Got a 1987 DeVille. One side of the trunk is sitting high and not sealing on that side. I see how to adjust the lid for front/rear alignment but not spoting how to do an up/down adjustment. Anyone got experience with this?

 

Need more info, any collision history, a pix will be very helpful

 

Sitting high at the front(by the rear window), or at the back? If it sits high at the front, a simple shimming at the hinge should take care of it. If it sits high at the rear, something is probably twisted/bent.
Perhaps someone at one time put something in the trunk that was too tall, and closed the lid, warping it on that side.
Pics and more info would definitely help.

 

As requested, here are a couple of photo's to illustrate the problem.





The entire trunk lid sits high on the right side, front to back, so the entire right side needs to come down a bit. As you can see from the overall shot, the entire lid is angled from up from the left side which is lined up correctly.

Yes, the car has been damaged in the past but I don't know the details. My guess is that it was damaged in the front as the color of the hood is just very slightly off compared to the fenders. I don't see any indication that there has been any damage inflicted to the rear of the car that would account for the alignment issue. But don't take that as the gospel truth since I am not a body expert

 

Looks like the hinge on the pass side has been tweaked to me. It's been a while since I've had an older car like the '87, but I do have an '85-'86 at the shop I can look at Monday, and see what it might take to remedy the high side. You may need to replace the hinge...

 

Hmm. Didn't see anything that indicated it was bent or tweaked in any way, but it's so dark in there that I probably couldn't tell. But I await the additional information you may have Monday.

 

As luck would have it, they've got the car crammed way in the back, butted up against another car.
I'll have to see if I can get to it tomorrow, but we're supposed to have some snow headed our way. I see what I can do.

Looking at the pics again, it looks like there is some paint damage on the filler panel/rear bulkhead, above, and to the right of the "Cadillac" emblem. Is that just in the photo, or is there some paint damage there, and if so, is there corresponding damage to the deck lid paint in that same area?
Perhaps someone tried to pry open the trunk?

 

Congrats on the possibility of snow. I wish we would get snow here more often but the down side of it is that too many people around here don't know how to deal with it so it just really screws things up. Plus there are a few hills that become a mess.

I saw the chip you mention. I figured someone damaged it while pulling something out of the trunk but I suppose it could be pry damage. I'll try to get a detailed photo of that soon to post (probably no eariler than late tomorrow) to see if anyone qualified to make such a judgement can/will. I don't see any corresponding damage to the trunk lid but I haven't looked in detail 'cuz that possibility never occured to me. I'll check when I get a chance and update.

 

UPDATE: The chip appears to be just that. A chip. There is no marking on the underside of the trunk lid that would suggest that anyone tried to pry open the trunk at that point. That doesn't mean something didn't happen there but it doesn't appear that there is lid damage due to an attempted break-in at that point.

 

Otay...
The hinge assy is bolted to the rear package tray, so it can be shimmed down to see if that will tighten up the deck lid to the body.
You can loosen the nuts, and maybe put some washers in between the hinge and the body, just to see if it will pull that side of the deck lid down. The studs for the hinge don't appear to be very long, so you may not have a lot of room to play, as far as shims, but it should give you an idea of whether or not that is going to get the lid down.
If it will shim far enough to fit right, and seal, then I would remove the nuts completely, and install the washers properly, so they won't fall out. You may only be able to do the front or rear shimming one at a time...as in do not remove/un-bolt the hinge assy completely, since the hinge spring may create a problem if the complete assy is unbolted.
If shimming pulls the lid down some, but not far enough to line up with the body, and seal, then I have to believe that hinge is tweaked.
hth