Rear Hatch Door Stuck

I own a 2000 Astro AWD. The rear hatch will not open. When I depress the button on the hatch I can hear both sides do what ever it is they do but only the right side disengages while the left side does not. I read past threads and found one from "Safariman" but it does not give much helpful info. ANy advice?

Thanks

HOPEFULLY YOU CAN REMOVE UPHOLSERY PANEL ENOUGH FROM THE CENTER WITHOUT CRACKING IT. REMOVE HANDLE BY POPING OFF THE TWO COVERS ON EACH SIDE AND REMOVE PHILIPS HEAD SCREWS. YOU ARE TRYING TO GET TO THE BRACKET THAT HOLDS THE LATCH RODS FROM EACH END. i FOUND THE TINY ROUND PLASTIC CIRCLE THAT THE ROD PUSHES INTO HAD BROKEN AND THE ROD FELL OUT. Pull the loose rod with a needle nose and the hatch will open if the good side is released. Now you can removw the rest of the upholsery panel screws and get a better acces to work with. Put the rod back in the hole an if you don't have the new clip, use a nylon tie strap to hold it down in the hole. be sure to wrap it on somthing close by so it doesn't slid away from the insertion hole. Put the upholstery panel and grab handle back on. This has been working for me over 2 years.

You were dead on!! I have a '94 and I got it open in about 10 minutes and fixed in about another 10 following instructions above.
THANKS so much!! Going an vacation tomorrow and sure did not want to load over the seat!
Sure better than a trip to the dealer!!!
John

It's a generic design flaw- my 2002 did it also. If the idiots had designed the rod the other way, then the force at closure would not allow the pin to fall out. By the way, they don't sell replacement grommets. GM's quality sucks. They never fix generic problems. Every time I've had a Ford defect that was due to a design flaw, the new part was different to prevent recurrence. This will be my last Chevrolet product.

I have a '94 Astro, and I can't get the panelling off to get into the rod. I got the two bottom screws, and the top passenger side screw off, but can't get to the top driver screw. Likewise, my 3 rear door system won't open. The right side unlocks, the bottom unlocks, but the left top just won't budge. Any other ideas since I can't get behind the panelling at all?

I'm working on this problewm also with a '95 astro. I loaded up the back and shut the doors. Ten minutes later I needed to add two more items and the top hatch on the drivers side stuck. What a mess. I'm getting ready to work on it tomorrow and will write back about my success or failure

I just paid $65 to get my hatchback fixed on my 2000 Chevy Astro. Mine also stopped opening on the left side. I went to 2 dealerships and they would not even look at it without paying anywhere from $80 to $90 for a diagnostic test. They both said it could be the actuator and/or the rod. :banghead: I went to the local Checker Auto parts store and they referred me to a small shop.

Their sign says they are closed on Saturday but I had a referral. One guy said he would look at it no problem. Another guy had me pull it in the garage and he climbed in the side door and went to town, Roughly 20 minutes later it was fixed. :biggrin:

DO NOT CRACK YOUR APHOLSTRY! THERE IS AN EASIER WAY!!!

On the inside of the hatch, he took the covers off of the edges of the handle. He then removed the screws that were on each side of the handle. After that he could see the rod that was out of the hole. He pulled on it allowing the hatch to then open. With the hatch open, he then reomoved the plastic molding (Apholstry) and was able to get a better view of the problem. With a $.50 e-clip (he called it) he fixed it.

I asked the shop how much they wanted and they said $55. I wrote a check for $65! I was just so excited someone would even look at it. I was willing to pay a little more than I did so I felt the extra $10 was well worth it!

All this, THEN I see the posts here... Oh well, just another person to back up what one said before. This method works! :lol2:

Fixed mine today with these instructions! Thanks so much!

I love the Internet! I had the same exact left release problem on my '99 Astro rear hatch. I used the "remove the interior handle" technique, and it worked like a charm. The only difficulty I had was removing the stupid plastic covers hiding the bolts on the handle (you almost have to break them to get them off). Then it's just 2 bolts, and through a small opening you will see the plastic piece the rod goes through, and you should see the rod for the left (right as you look at it from inside the vehicle) release. I simply inserted the rod back into the plastic piece (mine was unbroken). As a member mentioned above, it's a dumb design as the slamming action of the hatch puts force on the rod to come out of the hole. Anyway, I left it like that for now. When the weather's warmer, I'll do the whole trim removal and proper repair using a retaining clip. I'm mechanically inclined, but the whole fix took about 10 minutes. Definitely within the repair scope of a novice. If you go for the trim removal, I strongly suggest a trim removal tool available at most auto supply stores. Thanks again for the help.

I just fixed my 2000 ASTRO rear hatch door as was listed. It just saved me big bucks at the dealer. It was so easy!!!! Pop the little plastic covers to the handle. Remove the handle. Remove the two screws at the corners and pull the plastic loose and warp it to see the little rod out of the hole in the actuator. Reinstall the rod and back through the other items and you are done. THANKS, THANKS, THANKS!!!! "GM JUNK" !!!!!

I have a Chevy Astro 2000 that had the same problem with the rear hatch. It too was stuck on the left side. I did not see this post but fixed it using almost the same aproach. However, I did not have to pull the internal window panel. I only removed the internal pull handle by pulling the plastic bolt covers on each side of the handle, unscrewing the bolts that were underneath the covers, and removing the handle. When I did this, the plate that is right underneath the handle came off as well. This gave me access to the actuator and right away I noticed the white plastic bearing with something missing. The rod that actuated the left side had fallen out of it. The rod had fallen to the bottom of the door. I pulled it using a screwdriver to push it to the right and opened the door. I then pushed the button to trigger the actuator so that I could get it out of the way. I used the screwdriver to retrieve the rod and then let the button go. I then insert the rod back into the plastic bearing clip and it held (I don't know how long it will hold because it is obviously loose if it fell out once before). I reassembled the plate and the handle and so far so good. (I did the repair while the door was open over my head)

thanks guys! this fix worked for me too. left side would not unlock. i took off the inside handle, then took off a steel covering plate, then could easily see where the left side rod had fallen out of its hole. (probably from a hard slam). i popped it back in and duct taped it to help it hold better next time. i did not need to take the interior plastic molding off, but did pop it out along the bottom side so i could bend it up out of the way a bit to get at the screws.