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Hi y'all. I recently bought a 98 Trans Am that needs a little bit of help. One of the issues that I need help with is the trunk doesn't do anything when the button is pressed. I hear the motor on the latch, I know the latch releases, but the trunk lid itself doesn't move. I have to lift the trunk lid using the spoiler. I've changed the trunk latch itself, but it didn't help anything.
Now, once I get the trunk lid open, it stays up just fine, so I thought the support struts (?) are fine, but now I'm not so sure. What do you guys recommend? Change those? or is there something else I need to look for?
change the lift springs for the trunk lid... open the hatch, pull back the carpet stuff and you will see a couple of pretty heavy duty springs there, change them out and/or add a helper spring.
Okay, so these are photos I found online, but they are identical to what hubby & I both have. Hubby has a 2000 Trans Am and his latch has a spring and an extra lever. Mine does not. Also, the mounts between his and mine are reversed, so I have the two mounting holes on one side and his are reversed. I was going to mount his latch onto my trunk and see if that fixed the problem, but that's when I discovered the brackets are different. So.... GM changed designs after 98 then, I'm guessing?
Also, not that this matters for this purpose, but I did also notice that his harness has 2 wires and mine has 3.
I had no idea they were changed, mine looks like the top pic (I have an 01). I guess the 98's didn't have the extra lever and counted on the internal spring to do all the work? Maybe a complete new assembly would be strong enough to fix your problem but probably not for long, that lever gives a lot of extra strength to the spring, is there any way to modify the brackets and make one of the new ones work?
After lots of digging and searching late yesterday, I found a couple of similar threads. There was someone who was able to change the latch to the newer version by drilling extra holes into the mounting plate. Other than that I think the general consensus was .. If you own a 98, you're screwed, Lol. I did see a couple of people turned the bump stops on the trunk lid itself (haven't tried this yet) and others changed the support struts.
I'll go with both of those routes and see what happens.
As a last resort, I may have to upgrade to the newer latch style and see how that works.
I believe the part on the 1998 is a carry-over part from the 1993-1997 models, so if you find any from that model year that are still good - they should work.
It also looks like Classic Industries is about to pick up the part. From the picture, it looks like one might have to drill out the motor and re-use it on the latch. (And also raid the piggy bank to pay for it...) https://www.classicindustries.com/pr...rts/g4621.html
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Trunk Latch Issue 
