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On my 1968 Olds 98 convertible, the power windows and seats have stopped working. I checked the circuit breaker on the firewall in the engine compartment, and there is power. Where is the relay located? Is it in the driver's side kick panel? What all should I be checking to see where the failure is
Yes there is a relay behind the drivers side kick panel. I'd do a test bypassing the relay with a jumper to see if that gets power to the window or seat switches.
I've had this relay go bad on a couple of cars. The relay is an isolation relay that only provides power to the accessories if the key is in the RUN or ACC position. The relay is simply GM's way of avoiding running the high accessory current through the contacts on the ignition switch. Be sure your jumper uses wire heavy enough to carry the current.
The relay inside the driver's side kick panel was good. The grounding was bad. A little bit of sand paper scrubbing on the relay, the panel and the contacts, helped. When it was placed back and the kick panel installed, it again stopped working. A few knocks to the kick panel got it to work. The mechanic will take another look at it tomorrow. Maybe another relay that has a ground connector might help. The contacts on the new relay are placed differently and the wire connectors will have to be changed.