AaronE

Hey guys, I've got a window problem that is not like all of the ones that are archived.

My passenger window won't go up from either switch, and the motor is not making any noise whatsoever. To me, that seems to rule out both a bad switch and a bad regulator. I just took the door panel off, but it got dark and the mosquitoes are out, so I figured I'd take up the fight tomorrow morning. I just bought the car so I don't have the shop manuals yet. So, a few questions:

1-sounds like a bad relay, bad wire somewhere, or bad motor, right?
2-what should I test first?
3-where are the window relays?
4-what is onelasttry's infamous "pink wire workaround"?

Thanks in advance, there's a chance of rain tomorrow, so I'm hoping someone will chime in here before it starts to get wet!

-Aaron ('92 SC400)

PS. are those $10 shop manuals on a CD any good? has anyone put them online somewhere?

O. L. T.

iTrader: (17)

you simply need to get back out there with a can of Deep Woods OFF and a voltmeter and probe the circut until you find the Juice and where it stops.

4 years of tech school and that's what they teach you about troubleshooting. Basic skills. find the voltage. find where it should be but is not.

AaronE

Heh, that was gonna be my plan of attack until I got dissuaded by the weather sealing. I figured I'd ask if there was somewhere to test before I pulled the plastic off...

VVT-i

Make sure you got 12 volts at the master switch, if not, then trace it back all the way to the junction block/connector at the left side kick panel. I've seen broken wires at the rubber boot between the door and the body.

AaronE

This morning I went out and just for kicks connected the window switch while the door panel was off. The motor is trying to do something (almost sounds like it's sort of shorting out) but is unable to turn. So that rules out all electrical wiring/relay problems. Sounds like a bad motor. I suppose I'll try and extract the thing this weekend. Pretty soon, I'll be an expert at door panel removal...

VVT-i

Hmmm, may be your regulator jammed up( cable type).

AaronE

Okay, so I took the door panel off (again) and after about two hours of doing nothing useful, the window magically started working. So I rolled it all the way down to check it, and it stopped working again. After repeatedly tapping the switch (really short taps) the window started working again. The window moves REALLY slow near the top and the motor is really straining. Sometimes it won't make it all the way up before the ciruit breaker kicks in. It then takes more taps on the switch to get it to go again.

So, it seems I have two problems:

1 - at the fully down position, the window physically gets stuck (to the point where I couldn't even pull it up by hand).

2 - probably because the motor is straining so much, the circuit breaker keeps tripping.

Any suggestions short of replacing the whole damn thing? Points to lube? Obstructions to look for? And how the hell do you work on the internals of this thing anyway, as it's all behind sheet metal?

Thanks in advance!
-Aaron

[edit]
PS. the switch tapping thing is somewhat of a red herring. It seems that pulsing the motor helps it to overcome its impediment, seemingly as opposed to being some electrical thing...[/edit]