94 STS Trunk lock mechanism

[Corbett Price, Sr.]

I recently acquired a nice 94 STS, but there are a couple small things needing attention. The major thing is the trunk latch. I guess someone in the past wasn't aware you DON'T SLAM a Cadillac trunk! The pull down hook had obvious wear (damage?) When I push the trunk down it will click, but will not pull itself shut. I've taken the motor off & cleaned the electrical contacts, but to no avail.

It seems the trunk lid contacting the pull down latch completes the electrical circuit and the motor takes over from there. I think I need to replace either the motor or switch, but wanted to see if anyone here has any suggestions first. Any help?

[makido]

I had this problem with my 94 Seville SLS. I ended up having to replace both relay and the pull-down motor when mine went out. One thing I learned though is to buy each part separately instead of the buying the whole unit with both the relay and motor. It is much cheaper when buying the parts separately.

[GenMot]

I had this problem with my 91. Ended up being 2 things. The fuse was blown (located on the under dash relay panel) and the draw down motor brushes were warn out. Got a used draw down assembly from my locale recycle yard and replaced the fuse. Works good.

As for the operation of the draw down. On the lid latch is a lever switch. It turns on the trunk light and provides power to the draw down when the trunk is latched. On the inside of the medal draw down receiver is another switch that is changed by the draw down movement. There are tabs on the metal that cause the switch to through. This switch changes direction of the motor. There is also a paddle switch on the top of the draw down that stops the motor when lid is closed (the switch circuit is now in the open (off) position). When the trunk is open the paddle circuit is on and lever switch circuits is off and because the directional switch is down the draw down rises until the directional switch throughs to the up position (open circuit). When the lid is shut the lever switch on top is closed (on) and because the directional switch is up the motor draws the trunk lid down until the directional switch changes and the paddle switch is pressed to the off position.

I found draw down assemblies are the same in all GM cars and some Ford models has the same assembly. Good luck.