Why you should clean your window switches...
12-17-11, 12:04 AM
#1
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Why you should clean your window switches...
I've seen photos posted before, but man, I was really surprised how much carbon build-up there is on a car that's 18 years old (I guess I shouldn't be).
Long story short, after getting my 7 put back together and running after sitting for a bit, I went to roll-down my passenger side window and found that it was absolutely dead. This was a bit weird, since it was working fine when I took the car apart.
I remember reading a post about cleaning the contact points on the switch and how if the driver's side switch is out, then the passenger door won't work either. So I took the driver and passenger window switches out, took them apart and found this:
And after some WD-40 and a little wire brushing:
As long as you're careful with the plastic tabs, and do it in a controlled area where you can easily find the spring and bearing if it flys outta your hand, its pretty easy.
After slapping it all back together, the windows worked perfectly. In fact, they kinda work better (maybe just me) but it feels a heckuva lot faster and less effort required to get it to kick in. I still need to clean and grease the window tracks, but that's for another day.
Just thought I'd share...if you've got some free time and have never done it before, I highly recommend it.
Long story short, after getting my 7 put back together and running after sitting for a bit, I went to roll-down my passenger side window and found that it was absolutely dead. This was a bit weird, since it was working fine when I took the car apart.
I remember reading a post about cleaning the contact points on the switch and how if the driver's side switch is out, then the passenger door won't work either. So I took the driver and passenger window switches out, took them apart and found this:
And after some WD-40 and a little wire brushing:
As long as you're careful with the plastic tabs, and do it in a controlled area where you can easily find the spring and bearing if it flys outta your hand, its pretty easy.
After slapping it all back together, the windows worked perfectly. In fact, they kinda work better (maybe just me) but it feels a heckuva lot faster and less effort required to get it to kick in. I still need to clean and grease the window tracks, but that's for another day.
Just thought I'd share...if you've got some free time and have never done it before, I highly recommend it.
12-17-11, 10:15 AM
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When I first bought my car (previous owner removed A/C), I accidentally bumped the switch to off, and I couldn't figure out why the passenger window wouldn't go down. Needless to say, I was very hot, and very mad.
