, which pinch the hatch glass together. Once you have done that you lift up the decklid. There is some black sealent attaching the decklid to the hatch glass, and you have to remove that or at least pry the decklid off of it.

Once doing that, I would recommend removing all of the sealant and putting a new bead of sealant on to ensure a watertight fit. Then you just align the decklid with the marks you made on the tape, and put the decklid back together.

That's pretty much it, though I imagine someone else can explain it better.

 

It has nothing to do with the hinges. It is the actualy decklid. There are bolts and some sealer that holds the decklid to the glass. You undo those, remove the sealant, then line it all up, replace the sealant, and tighten the bolts back down. There is a fair amount of adjustment available on the deck lid.

 

Is there anyway to find that tech article and repost it back on the tech article section?

 

Bringing back a dead post but I have a question.... is there any particular type of sealant that you need to use when reinstalling the deck lid?? Will the silicon stuff work or should I use something else? Maybe the yellow gorilla glue stuff?

 

And if your car is equipped with the rear wipper?

JamesC

 

The closest thing I know of to OEM would be 3M ribbon sealer.

Helms manual states ' Butyl adhesive strip (5.16 square - 3M, p/n 08631 or equivilant) '




Helms does not mention the wiper in the glass replacement section or show it passing through the glass in the rear wiper replacement section.
Removing the interior trim from the decklid should show weather that is true or not.

 

I can't believe the above statement! I removed my deck lid, resealed it and tried to align it with no improvements Once I loosened the hatch hinge bolts with the struts removed and reallinged it was perfect.

 

i agree with iron duke, mine was "lipping" a bit and this weekend i figured id fix 2 issues id been having. 1 was why my hatch sat up pn the pas side and sat normal on the dr side. the seal was leaned over into the under hatch trim panel and causing it to not sit right. fixed that with another seal from my parts car that was in MUCH better shape.
as for the hatch alignment, i pulled the headliner to hatch trim panel, loosened the 4 13mm nuts a tad but not too much as they help keep the hing from "wedging" when i adj the glass and i un did the hatch struts. after all of that i went around to the rear with the glass sitting in its closed postion and gave a firm push. the hatched moved right into postion and looks like factory.
locked the bolts down, adj the latch hook and all was good.

 

The wiper motor doesn't go through any glass, it's pretty far away from it.

 

With the wiper arm through the deck lid, is the lid adjustable?

JamesC

 

Yes... really wish I had taken pictures of when I did mine the other night.

 

Bringing up this old thread. I just saw this and noticed someone posted about adjusting the decklid. I assume this is right becasue the decklid sets out from the body at dif gaps. Up at the top the hatch mesaures the same left and right. My gap up top near the hinges measures a half inch, just curious to see what it should measure or what most peoples measure. Can anyone else measure ur gap for me please so I can get an idea.

Thanks.

 

i could measure the gap but being the fitment of these cars were so different it might come out differnt on your car vs mine. unless the car was in a serious accident, when you get the hatch pushed up and in line with the body it should work right out. the only thing that might make it seem out is that black strip around the glass, i have seen them pop off or arent pressed on and this will play tricks with the alignment.

 

Ya, I just want a general idea. If you don't mind measuring ur gap from the top of the car to the glass where the hinges are, that would be great.

 

3/8 of an inch from trim to roof edge.