Power windows stopped working

Tiny
JPUTNAM
  • MEMBER
  • 1998 DODGE DURANGO
  • 5.2L
  • V8
  • 4WD
  • AUTOMATIC
  • 153,000 MILES
Driver side window quit working other three windows working. I used to be able to pull on the window to help it up while holding the switch in the up position. So I got a used master switch same thing happening. I got a new regulator and motor and same thing happening.
Friday, June 8th, 2018 AT 1:45 PM

3 Replies

Tiny
CARADIODOC
  • MECHANIC
  • 33,916 POSTS
Based on the combination of symptoms, the best suspect is the rubber channels are gummed up with dirt and bug juice. That makes the glass unable to slide freely. The higher effort needed to move the glass results in the motor drawing very high current, and that overheats the contacts in the switch, This may have happened to your used switch too.

The first thing to do is wash both rubber channels with Silicone Spray Lube. It goes on like water, evaporates in a few minutes, and leaves a film of "slippery" behind. Avoid getting this lube on painted surfaces as much as possible because it causes problems for body shop people when they want to repaint the area. If the window runs at normal speed after that, you are done. If it' I still slow, measure the voltage across the two motor terminals. You should find near full battery voltage when a switch is pressed. Polarity is not important; just the voltage. If the voltage is lower than battery voltage which is 12.6 volts, suspect the switch, but we can do additional voltage tests to verify that.

Frayed wires between the door hinges and arced ignition switch contacts cause this type of problem too, but we can eliminate that based on the fact the other windows work okay.
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Friday, June 8th, 2018 AT 9:19 PM
Tiny
JPUTNAM
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Okay, I do not have the window bolted to the regulator yet, but the motor is not doing anything. What color wires do I check for voltage?
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Saturday, June 9th, 2018 AT 6:23 AM
Tiny
CARADIODOC
  • MECHANIC
  • 33,916 POSTS
There are two wires going to the motor. For the tests to be accurate for this type of problem, use a test light instead of a digital voltmeter, if possible, and do the tests with the wires connected to the motor, again, if possible. If you can imagine looking at the huge volume of water behind the Hoover Dam, and how much electricity you could generate with that, you have to have a really huge pipe for that water to flow through. If you only have a hole half the diameter of a pencil, you can't do much work with that. The same thing applies to this type of circuit problem. All you need is one tiny strand of copper wire still intact to get a good solid twelve volt reading, but you would never get enough current through that to run a window motor. The voltmeter does not draw any current to do its thing, so the circuit will look good with just that one remaining strand of wire. A test light needs current to work, and the motor needs lots of current to run. If that current cannot get through an arced switch contact or a frayed wire to run the motor, that will quickly show up with a test light.

Connect the test light to the motor's two wires. It should be nice and bright when you press the switch either way. If it is not, you can figure out which of those wires has the problem by moving the test light's ground clip to a paint-free point on the body, and leaving the probe on one of the motor's wires. Press the switch one way, then the other way. One way you should get zero volts and the other way you should get twelve volts. If you get zero volts, then, ... Oh, ... Say, eight volts, that circuit has the problem.

Do the same test on the other wire. If you get twelve volts when pressing the switch one way, and something, but much less the other way, it is the other circuit that has the problem. The twelve volts is being split between the motor and the bad connection in the other circuit. To say that a different way, the bad circuit is not providing a solid ground circuit.

I am sorry that I am not explaining that very well. It is much easier to do with a diagram on the blackboard that I can point to. I purposely overlooked testing before the switch, meaning looking for frayed wires between the door hinges, because the other windows work properly. Current for them all goes through the driver's switch assembly and the same twelve volt and ground wires in the driver's door used by the driver's window, so all of that must be okay.

Based on what you find, we might be able to determine right away what is wrong, otherwise I will dig up a wiring diagram and we can look at the wires at the switch.
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Saturday, June 9th, 2018 AT 10:59 PM

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