awells25

I have a question to see if anyone else has had this problem. I got into my car yesterday an 1988 GXL and my drivers window would not go down. It was half way down at the time but it went up perfectly fine. Anyone have a fix for this issue?

Kellis

iTrader: (4)

If it only travels in one direction that would seem to indicate that one of the contacts on the switch (the driver's side, which rolls the window down) is burnt up. This happens because the full current to power the motors passes through the crappy window switch instead of through a relay triggered by the switch like most modern vehicles.

To fix this, you have two options: buy a working, new or used window switch and wait for it to break again down the road. Or do the relay mod, where you add in relays to control the full current (10+ amps) needed to roll the windows up/down and the window switch itself only powers the relay coil (~20 milliamps, usually). For this you still might need a new switch, but they won't burn out later on. Here's a link to the tutorial:

FC3S Power Window Relay Mod - AusRotary

Hope that helps. You could try disassembling your switch and seeing if the one side is burnt up. Cleaning it might solve the issue temporarily.

Jake the Snake

I agree, I think your problem is dirty contacts in the switch. On mine the passenger window stopped rolling up from the drivers switch (but the passenger side switch worked fine).

I took mine out and cleaned it really good with some contact cleaner and sandpaper until everything was shiny again. I figure if it went 100,000 miles before it started to fail the first time, I can get another 100k after rebuilding it.

The relay mod would be the most ideal option though

Akagis_white_comet

iTrader: (4)

Jake the Snake is correct. Disassemble the switch, clean the contacts and reinstall. I had to do this with my passenger side switch years ago as the passenger side window wouldn't work at all, due to current passing through it, even when you use the driver's switch.

Relays are cheap, window switches aren't. When I have a chance to, Project OldTree is getting window relays too. One tends to accumulate fuses and relays when frequenting salvage yards.