Power Windows Problem

Discussion in 'General Motoring' started by Augasm, Jan 24, 2006.

  1. Augasm

    Augasm Guest

    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, Jan 24, 2006
    #1
  2. Augasm

    jg Guest

    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, Jan 24, 2006
    #2
  3. Augasm

    Augasm Guest

    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, Jan 24, 2006
    #3
  4. Augasm

    jg Guest

    It's not so much removing them, it's that it's hard to see and work in there
    when you do.
     
    jg, Jan 24, 2006
    #4
  5. Augasm

    Augasm Guest

    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, Jan 25, 2006
    #5
  6. Augasm

    jg Guest

    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).
     
    jg, Jan 25, 2006
    #6
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