Tony

Do you have to push hard on your switches at certain angles to get them to work???

http://members.rennlist.com/v1uhoh/windowSW.htm

just threw together a small page on the way i fixed mine.

Corrosion and erosion of the metal contact surface is the cause along with interference from the plastic switch casing.





HTH




Rest of my site is at the link below.

Rez

Tony,

that's obviously a hand model. There is no grease under those fingernails.

Seriously, Cheers, good stuff

Rez

Steve J.

This couldn't have come at a better time. Just what I needed to know. Thanks, Tony!

Marc Schwager

Depending on the vintage of those switches, watch out for little parts falling out! (ask me how I know)

I now take the side panels off and unplug the switches so I can repair them on a flat well lit surface.

John Struthers

Armed only with an Exacto and good intentions Tony began with a bi-lateral inscision...
Yours looks like the newer type.
I don't have interference problems with mine.
I'm still having - unrelated - feed problems with the new sunroof
switch.
I agree with Marc; the early switches had little ball bearing rocker type innards with tiny springs and the requisite grounding 'flats'. They had a light coat of grease that when cleaned off let the pieces leave my control and find their way between the console and seats...argh! Investing in a telescoping magnet helps. In any case the window switchs differ substancially from the rear wiper and sunroof, at least on Pattycakes.
The routing of the wires is something we all can look at to expedite servicing in the future. A little carving on the center console framing and switch opening is in order and routing the wires inside the framing -out of the way -assuming there is adequate length- also eases installation of the console side covers particularly the passanger side.
Additional problems arise when the new switch you recieve has a 'different'
mating block than the original. In my case I just removed the leads from the block and installed them in the 'old' connector. Watch your wire color matching.
While tinkering with my switches extended their life by well over six months I feel that the investment in time doesn't warrant the tinkering on old switches -your call- and that while no real cheap new switches are the way to go. This is just my opinion tempered by many hours casing german sparks.

Tony

Your window switches sound like my old seat switches. One of my very first mechanical things i attempted on my 928 was to fix a seat that wouldnt come back to the vertical postion after reclining. Bad switch.


I think "Oh #$%#" were the words that came out of my mouth when 4 tiny bearings and springs dropped out of the first switch i opened and scattered in 8 differnt directions. The next one i opened over a cookie sheet borrowed from the wifes pantry...which is when i actaully introduced my wife to the first of many 928 mechanical fix-it things id be working on!

Red UFO

Tony,

Great website I bookmarked it

Another reason rennlist is great, superb page, much needed.

Thom1

Great web-page Tony with excellent solutions. That would have saved me some wasted time a few years ago.

Another problem with the switch sticking can be solved by shaving down the front and rear lower edges of the upper switch plate. The problem is that the vinyl or leather in the center console shrinks to interfere with movement of the upper switch plate.

A solution for worn out icons/white images on the upper switch plates is to get the overlay from Jager Engineering.

Intrinsicate

Hey, Tony!
I, too, had a window-switch in pieces this weekend. It seemed to me that the actual mechanism was remarkably robust, but there was plently of scope for the plastic parts to deform. I imagine lots of people have purchased new switches, at substantial expense, and thrown away old units that could have been cleaned/adjusted at no cost whatsoever.
How about this southern Nevada "winter"??
Michael

Tony

Yup, agreed Michael!!! As i said mine were brand spanking new not 4 yrs ago...they do see alot of use though.
Mark your schedule for Feb 7-8. The Porsche Owners Club is racing at the Speedway. Mark Anderson should be there and some others i think. Perhaps round up a few cars and go watch...lunch/dinner in the evening?
Ill send out an email.

Whitesands

Hi Tony,

Just completed your excellent solution to fix the passenger window switch.

Thanks for posting the article, I enjoyed doing this little fix.

jpitman2

A good start, but not useful to me . My 83 has what looks like a separate metal tray housing the switches, and all you can do with levering at them is to remove the rocker part. It may be related to either the MY being early-ish, or that the console is leather covered....Anybody else removed switches from earlier than S4 please?
jp 83 Euro S AT 52.k

Mrmerlin

JP the switches will come out and it will be easier to try to push them out from behind they have 2 bent fingers holding them in try pushing up on either end of the switch.
Usually if you install a new switch and it soon fails then there is extra drag on the motor and lift portion of the window lift system.
try cleaning and lubricating the arm pivot,
clean out the motor and lubricate it,
add some fresh lube to the window roller,
lubricate the door locks from the inside.
Tighten all of the exposed bolts on the door panel so to keep the motor arm system tight to the door

bronto

My own experience (YMMV) is that the original switch design (models ending in 01 or 03) are the better design. They are more complex with more moving parts that you are likely to lose, but everything looks and feels like it was designed to work. The newer ones are simple and cheaply made. You should be able to find the originals at the usual places. I got mine at Sharktoberfest.

jpitman2

Finally got around to doing the sunroof switch - total failure to open. Curious mix of operating mechanisms. The rear wiper is like half an early seat switch - centre power, rocker tips a contact pivoted in centre on the +12V into contact with whatever drives the wiper (probably relay). The others are blades pushed in to trip an over centre arm as tony describes. Once I had levered off the outer switch rockers I could undo the 4 screws that held the metal tray in place (needed removal, cleanup and repaint black). This tray is really only decorative, as the switches are mounted in the plastic of the console body. I removed the rear wiper switch and lead ( 2 wires, small plug), then the driver window switch and lead, and then it was easy to manoeuvre the sun roof lead out from under. I fitted a new sunroof switch complete, But I have checked out the innards of the old one, and it may be reusable for somebody one day.
jp 83 Euro S AT 54k