1997 22 zx engine hatch

[Markdon]

My engine hatch motor does not work. Does anyone know how to open the hatch without cutting it open or damaging the boat??? Nobody seems to know how to help me out.

[craigdskilling]

why not.did you put some kind of up grade so the motor doesnt fit.picks would help.i had to cut my hatch on a 18 to make the motor fit.looks like i will have to cut more out soon for the whipple.or buy that hatch that has the bump in it.

[Morgan's Cloud]

.picks would help

I fear that all you would see is a shut engine hatch ..

I'm assuming that the great factory engineers never anticipated this and did not install an emergency port .

I do know that the electric screw jack actuator on the Mag (which I engineered redundancy into at the time of installation) when will it is accidentally still momentarily operated past the 'shut point' will ratchet and slip.
This leads me to believe that there is a possibility that you might be able to pull very hard on the hatch and it might 'slip' open.

Maybe someone else has been through this before and tell me if I'm on the right track.

[MOP]

Try the "search" feature top of the page there have been a few threads on the hatch openers.

Phil

[22zxla]

on my 98 22zx, i can just lift it up, its heavy but do it all the time when battery goes dead!

[Mckillop]

I had the same thing happen on my 1997 25ZX. I was also able to life the hatch manually, but it is HEAVY!. I ended up swapping the entire hydralic system that was in there for one of the Hardin electric actuators.

[Dr. David Fleming]

Markdon,

If you haven't figured this one out yet here is my experience. My 1999 22ZX used two split hinges on the back of the hatch and a screw actuated electric lift on the front. On my 22zx the motor went bad in the screw actuator and jammed the lift. I was able to get an open end wrench onto the nuts of the split hinge mounts and unscrew the hinges from the rear. The split hinge will pull apart if you remove one hinge leaf. These are available from Donzi Direct if you have to cut the rear hinges you can buy more. Once the hatch is partially lifted I was able to get at the upper mount bolt of the screw actuator at the front of the hatch with a long extension socket wrench and unscrew the upper bolt. My screw lift actuator was broken about one or two inches in upward travel. If it had broken fully down this would have made things more difficult.

If you have a dead battery in the 22zx this creates a similar problem. Some later 22ZX from 2005 era have two battery jump terminals in the rear seat box to jump the battery. Another option would be to pull the battery switch fuse panel and jump the terminals on the back of the switch. Another post for this problem someone used a cigarette lighter plug battery charger attached through this accessory attachment on the dashboard of the 22zx.

Earlier 22zx used a large stainless steel hinge which was attached to the underside of the hatch about a foot forward of the rear of the hatch. This system is significantly more difficult to repair.