I feel so defeated. My passenger side window will not work. I removed the door panel and pulled the plug to the power window motor. I ran a jumper from the prongs on the motor pigtail ( looks like it was replaced at one time with an after market motor ) to the battery. The window went up and down as should. I could swap the leads and the window will go up and swap back and the window will go down. So I am concluding it is not the motor. I put a test light on the plug (passenger side) coming from the door switch going to the motor. I got a light on each prong without engaging the button, which is weird. If I hit the up on the button the light went brighter, if I tested the next prong the tester showed a light and when I hit the down the light went brighter. Without hitting the up/down on the switch I was receiving light on both prongs. So I put a voltage meter on each prong and got 8 volts, when I hit the corresponding button it would jump to 12 volts. So I bought a new switch but got the exact same results.

When I tested the drivers side window plug going to the driver side motor from the switch I would only get a light based on which way I pushed the button. The up would give me 12v and 0 when I let off, the down would give me -12v and 0 when I push the up (disabling auto action). That test made perfect sense. I would expect the passenger side to do the same.
Thinking it could be the passenger window switch on the drivers side cluster I replaced the driver side cluster switch. No change - passenger side window still not working.

I confirm the motor with the jumper to the battery, I replaced the passenger and driver side switches and got the same results.

WTH? Why would I get voltage on both leads coming from the passenger switch? I replaced the switch and got the same results.
It sounds like there is a relay switch that is not reseting - but there is no relay I can find for power windows ?

Any help would be greatly appreciated.

 

I would suggest you look in the driver's door hinge area for a possible broken wire. The circuit just reverses polarity when the switch (Is moved for up or down) .
The circuit has lost one of the connections and unfortunately most times it is a broken wire in the driver's door area.. Not a fun job, so if you are going to tackle it , be prepared to get involved. You have to like electrical problems to chase this one down. It will require opening up the covering (rubber boot) that protects the group of wires .
It might be a good idea to get an estimate from a shop that has done this type of work.

 

Thank you for the reply. If one (1) wire going to the door switch was cut would it cause the output from the door switch going to the motor to put voltage on both leads?

 

One side always has to have a ground to use . In this case it appears that ground is not available .

 

OOOOH ... That makes sense. I am going to search for a broken wire ...

Thanks,

 

When the master is not being used it provides the ground to complete the circuit. Without a wiring diagram , this can take some time to verify and chase down.

Have been there with both door panels removed to make some things a little easier.

 

hanky - you called it - driver side door .... thank you very much...

 

Good work !
If I may,,,,,,,,,,do not just use a splice connector for the repair because it will shortly break again next to the splice.

Try to use the same size wire (14 Ga.) and make a movable loop that will move every time the door is opened and the splice will last a lot longer.
It will spread the movement over a longer distance and not break..
Thanks for the great pictures, this will help a lot of folks that were not sure what to look for. Nice work.!

 

By moveable loop - do you mean adding a small (about 1.5") wire to form a loop from each broken end with butt connectors ?

 

At least 1.5 in. Check to see what will fit and work in the tight area.
Pretty sure you don't want to go through this again.
The biggest problem is the butt connectors, they don't like to flex, lol.