Don't exactly know why either. Yeah, they're 20+ year old motors. But they didn't show any real sign of aging. They worked fine all up till yesterday when I turned my car off to walk inside a place to pick up a pizza and then I come back out to roll my windows down and....they won't move at all.

I checked the fuse, fuse is good. Even replaced it just in case and still doesn't work. I press the buttons and the voltmetet doesn't budge at all like it usually does when I use my windows. I don't get it. Why would they just stop working just like that without any realy sign of showing that they might quit on me? And yes, they are connected if by some crazy *** chance they harnesses were disconnected. Any help is appreciated.

I'll mention that my ignition was acting funky yesterday too, maybe it's linked. What was happening was that I would turn the key to start and it wouldn't do anything, but as soon as I returned it to the ON position it would beging to start. It was like it was shorting or something....

 

just try cleaning your terminals where the wires go into the switches, and blow air into them, it worked for me, but mine were just sticking... good luck

 

To clarify: Neither window is working?
Are you getting voltage at the switch?

 

Mine did that also - assuming it not electrical or a bad motor - you have to open up the switch housings and clean the contacts...

 

Both windows aren't working. And as far as I can tell neither is getting any voltage. The volt metet usually moves quite a bit when I use the windows. I don't have any tools to really tell if it is getting power...other than some cheap light bulb method. heh

The switches are fine, cuz they are pretty new...they're not old.

 

I have the same problem. My windows seem to work when I click them up and down a few times. Sometimes I have to open my door to get the driver's window to go up. Very weird. Or even turn on the lights.

 

Are you actually getting power to the switches themselves? Your multimeter can determine that out. If no, then your switches aren't the problem, it's something before that. If you are then it's your switches, which doesn't seem like they would ALL the sudden not work.

 

And where can I get this multimeter and how much would that cost?

 

You should be able to get a multimeter at any hardware-type store... possibly at auto parts stores too. An easier method for you might be an automotive voltage probe... it's a little screwdriver-like thingy with a wire coming out the end-- you clip an alligator clip to ground somewhere (the frame of the car) and can touch the probe to electrical contacts-- the light bulb in the tool will light up when there's voltage (12V).

The voltmeter is a little more complex, and probably not needed if you're just using it on your car.

 

try cleaning inside the switched. The same thing hap-pened to me i found out that there was some crap that was blocking elecrical signal from the switch to the motor.

 

I would think it to be very unlikely that it is a problem with your window switches. Odds of both of them going bad at the exact same time are pretty high. You said that your ignition was acting up. No power goes to the window switches without the ignition switch being turned on. Just a hunch but I would suspect that is where your problem is happening. Do all of your other accessories work when you turn the ignition switch to the on position without starting the car? If not, then the odds of a bad ignition switch are pretty good.

Good luck! Electrical problems suck.

 

Every since I have owned my car my windows have always worked whether or not my ignition is turned on or off. I don't need a key in either to run them. That's odd that you say that power only goes through when the ignition is turned on. When in my car it doesn't matter. Now in my bro's 84 GSL, it's different. He needs to have it on for the windows to work.

However, I guess I am willing to bet it's my ignition. And I can't afford to fix that nor do I know how to. Maybe I'll just have to start looking for a new car...

 

Or just hotwire some power to your switches.
This would be a fairly simple process, and would work the same as it did before.
Or find somebody near you who can fix it for you... it'd be kind of ridiculous to get a new car because your electric windows stopped working :-)

But yeah, something was wrong if they worked while the ignition was off....

~enigma32~

 

Yeah, I'm just annoyed at my car because ever since I moved back to IL with it it's been falling apart every week. And then I get a decent paying job and what do ya know...even MORE things break down. It's the Rockford curse. God I hate living here.

 

sounds to me like somebody has "hotwired" the switches before, they are probably not on the same circuit (the one you replaced the fuse in) anymore. I would say that a previous owner hooked up the switches to a constant power source, as opposed to a switched power source which is why you were able to use your windows while the ignition key was in the off position.

The fix for this...

1. trace back the wiring for the switch now, which i truly hope is fused somewhere. Im willing to bet that fuse is burnt out.

or....

2. rewire your switches back to the stock wiring, which will be switched like its supposed to be

 

That's possible considering the previous owner has fuxed up most of the wiring. He had a competition sound setup installed. I think he hacked allot of wires or something. Like allot of things that would normally work in other cars like mine, don't work in mine.

 

By the way would an 84-85 ignition switch work on older models?