This weekend I replaced my trunk hinge. The car was throwing a code B2510 code, which is a "Short in Pulse Width Modulation Motor LH Circuit" I disconnected each connector and re-ran the tech stream test. Finally I disconnected this motor and the error went away. So I knew this motor was the culprit.


Instead of buying just the motor, I thought I'd buy the entire hinge. I found a guy on eBay who sold me a left side hinge he had for $100 with the caveat that it was AS-IS with no warranty.

Since I wanted to make sure I didn't throw off the trunk alignment with the install, I bought a grease pencil/Giant Crayon and outlined both hinges on the trunk floor and the trunk lid. That way I could put the hinge exactly in the same location I removed it from.

Then I had a buddy help me loosen the trunk lid and we lifted it off.

We disconnected the wiring harness and unscrewed the three nuts that hold the hinge in.

There are shims under the hinge, so you want to take those into account when you re-install.

It turns out all that tracing wasn't needed. The hinge fits in really tight and it only fit in over the three bolts one way and ended up exactly square in my outline. (probably why they have three bolts)
The trunk lid has self centering screws, so it fit exactly in place also.

I put the hinge/shims in, bolted it down and hooked up my wiring harnesses.

VOILA! All done!

Unfortunately it didn't work. When I pushed the button there was some movement but the red light on the convertible button started flashing. It turns out I bought the new hinge because my latch motor wasn't working and the hinge motor on the new hinge wasn't working.

Good news is, after taking my old motor off and putting it on the new hinge all is well.

I have opened and closed the top half a dozen times and there are no creaks, groans, binding or any other concerning noises. In fact my trunk lid fits better than it ever has.

I am hopeful this resolves my top issue for good.

 

So, what do you think your original problem was? You thought the motor was bad but you were able to put it in the new/used hinge and it now works? Did you do anything to the motor or was the old hinge worn out or in need of lubrication?

 

My latch motor was bad and his hinge motor was bad.

When I put the two good motors on the new hinge, everything worked.

 

Got it. Great to know. Thanks!

 

Do you have a picture of the motor from farther away so that it is easier to tell where it is mounted? Great job, BTW.

 

Unfortunately not, but it is in the one that hangs down in the middle of the hinge. It is also the only one that has a green wire.

 

Awesome detective work -- its a great feeling to know you just saved $2K

 

I’m a bit late, but did you need techstream to find the exact issue ?

 

The SC Top has lots of possible failure points. There are the windows, latches, package tray, trunk and the roof motors.

If you can narrow down your problem to the roof motors, then you can change your hinges with a high probability it will fix your top.

However, if you had access to techstream, it would REALLY take a lot of guesswork out of the equation.

 

oh yeah, I definitely need it then. The trunk lid opens up and I hear all the locks and actuators moving but once it’s opened up, it just stops directly, before even top opens up. I’m highly suspecting it to be either one of those trunk lid actuators

 

It's important that the motors go the same speed when the top opens, so it is best if you buy both left and right hinges from the same car. It is possibly not the motors, but the micro switches that tell the computer where your roof is during the process. If you buy the whole hinge assembly, you get the micro switches also. However, i would try getting access to tech stream, so you know exactly what the problem is. There are Dozens of switches and sensors that make the top work. Any one of them could stop the process.

 

yeah for sure I’m going to check it out through techstream before throwing money at it. Thanks a lot for answer after all these years.
do you still have your SC?

 

It's in storage, I haven't driven it in 18 months or so