It's after 1:30 AM, I finished cleaning the underside of my rear window and suddenly the rear hatch won't pull down automatically.

I did a Search and out of 193 popular entries listed it's pointing to a fuse. Looking under the instrument panel dash, the only fuse I see blown is a 25 amp and replacing it brings back my horn, interior dome light and possibly my radio settings back to normal but not my rear hatch motor actuation,
3 out of 4 ain't bad.

Digging into the power hatch motor assembly, I remove the rear cover panel and under the motor harness I see a small black relay which does not look like a fuse. Could this be the problem & go ahead order a relay? I can only think that it might be the motor itself but I would like opinions from all of you who experienced this deceptive problem. Part numbers would help too.

I will add that on my center console, between the 2 power window switches, is the hatch release switch and I can hear that switch operate when the rear hatch window is wide open and when the vehicle is off therefore I'm assuming that end is functioning properly. I'm ready to bust out the digital multimeter if further troubleshooting is required. Thanks in advance!

 

check the 15 amp fuse labled LID under the dash with all the other fuses. if its ok, unplug the relay and look at it making sure there is no corrosion in the terminals, in the connector etc. Try plugging it back in and see if it works then. If that all fails, see what position the motor is in on the tracks. If its all the way down, then something aint right, if its all the way up, check out the contact plates, etc.

 

Down load the tech article from TDS (Top Down Solutions). In most cases it NOT a electrical problem but the failure of these parts the Motor, Switch, Gear or plastic slides. Only way to repair is to replace these parts or weld it shut. Been there and done it.

 

The whole system is in a cheap plastic housing and easily breaks if you're not careful when you close it. Same thing happened to my son's car. Ended up replacing the gear pull down mechanism (plastic housing).

 

There should be two relays in the back (at least in '91), one for the center console release and one for the pull-down. Try swapping them around to see if that's the issue. If not, bad motor or housing. I've been through two......

 

One solution is to buy the stardard latch and through this "pull down" junk away.
You'll never have problem again.

 

That's what I'm doing if this one goes bad again......

 

When mine quit working the connector for all the wires that is ran on the drivers side under the floor was coroded, we cleaned them and now it works. You should find the wireing connector near the drivers seat area.