Drivers Window Failure

[El_Bongo]

My Drivers Door Window will not open on operation of Switch, Passenger Window works OK, so Before I take the Drivers door apart and use my technical expertise to try to solve the problem is this a common problem, are there any tips on stripping the door?

[waycar8]

Check the wiring loom going through the door pillow to the door, common fault as with the opening and shutting of the door often causes the wires to break.

[wonkanoby]

wiggle it about ...bet it works in some position

[mikeonb4c]

I was convinced mine was due to the loom but in the end it turned out to be that other common case: the switch. Careful stripping down (I needed small watchmakers screwdrivers to carefully prise apart the slider mechanism lockng tabs, and I did the dismantling in a bucket so the ball bearing and spring associated with the mechanism didn't shoot out and get lost) and cleaning up the eletrical contacts on the slider mechanism worked wonders and 2 year later its still fine)

[jaylee]

Could be the door loom..? But, if your passenger window function is consistent. it could be the actual drivers switch?

Now, my guess is not electrical, but a mechanical jam in the actual driver switch by failure of the plastic clip that stems from the bottom of the actual black drivers rocker switch & connects to a fader on a lug that works the electrics?! (The clips best described as like one of those little Lego people hands.)

If neutral, it won't work. (open or close) if snapped when open, it wont close.. I think yours could be snapped while closed keeping the drivers window shut?

Hope this helps..?!!

[Diplomat]

If the "axle" of the switch breaks, perhaps only at one side, as a likely result of over enthusiastic lifting, then the bit that looks like the Lego arm will jump off the slide switch spigot.

Unless the arm is engaged when both parts of the switch i.e. the slider and the rocker are in neutral you can end up with the window stuck open, closed or somewhere in between!

The Loom could be intact and nothing to do with the problem but it is worth giving it a gentle waggle whilst operating the switch to see if there is an intermittent break.

Taking the panel off is the last thing to do first as it often leads to other aggro.

Frank

[El_Bongo]

Hello again and thanks to all who posted.
The story so far i have wriigled the wiring no effect.
Stripped switch and all seems well.
Removed door panel not to difficult and discovered the window motor was very hot.
I then disconnected the last connector to the motor and with my meter established that the supply on operation of the switch is OK i.e 12v and 12v reversed when switch operated, I then measured across the connector to the motor and found it is short circuited.
So i need a new window motor any ideas where to get one (I'm in Spain) but how do you remove and replace the motor it is attached inside the door frame? and connected to gears and rods etc? Does not look an easy task? Help?
Gracious

[mikeonb4c]

Hello again and thanks to all who posted.
The story so far i have wriigled the wiring no effect.
Stripped switch and all seems well.
Removed door panel not to difficult and discovered the window motor was very hot.
I then disconnected the last connector to the motor and with my meter established that the supply on operation of the switch is OK i.e 12v and 12v reversed when switch operated, I then measured across the connector to the motor and found it is short circuited.
So i need a new window motor any ideas where to get one (I'm in Spain) but how do you remove and replace the motor it is attached inside the door frame? and connected to gears and rods etc? Does not look an easy task? Help?
Gracious

If all elses fails, Bongo Fury have a parts sourcing service that claims to pretty much source anything. It'll probably be at a price, but worth keeping it in mind. Any idea why the motor should have gone short circuit? I'm no leccie but it sounds unusual to me, and you'd think it would have blown a protecting fuse. And you don't want the new one being wrecked as soon as its fitted because an underlying problem had not been fixed.

Good luck - keep us posted

[jaylee]

Hello again and thanks to all who posted.
The story so far i have wriigled the wiring no effect.
Stripped switch and all seems well.
Removed door panel not to difficult and discovered the window motor was very hot.
I then disconnected the last connector to the motor and with my meter established that the supply on operation of the switch is OK i.e 12v and 12v reversed when switch operated, I then measured across the connector to the motor and found it is short circuited.
So i need a new window motor any ideas where to get one (I'm in Spain) but how do you remove and replace the motor it is attached inside the door frame? and connected to gears and rods etc? Does not look an easy task? Help?
Gracious

If all elses fails, Bongo Fury have a parts sourcing service that claims to pretty much source anything. It'll probably be at a price, but worth keeping it in mind. Any idea why the motor should have gone short circuit? I'm no leccie but it sounds unusual to me, and you'd think it would have blown a protecting fuse. And you don't want the new one being wrecked as soon as its fitted because an underlying problem had not been fixed.

