I recently replaced the hatch pulldown motor in my Formula and it worked like new for about a week. This past Friday I lifted the hatch to get something out and when I closed it the motor didn't work. I gently slapped the rear panel that covers the hatch assembly and motor began to work again. I removed the panel and proceeded to check the wiring and other components but everything was working. During this testing the motor stopped working again and with a slight tap on the motor itself this time it started working again. I triggered the motor several times up and down with flawless operation and then after several cycles it would stop again only to be started up with a tap like before. All the components were working which makes me ask the question what would cause an intermittant failure after a new pulldown motor? Both the relay and the reversing switch have tested good as well. Unfortunately I really can't test the reversing switch as I can't get to the connector for it without disassembling the entire asembly. Should I just go ahead and replace all the pieces to be sure?

How long ago was recently and who did you get the new motor from? Also was it just the motor itself you changed or was it the whole pull down unit? I'm asking cause to me it sounds like you've got a wiring issue inside the motor itself. I'm saying that cause from what you said about it working after you slap/tap/hit it that a wire connection is loose INSIDE the motor itself and when you slap/tap/hit it it causes the connection to be made correctly again until the car vibrates or moves any and that connection is lost again until the next time you slap/tap/hit it.

If that is the case and it is a wire inside the motor itself, the only thing you can do is replace the motor itself and that's why I asked the questions I did before. If it hasn't been too long ago you might be able to go to or call where you got the new motor from and you might be lucky and they'll replace it with a new one. If not let me know and I'll send you a link for a site that sells just the motors for the pull down by itself so you don't have to replace the whole unit. Oh and that same place sells "rebuild" kits for the pull down units too or at least they used to.

Recently was a week ago Friday (day after Thanksgiving) and I bought the motor (which came with the plastic housing) from Hawks Thirdgen Parts. The motor is a new aftermarket piece which appears to be made by Delphi (it has their name all over it). This intermittent operation was why I replaced the original motor in the first place which leads me to think it may very well be something else other than the motor. Right now I suspect the reversing switch to be the culprit since the motor and the switch are solidly mounted to the same piece of the hatch pulldown assembly and it may well be that the "tap"(which has been done in other spots on the assembly besides the motor and worked as well) is causing the switch to make contact again as the failure only seems to happen when the hatch is already open, never when I go to open it.

Ah ok, yea if you just replaced the motor for the same problem and it's still happening then it probably isn't the motor itself (but you can get bad motors brand new). I forgot that the two of them are located near each other, so yea, if tapping it is causing it to work then something in the switch might be bad. It shouldn't cost too much to get another one so I'd say yea so head and replace it since it can't hurt.

Unfortunately, I think the reversing switch is one part that is unavailable new these days but I've never let that stop me before. I'll be calling around in the morning.

Try giving this place a call: http://www.top-downsolutions.com/

They're the place I was talking about before. I "know" one of the owners of the place and I recommend them for parts for the 3rd gen cars.

I spoke with Lon at TDS yesterday and he gave me the procedure to test the switch and confirm whether it's bad or not. He seems to think it's probably just corrosion on the contacts inside it. I'll check it out thoroughly this weekend and see about taking the switch itself apart to clean the contacts he spoke of if I can find a suitable fastener to replace the rivets holding the switch together.

Lon is who I was talking about btw, he's a good guy. Cool on him giving you the procedure on how to check it and an idea on what might be wrong with it. If the rivets aren't too big (can't remember off the top of my head their size) you can always just replace them with other rivets or if you can't do that using short bolts, lock washers and nuts, along with some locktite to keep the nuts from backing off should work in the place of the rivets. You'd just have to make sure that any part of the bolt that sticks out isn't too long to catch on anything.

Made progress yesterday on the hatch problem. Disassembled the pulldown assembly and performed the test on the reversing switch. Discovered there was quite a bit of resistance (ohms) on the side of the circuit that controls the pulling down action. After drilling out the very small brass rivets and having to snap off the extremely small torx head screw (never seen one that small before) there was indeed corrosion on the contacts. Scotchbrite pad, some contact cleaner and a dab of dielectric grease and it was ready to reassemble. Repeated the test and the resistance was back down to 3-4 ohms which is very good. Now for reassembly, wound up using 3 small zip ties due to not being able to locate screws small enough but it works great now. Later in the day though, I did run across a small enough nut and bolt combo that should work at Lowes so I may have to redo this process again but at a later date. Once I get that done I'll contact Lon and let him know there is something out there so he can refurbish the switches he has in stock.

Cool, glad to hear that with just a little work and elbow grease you got it working again. I'm sure Lon will appricate the info you've got for him too.

FYI, I've started offering refurbished reversing switches on my web site.

Lon