Power Windows Problem

  • Thread starter Thread starter Augasm
  • Start date Start date
A

Augasm

Hi all. We have a '92 Volvo 940 wagon, my wife has mentioned that the
power windows have on odd ocassion failed to work over the past few
months, but it always "fixed" itself just a few minutes later. This
morning, however, all control failed from the driver's side (we did
toggle the child-safety switch too, but all four windows failed to go
up or down no matter what), yet the passenger side switch continued to
work fine. During my poking around this evening, I found the passenger
door control fails now too. The fuse is fine; the relay is shared with
the fan, and the fan works fine. I've removed the switch block from the
driver side, and the switches themselves are fine (and it would be
difficult to explain how all switches failed simulataneously anyway if
the problem was the actual switch assembly).

I'm now at a loss for what else could be wrong. Must I pull the whole
door panel off and find the ground point? I can't work out what else
might be both intermittent (historically) and so systemic. Does anybody
have any other ideas?
 
Augasm said:
Hi all. We have a '92 Volvo 940 wagon, my wife has mentioned that the
power windows have on odd ocassion failed to work over the past few
months, but it always "fixed" itself just a few minutes later. This
morning, however, all control failed from the driver's side (we did
toggle the child-safety switch too, but all four windows failed to go
up or down no matter what), yet the passenger side switch continued to
work fine. During my poking around this evening, I found the passenger
door control fails now too. The fuse is fine; the relay is shared with
the fan, and the fan works fine. I've removed the switch block from the
driver side, and the switches themselves are fine (and it would be
difficult to explain how all switches failed simulataneously anyway if
the problem was the actual switch assembly).

I'm now at a loss for what else could be wrong. Must I pull the whole
door panel off and find the ground point? I can't work out what else
might be both intermittent (historically) and so systemic. Does anybody
have any other ideas?
Click to expand...
You could try replacing the fuse anyway. Mine was doing that and I twirled
the fuse a few times... it wore through the conical end and got worse until
they didn't work at all. I suggested to a mate he get a volvo next. He said
why, because it's got electric windows? I said no, because they still work
after 25 years.
 
jg said:
You could try replacing the fuse anyway. Mine was doing that and I twirled
the fuse a few times... it wore through the conical end and got worse until
they didn't work at all. I suggested to a mate he get a volvo next. He said
why, because it's got electric windows? I said no, because they still work
after 25 years.
Click to expand...

I did actually swap the fuse with the fan (both 30 amp), but that
didn't work. I might pull the door panel off this morning afterall.
It's just that I always find so much difficulty getting them back on
again properly, I was hoping to avoid it ...

Please, any other ideas in case this one comes up cold?

Cheers
 
Augasm said:
I did actually swap the fuse with the fan (both 30 amp), but that
didn't work. I might pull the door panel off this morning afterall.
It's just that I always find so much difficulty getting them back on
again properly, I was hoping to avoid it ...

Please, any other ideas in case this one comes up cold?
Click to expand...
It's not so much removing them, it's that it's hard to see and work in there
when you do.
 
Actually, you might have been right after all! I swapped yet another
fuse in from a different position, and I got two of the windows back up
before that stopped working too. Then I swapped in one of the spares,
and it worked for a bit too. When it stopped working, I just gave the
fuse a bit of a wiggle from the top (didn't pull it again), and now
they're working again. I spoke to our mechanic, and he was dead set
that the switches we the most likely problem. But the working/not
working didn't correlate at all to what I did with the switches -- only
fuses.

But this is not very satisfying, it's working now, but I don't feel
that I really fixed anything. Do the fuses oxidize a bit over the
years, even as the sit rubbing in their sockets, and this a higher
current fuse would see the problem perhaps first? Or does this point to
loose wiring underneath the fuse panel?

Of course the radio stopped working now too, but I suppose I can't have
everything.

We're slowly proving all over again something my father told me years
ago -- automotive electrical problems rarely have anything to do with
logic, so don't be logical when you try to fix it.

For what it was worth, while I had a bulk of the stuff off the door, I
pulled the inside panel off and had a look -- the ground must run back
into the body with everything else -- the only wires that split from
the bundle off the switches go to the power window motor -- there's no
grounding inside there that can lose contact. Except for the cosmetic
carpeted bit, I think I got it back together again too! I even had a
part left over, which means I did it properly (it was some odd stiff
kinked metal rod with a little brass bit slid onto it that was just
laying in the bottom of the door. Maybe that was for the radio :)

Cheers, and thanks again!
 
Augasm said:
Actually, you might have been right after all! I swapped yet another
fuse in from a different position, and I got two of the windows back up
before that stopped working too. Then I swapped in one of the spares,
and it worked for a bit too. When it stopped working, I just gave the
fuse a bit of a wiggle from the top (didn't pull it again), and now
they're working again. I spoke to our mechanic, and he was dead set
that the switches we the most likely problem. But the working/not
working didn't correlate at all to what I did with the switches -- only
fuses.

But this is not very satisfying, it's working now, but I don't feel
that I really fixed anything. Do the fuses oxidize a bit over the
years, even as the sit rubbing in their sockets, and this a higher
current fuse would see the problem perhaps first? Or does this point to
loose wiring underneath the fuse panel?
Click to expand...
I have had the problem often enough to be fairly confident if they have any
effect on the works when you touch them, they satisfy my theory of
electricity - it's always a loose connection (and the fuse is probably the
worst connection in the line).
 
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