Good luck - keep us posted

Got agree with Mike here..! I still think the switch..? ( Gut feeling ) I know it's not easy to diagnose remotely.. Check this out... http://www.igmaynard.co.uk/bongo/forum/ ... ndow+motor

[g8dhe]

The motor will have a pretty low resistance in the range probably of only 5-10Ω, which to some meters could look like a short circuit. If it really is S/C then the most likely reason is that the motor has been jammed, are you able to rotate, manually, the motor spindle ? If not then check the gears themselves, make sure nothing has jammed them which has caused the motor to overheat and possibly short circuited - but as mentioned previously if it really is a S/C then I would have expected the fuse to blow.

[missfixit70]

Try lubricating all the mechanism & window runners. Assist the window manually while pressing the switch (watch your fingers)& see if it's sticking/slowing anywhere. Ian had a window motor/mechanism available that he obtained from Allans. any breaker should be able to chuck one your way if it is necessary, but I'd be surprised if it is needed.

[MondoBongo]

I have had a few issues with my drivers window. A few years back it stopped working and following advice on here did not presume it was the switch, but investigated the loom as it passes from the door to into the body. It turns out there was a broken wire in here, and after repairing that the window worked fine, for a while.

Now I have a different problem, which is that, from time to time the window stops working. The odd this about this, and I have been advised it is the switch, but I don't think so, is that this failure of the window, though intermittent, is quite predictable. ie, when I first get in the vehicle and turn the ignition on, and/or the engine on, the window will usually work. If I turn the engine on and don;t run the window down a bit, after a few minutes it will not work. But if I try it, then leave it a few minutes, then try again, it will work. I avoid opening it completely, since when I do this it usually doesn't want to come back up. But if I turn off the electrics and give it a minute or two of rest, it often works when I turn back on again.

I don't think its the switch or any breaks in the wiring, I think it could be a dodgy relay or something somewhere. But I am not sure why I think this ! I'll probably only get round to fixing it when it breaks completely..

Passengers window works fine.

Any suggestions ?

[missfixit70]

I have had a few issues with my drivers window. A few years back it stopped working and following advice on here did not presume it was the switch, but investigated the loom as it passes from the door to into the body. It turns out there was a broken wire in here, and after repairing that the window worked fine, for a while.

Now I have a different problem, which is that, from time to time the window stops working. The odd this about this, and I have been advised it is the switch, but I don't think so, is that this failure of the window, though intermittent, is quite predictable. ie, when I first get in the vehicle and turn the ignition on, and/or the engine on, the window will usually work. If I turn the engine on and don;t run the window down a bit, after a few minutes it will not work. But if I try it, then leave it a few minutes, then try again, it will work. I avoid opening it completely, since when I do this it usually doesn't want to come back up. But if I turn off the electrics and give it a minute or two of rest, it often works when I turn back on again.

I don't think its the switch or any breaks in the wiring, I think it could be a dodgy relay or something somewhere. But I am not sure why I think this ! I'll probably only get round to fixing it when it breaks completely..

Passengers window works fine.

Any suggestions ?

Sounds to me like that wiring loom needs checking again, vibrations causing problems? how did you repair it?

[El_Bongo]

I was an electrical mechanic in another life and am prety sure motor is short circuit, i can check againstother one, as i said the connector going in to the motor delivers the 12v and 12v reverse when switch operated so if motor functioned then it would run, mine was very hot i suspect it is jammed or the mechanism, i now need to work out how to get it all apart out of the door frame?

[MondoBongo]

"Sounds to me like that wiring loom needs checking again, vibrations causing problems? how did you repair it?"

Hi Kirsty

Truth be told, in a very amateurish manner with connector blocks and tape I think. I guess I must have used a meter to work out which wire was broken. I guess you could be right, re vibrations etc, but it seems a bit odd the kind of 'regularity' of it working and not working.. eg if I am driving along, and I press the button, and nothing happens, so far it's been almost certain that if I leave it say, a minute, then try again, it does work.. Also it always works when the electrics are first turned on. And when its wound right down, its quite lilkely that it will not wind up, unless I turn off the electrics for a minute or so.. Intuitively if the wiring had come apart or there as break preventing it working, then the 'regular' working again after a minute would not apply. Or I am subject to quite a series of coincidences, if you know what I mean..