[Rocketfuel]

2001 mt. The window motor has been strong so far. If the motor was broken, would it still roll down? I tried rolling it up from the driver side as well as from the passenger side. I'll check the fuse now, but i doubt that's it because It rolled down fine. I saw that it would be wire damage in the door from opening and closing, but if it was a bad wire would it still roll down? I read through all the threads and couldn't find much. Thanks for the help🇺🇸

 

[Rocketfuel]

I had a similar experience. It turned out to be the window switch at the dash board. If I played with it I could get it to work intermittently. That's how I isolated the problem.

Wow, thank you for the response, that's the last thing I would have thought. I already had plans to pull the motor tomorrow and try to see if that's it. Can you be more specific on what you did to mess with the switch?

 

[Rocketfuel]

It may not be your problem but..... I could get the driver's window to go down but it wouldn't go up. I had to wiggle the switch and hope. I bought a used unit on eBay and had it replaced

Ahh, ok. Thank you for clarifying. I doubt it's the switch because it's the passenger side and neither switch works. (Driver has a switch for both)

 

[Rocketfuel]

This might not be the problem with your window, but the window switch on the driver's side can break in such a way that the least bit of downward force can start it moving downward (like it does normally) but when you release the switch, the switch does not pop back up enough to actually turn off. With the switch still on, the window motor stays on after the window reaches the bottom of the door. After it has been on long enough, the resettable thermal circuit breaker inside the motor trips. It will keep the motor shut off until it cools enough to connect again. The motor will come on because the switch on the dash is still closed, the motor will not move because the window is already down, get hot again, rinse and repeat.

If you push the switch up to close the window, nothing will happen if you happen to push it up while the thermal breaker is still closed. In that case you can hold it up and wait for the thermal breaker to reset, and the window should go back up.

Once you lift the window switch up, and release, it will tend to stay in the off position until you press it down again.

Those of us with this problem learn to lift the switch after rolling the window down, or stop the window before it rolls down all the way, in which case the switch will be off and the thermal breaker will not flip.

Sometimes the motors do burn out or the brushes wear out. Then it is a different problem.

Thank you for the in depth explanation. According to what I understand, It might not be that because when my passenger rolled down the window, they only rolled it down part way, I tried to roll it up, but it wouldn't roll up. I then asked the passenger to roll it up, but it wouldn't. Then I kept switching it to up and down out of frustration and it ended up going all the way down. Do you think this will disqualify it from this particular condition, or do you still think that could be the problem? Another thing is that I have parked the car for a couple of days and tried to roll it up again to no avail.

 

[Rocketfuel]

You can diagnose the most common failure mode of the main window switch for the passenger side easily.

You need to be in a quiet environment with the car off. On the main window switch, move the passenger side lever up and down. You should hear a mechanical click in each direction.

Report back here.

Excellent, thank you for the response. To be clear, by main switch, you mean the driver's side? And the reason for it being off it to hear the mechanical connection? I guess since the driver side is working well I should be able to compare the 2, and likely compare the sound when I move the switch into the down position as those are working.

 

[Rocketfuel]

Sean is confusing the dash bezel with the instrument cluster. You do not need to remove the instrument cluster to get access to the power window switch module. (But if you are in that far, might as well do "dash buttons" if it hasn't happened already.)

You do, however, need to remove the dash bezel to access/repair/replace the power window switch module. Which, if you don't know what you are doing, you will probably crack the dash bezel.

If all this is a little overwhelming, then I would suggesting waiting for a day it isn't raining and take a trip up to Jue Motors in Covina, CA. Whatever the problem is, we can definitely fix it.

Lots of good info here. I'll read up and report back. Thanks guys!

 

[Rocketfuel]

@Bull Dog thank you for setting me straight on this.
@Rocketfuel you are in San Diego! By all means, take Bull Dog's advice and make the trip to Jue Motors and let them fix this. Not that you won't be able to, but they can also check out your car and get you set up with some essentials, if you don't have them already, like new rear springs and Gaz shocks. These are a great upgrade, and @KLR3CYL there sells them. I have some in my car. He is also a source of hard-to-find Insight parts. You are fortunate to be so close.

Definitely, thanks for the update. I pulled the motor and that seems to be the issue, but they only sell the motor by itself and I'm not sure how to disconnect it from the window harness assembly. So, I'm just going to try to fix the motor myself first. I'll keep you posted.

 

[Rocketfuel]

I pulled the motor and it works. So next will be testing the switches

 

[Rocketfuel]

It is the driver side switch. First, i tested the relay switch, then I powered on the car and can hear the relay switch when pressing on the driver side switch, but when pressing on the passenger side the relay is silent. That tells me there is no power going to the relay. Am I correct?

 

[Rocketfuel]

Yep, it was main switch on driver's side. I got lazy though and pried the dash enough to slip new switch in and....sh**t, cracked the dash. There goes the value of my car. It is actually just a hair-line crack, not really in your face.

Great, so where should I start looking for one? Or is it possible to solder?