yeahbuddy

Hello guys,

I am determined to figure out why for the last 3 years (since I got the car) my passenger side windows do not roll down. The switches are getting power. The drivers side works perfectly and rolls up and down fast. The passenger has not rolled down since I bought the car but I have noticed something odd. There has been 3 occasians when I randomly try to roll down the pass front window and it slowly goes down and struggles to go up (somethings I need to assist it to completely close) so that tells me there is life!!

I have been fishing around the power window posts and a lot of you suggest looking at the power window relay first. I downloaded the wildcats electric manual did not see anything covering the power windows. Almost all the electrics in the car function properly except I have had the GEN light on front day 1 and my low beams do not light up only when the high beams are on. The person I bought it from told me the GEN light has been on since he bought the car from another buddy. He told me he switched out the voltage regulator and it didnt do anything. I took some detailed pics of a couple relays in the hood with the wiring. I am scared to touch anything I dont know about so can you guys see something I dont? Help! Thanks

relay1.jpg
relay2.jpg
relay3.jpg
relay4.jpg

Allan R

Check the grease on the channels and drive gear. It might be missing or turned hard. That will strain the PW motor a lot and create a similar condition. Has the PS window ever been replaced? Might be in the sash channel crooked and binding?

yeahbuddy

The car was pretty original as far as parts go when I bought it. Something I didn't mention is on my voltage gauge, when I roll down one of the working windows, the voltage will drop a tad bit. Last year when I would try to roll down the pass front window I would see the voltage drop everytime I clicked the button downward but it wouldn't move...it does not do that at all anymore. As if it is not drawing any power when I click the switches which leaves me convinced it is a connection problem somewhere.

Allan R

It could also be a really bad ground. These old power options relied very heavily on grounds. That voltage drop is a strong indicator you might have a bad one in that circuit.

Yellowstatue

The right front window has a separate harness that plugs into the rest of the PW harnes just behind the headlight switch...the right rear harness is part of the main PW harness...the power relay for this stuff is behind the left kick panel and just below the upper door hinge facing rearward and you must be double jointed to change it...but it won't be the relay...the main problem with the harness seems to be at the door jamb inside the boot! You probably have a broken wire in there with possibly only a couple strands of wire to complete the circuit.

yeahbuddy

I looked under the left kick panel and I didn't see the relay. I have a black block off plate to the left of the e-brake pedal. My accessories plug into the accessories tab on the fuse box but something odd I noticed is one time while I was driving, it came loose and was clicking on and off as it was getting and losing power to my accessories. During that time it was clicking on and off rapidly I tried rolling down the pass front window and it worked. I pulled over and plugged in the accessorie connection all the way back in and it stopped.

Basically, this car is how I learn and I do not have the confidence to start going through wires. Money is tight but I want to get the windows open finally. Can one of you give me a suggestion on how to get this taken care of and what price range I will be looking at?

yeahbuddy

Do you have any visuals of where the grounds are located. Im not even sure if that relay I posted is linked to the windows or the horn.

Lady72nRob71

If the right windows do not move with the drivers main switch or the individual switches, it is time to break out the voltmeter.

The longer pin (sometimes with a blue retainer on it that unscrews off) is the hot 12V side. The other two pins are for the motor, one for down, one for up. The ground is made throught he regulator, door, and door hinge.

Pop the switches out of the right doors and turn the key on.
Measure from the longer center pin to ground - should be around 12V. Now measure there while operating the switch up or down. If motor is okay, the voltage there should drop some. If not, measure from the other two pins of the switch while operating the switch in both directions. 12V should be seen there as the switch is moved - one pin is down, other is up. If you get those, the the wiring should be okay.

To check the gound path, take a pice of stiff wire or a coathanger and connect one side under one of the regulator bolts to a bolt on the car body.
If the window still does not move, then the motor is bad and the regulator will need to come out for servicing.

You had mentioned that they kinda worked before, so I assume they were all gummed up with dry grease and dirt. Forcing them to run that way or while stalled can have easily burned the motor windings open.

MDchanic

Yeah, this is basic electromechanical troubleshooting, but you need some of the basics first.

First thing, the power window information is not in the Chassis Service Manual, it's in the Fisher Body Manual.
You need to read through it so you can understand what is going on.

Second, this:relay1.jpg is the horn relay.

I'm not sure which relay this relay3.jpg is, but I don't think it is the accessory or power window relay.

Third, if your ALT light won't go off, you've got a problem, and you should fix it.
How 'bout posting some pictures of your alternator, front and back, so we can see what you've got there, to start with.

Fourth, a bad connection, including possible frayed wires inside the door hinge pass-through, is a good possibility for part of your problem, but a good deal of your problem sounds mechanical - you need to open up those doors and clean and re-lube all the wheels and tracks, and make sure that everything is attached and aligned correctly.
Sometimes when the grease on window mechanisms dries out and they get tight, forcing them to move puts excess strain on them, and a weak link, such as a nylon roller, breaks.

Check all of these things out and get back to us so we can give you more specific advice, if you need it.

- Eric

Lady72nRob71

That is the AC blower high speed relay.

yeahbuddy

Eric, the GEN light has been on since I bought the car 3 years ago. The person I bought it from said even after changing the voltage regulator it did the same thing. I've gone through 2 different alternators and its done the same thing. I bought a stock alt from Auto Zone and it was only getting 12v when accelerating so I switched over to a high output alt which is giving me 12v at idle and 14v when driving. Everything charges fine, my battery never goes dead.

Im either going to take off those door panels and see if I can notice anything wrong. But as I mentioned before, I've checked if the pass door switches are getting power and they are. When I used to try to roll down the front pass I would see the voltage from from 14v to 12v....same when I use the working windows but since then I get no reaction from either of the pass side windows.

If worst comes to worst Im going to have to take it to someone who knows what they are doing.

MDchanic

The big draw --> little draw could indicate either a motor or a wire burned out after straining too hard.

You've really just got to take it apart and check it out.

Personally, I'd recommend doing it yourself, as you never know how much the "expert" knows.

- Eric

Lady72nRob71

Sounds like the motors were stalled.
In operating them stalled, you had either burned the contacts in the switches (which can be checked by shorting the long 12V pin on the switch to one of the other pins), or burned open the motor windings.
The motors are available but you need to remove the regulators to replace them easily.
Do NOT replace the regulators if the gears look good. The chinesium repops could be like mine and strip out after 20 uses.

djcrook73

in a case like this, i usually take the door panel off try to power the motor directly and clean and relube all moving parts with white lithium grease. if the motor is weak/bad it may work for a second or two then require cool down time and a few tries to get it back up. if it works fine then you work your way out from there and follow/test the wiring and switches which i noticed you have. one of the other guys suggested the wiring in the door jamb area and after thousands of door open and closes over 40+ years combined with aged wiring that gets brittle over time, i agree it's a problem area also. hope that helps and good luck

rocwal

Does this only do it from the master switch or passenger door switch ,or both . my 68 98 convert had same problem found it was bad contac inside switch , they can be taken apart cleaned , lightly sanded the contacs ,and put back together ,most time will work ok .

Dan B

yeahbuddy

It does this on all switches