Having a bit of trouble with my power windows

[DanDombrowski]

The other night I rolled my window down, but it wouldn't come back up. I noticed that when I tried to put it back up, it would go up about 1/4 of an inch and stop, and then nothing would work (none of the windows, up or down).

If I let it sit for a minute or two, or turn the car off and turn it back on again, all the other windows will work fine. If I try to move the drivers window up again, it does the same thing - bumps up 1/4 of an inch and nothign will work for a few minutes or until I turn the car on and off again.

The first time this happened (and I realized the pattern), I was turning the car on and off repeatedly to get the window up (1/4 of an inch at a time). All of the sudden (about 20 "bumps" into it) the window just worked and went up the rest of the way. It only did that once, and is now back to the way it was before.

Also, when I'm in that few minute period of nothing working, the electric door locks won't work either.

I pulled the switch in the center console to check that, and its not the switch. I'm thinking that since the motor hasn't been getting slower over time, and that it worked breifly after having the problem, that its not the window motor, but a relay or module.

Does this sound like a general module problem? I'm going to pull the door panel tonight and try to directly power the motor to go up and down, but is there any way to directly power the motor from under the rear seat so I don't have to take the panel off?

Any other suggestions?

[632 Regal]

cant help you except a "bump"

[bsell]

[QUOTE= Any other suggestions?[/QUOTE]

Does the 'bad' window move slower than the others? I wonder if you have a hard to move window tripping the overload circuit and shutting down the controller and all the other windows.

Try lubing the window seals (tracks the window slides in) with some silicon spray to get the window moving more freely on the way up. Going down, the weight of the glass helps the motor overcome the dry seals but should move faster after lubing.

While you are in the door (sans panel) check the lube status on the window lift mechanism. Lube up the bottom part of the seals (that you couldn't reach from up top).

Of course you problem could be all electrical.:(

Brian

[Ferret]

The way it's moving half an inch then stopping repeatedly almost certainly sounds like an overcurrent cutout.

I'd check to see if everything is moving freely.

[bmwrp8]

happened to me before...i checked the fusible link and found out it was going so i replaced it.Now its working fine again. Try checking you f.link. if not have no idea.

[leicesterboy15]

How did you check the switch? I had a similar problem, my windows had a mind of their own (one in particular) but when I used the door switch it seemed to work better but not always (I guess sometimes the 4 way switch would stick and the door switch was also being pressed ) . The problem was my 4 way switch was sending the wrong signals and so the window would do its own thing (one was always worse than the others), once I replaced it it was fine. Have you got one you can test with? Best to start with the easiet and cheapest first...

[DanDombrowski]

No, when the bad window worked, it went up and down just fine. I definitely like the idea though, and thanks for mentioning it. I will definitely check it tomorrow night (didn't get a chance to pull the door panel off last night, and tonight can't do it). Fortunately, I have some silicone spray in the garage.

Not sure it would trip the overload circuit though. When the window gets to the top, it would be infinitely hard to move, and it doesn't shut everything down for a minute then. Or could there be some other way of the module determining if the window is all the way up?

Anyway, thanks a lot for the suggestion. I have to fix the door brake also, so I'll probably do it all at once. I'll let you know how it turns out, I'll probably try to directly run the motor at the door off of a battery pack as well to test.

Thanks for the replies!

[DanDombrowski]

I pulled the switch panel out, disconnected the switches, and shorted the connections with a piece of wire.

[DanDombrowski]

Yeah, I think its definitely tripping the overload, but I'm curious - whats different between the window being hard to move up and the window being at the top of the track (closed)? It doesn't trip the circuit then.

I will lube the window as soon as I can as a first step.

[DanDombrowski]

I will do that, thank you for the reply. I thought that fusible link problems showed themselves as everything not working, not just one window (the passengers work fine). Will definitely check it out though!

[DanDombrowski]

Thanks Jeff! I'll return the favor if you ever need it!

[Ferret]

Yeah, I think its definitely tripping the overload, but I'm curious - whats different between the window being hard to move up and the window being at the top of the track (closed)? It doesn't trip the circuit then.

I will lube the window as soon as I can as a first step.

iirc, there's a microswitch in the door that tells the system that the window's shut - I wonder if that's what's sticking!
EDIT : There's a very good chance this is your culprit, as it'd cause the computer to trip out after a few seconds, assuming the window was already shut... Have a look for it being full of damp/crap... good luck.


Get a multimeter on it and have a nosey.

[bsell]

Yeah, I think its definitely tripping the overload, but I'm curious - whats different between the window being hard to move up and the window being at the top of the track (closed)? It doesn't trip the circuit then.

I will lube the window as soon as I can as a first step.

I've seen the window tracks within the doors rust and squeeze the window glass too hard making the window bind as it goes up and down. I have also seen window seals out of their tracks in the lower portion of the door cause similar symptoms.

It would seem that the window would have the most resistance at the top of the frame as the window seal contacts the glass on all sides except the bottom and it does whenever you put in new seals. But figure that the window stays shut more often than open, so the window seal at the top position gets stretched by the glass resting there.

You might want to put a fuse in your test circuit to prevent cooking your motor if it really is a mechanical binding problem...

Brian

[DanDombrowski]

Thanks for the advice on the fuse, I wouldn't have thought of that.

I do have to say though, we used a bunch of bosch window motors for one of our design classes at UF, and these were motors that had been used for eleventy billion previous classes with all sorts of hack wiring jobs (used them to power small robots). It seemed they were pretty resiliant, but I'll try not to blow them up.

[Jehu]

Thanks for the advice on the fuse, I wouldn't have thought of that.

I do have to say though, we used a bunch of bosch window motors for one of our design classes at UF, and these were motors that had been used for eleventy billion previous classes with all sorts of hack wiring jobs (used them to power small robots). It seemed they were pretty resiliant, but I'll try not to blow them up.


I started having this problem today... I am going to try the easiest thing, the silicone lube on the rubber guides first. Did you find and fix this problem before you sold your car?

[DanDombrowski]

Wow, you are in luck, sort of. I just stopped in to see how this board was doing (haven't come here in a long time), so I can't believe I found this post.

Unfortunately, I never found the problem before selling the car. The windows started working one day, and I used them warily over the next few weeks, always keeping an eye on it until I had time to dig in and find out what was wrong. It never did it again, so I never had a chance to test what was wrong. Sorry.

I think from the fact that my windows went back to working fine that you can assume that you don't need to lube the guide rails (although it wouldn't be a bad idea) and its not the motor going out (they wouldn't come back). Its something electrical - intermittant.

I'd check the fusible link, the microswitch, and relays. Don't worry about the motor or the guide rails.

[Jehu]

Awesomness... where is that fuseable link? Under the back seat with the control modules? I went ahead and bought a can of silicone spray lube and stunk my car up spraying it. It didn't totally fix the problem...actually i can't really see it helped at all.
When the window isn't moving with the button pressed i hear a click,click,click.... then a louder clikc then more clicks . Somemtimes it will bein to move sometimes not and just tonight the motor seemed to stop responding a few times. Press button>no sound from motor.... hmm... oh there it goes again... so sometimes it would complete the cycle all thje way up ok, all the way down ok and back up other times it stops part way on either the up or down... same deal weather I use the console button or the door button... thanks for the reply.