Ironwolf
Senior Member
You see the dark spots? These are residues that causes current to stop flowing. You have to sand all the contacts until the spots are gone.
You can also use a good contact cleaner
Power window switches (take apart)
- Thread starter Ironwolf
- Start date
You see the dark spots? These are residues that causes current to stop flowing. You have to sand all the contacts until the spots are gone.
You can also use a good contact cleaner
I had better results sanding the contacts but sure, find out what you like better!
commando1
Old Man with a Hat
Before you start ripping things apart, do a continuity test with a test light to see if it's really the switch.
It's never a bad idea to maintain them when you are working on the system anyway and it's really not that much work! I would do it just to prevent it to fail in the next future, even if it's working now.
Ironwolf
Senior Member
Especially when most if not all of these bad boys are forty some odd years old ..... :idea1:
73Coupe
Senior Member
Doing the test procedure outlined in the shop manual, I used a couple of jumpers on the connector and the problem window (RH quarter) worked. So that means the wiring and motor are good...in theory.
-Plugged the switch back in and it only worked in the DOWN mode.
-Then I tried using the LH quarter switch on this window, and same thing. Dang...is that switch bad now?
-Then I tried using the RH door window switch in this circuit, and it worked, UP and DOWN!
-Then I plugged the RH quarter switch back into its home circuit, and it worked!
-Then I put it all back together, and it didn't work at all! So, thought it might be the connector (plug).
-Took that apart. All the contacts look very good. The switch works intermittently, so now let's take the switch apart...
Last edited:
73Coupe
Senior Member
Switch came apart easily. Carefully pry back the metal tabs, then depress the plastic "hook" on each side to pull the back off of the metal housing. (see 4th pic)
These switches are not very serviceable, as VDK mentioned earlier. Only two of the contacts are accessible from the top. The other two are down below. The two up top are hard to clean, regardless. I managed to get a sliver of 600 grit in there back and forth a few times, but contact cleaner was the main rub. Fortunately my switches looked good on the inside.
I noticed two small wires on the bench halfway through the process. Crap....Where did these come from? (see 2nd to last pic)
Turns out they are spring wires for the toggle. They slip into slots at the sides of the plastic back. (see last pic)
After reassembling, I reinstalled the switch at the RH quarter, and it didn't work! I immediately pulled it and tried it at the pass. door. Worked fine.
Now what? Thought my wiring was fine? I went through the scenario in my previous post again, same results. After trading switches, now the window works fine once more. Where's the ghost???
My only hunch: The Jumper wire procedure uses a separate ground (I used the cig lighter ground wire), where the switch sends the current to ground via the harness somehow.
These switches are not very serviceable, as VDK mentioned earlier. Only two of the contacts are accessible from the top. The other two are down below. The two up top are hard to clean, regardless. I managed to get a sliver of 600 grit in there back and forth a few times, but contact cleaner was the main rub. Fortunately my switches looked good on the inside.
I noticed two small wires on the bench halfway through the process. Crap....Where did these come from? (see 2nd to last pic)
Turns out they are spring wires for the toggle. They slip into slots at the sides of the plastic back. (see last pic)
After reassembling, I reinstalled the switch at the RH quarter, and it didn't work! I immediately pulled it and tried it at the pass. door. Worked fine.
Now what? Thought my wiring was fine? I went through the scenario in my previous post again, same results. After trading switches, now the window works fine once more. Where's the ghost???
My only hunch: The Jumper wire procedure uses a separate ground (I used the cig lighter ground wire), where the switch sends the current to ground via the harness somehow.
commando1
Old Man with a Hat
I love this stuff.
Have you cleaned the contacts on the outside of the switch and the inside of the wire contacts?
73Coupe
Senior Member
Yes, although they were very clean to begin with.
Now going through the wiring. Found the connector below the sill plate, in the raceway, and all looked good there. Somewhere there's a lack of continuity in the gray and green wires that go back to the master switch from this point. The harness goes under the seats and over to the LH wire raceway below the sill plate. From there it goes to the master switch. The wiring diagram shows no other connectors en-route.
73Coupe
Senior Member
don't know why this wont display larger...?
commando1
Old Man with a Hat
Upload it as a hi-rez image to an image hosting site and then post the link here.
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