I have a '91 Camaro. It has a motor on the hatchback that closes the back the rest of the way once you push it down.

Well, it's been cold here, and I opened my hatchback a couple nights ago to put some stuff in the back. It was hard to get it open, but then the motor wouldn't engage to shut it the rest of the way. Worse, there was a light on that wouldn't go off unless the thing shut.

I was able to get my car to a garage, and they unplugged the light. They aren't Chevy dealers, but they couldn't find anything wrong offhand, and we surmised the motor is going bad. However, after sitting in a warm bay for 1/2 hour, the motor suddenly worked and shut the thing on the last try, just as we were about to give up. I don't know if the motor needed to warm up or what. The mechanics didn't know why it suddenly worked - we were just glad it did, it was almost 6pm.

Has anyone ever had this problem? And do you know if you can get the motor latch replaced w/ a normal latch that just catches when you slam the back, like a trunk does?

I'm not sure what the purpose of the motor is - seems like it would be more practicle to just be able to slam the back shut and be done w/ it, rather than having to wait for the motor to take it down each time.

 

is the motor bad or just stuck down? It has a little button you can stick your finger in there and press down that will make it go down all the way then let off and it will come back up.

Alot of those things broke the housing that the motor went in to. They used to have them at the deaqler for around $20....pretty common to have that problem. Just one of the not so good ideas

 

The motor was stuck down. The mechanics tried pressing anything they could in there, w/o success. But I'll look for a button the next time I open it (which probably won't be till spring). They weren't a chevy dealer, so didn't profess to have any knowledge of the motor.

Hopefully those are still in the low-price range, then. If I need to replace it, maybe it won't cost anything in the hundreds.

 

I have one out of a 89 Camaro that I would sell for $50.00. Works perfect. It does NOT have the remote release.
Ron