Shaughan Keaton

I have had a similar problem with windows working intermittently in my 81. My driver side has always worked, but the passenger side only does sometimes. Yesterday, the passenger side decided to work (a friend rolled it down) but once down would not go back up. To add to it, now the driver side does not work. Fuses and relays look fine. Grounds to the circuit board are cleaned. What else might explain intermittent window function?

Also, neither seat controls nor sunroof work.

Randy V

Start a new thread - introduce yourself and your car - with pics.

Then start another thread, asking questions.

This existing thread is about the ignition switch, not window switches.

Oh, and read thru the New Visitor...FAQ sticky today!

Shaughan Keaton

Hi, thanks for the advice, will do. However, I will say that it turned out to be very relevant. I played around with my ignition and like he suggested and was able to get my window up! VERY HAPPY!!!!! Time to call 928international.

mkhargrove

it looks like they were initially assembled with petroleum based grease. at this point, that grease is not only an adhesive, it's also going to leave a layer of insulation on any contacts. i've had success with other switches by simply drilling a couple tiny holes in the house, and spraying wd40 inside, letting it sit, repeating a couple times, (dissolving old grease), then "rinsing" with denatured alcohol. i think at that time if was using a spray di-electric grease to re-lubricate. now that i think about it, i had a hummer h3 that has a sensor that measured voltage through the key (security) and would disarm the vehicle if it thought someone was using something other than the key (screwdriver). Over time, grunge from use got on the contacts and changed the voltage which made me unable to drive my vehicle without a 10 minute time out quite frequently. The switch was going to be a pain in the butt to tear apart, so i used the "drill a hole" method and never had another problem.

mkhargrove

I drilled a hole from the "prong" side to try to make my switch work better as a last ditch effort before replacement. I cut through in the area that would be where the end of the thumb is in the pic above (showing contact side of the brown plastic piece). i put the switch in a small bowl with a mixture of gas/diesel and held the switch in the fluid until it was about half full...i shook it and dumped it out.....black with a lot of metal particles. i did it again, and it was fairly clean. I squirted some denatured alcohol in and quickly dumped it out and then sprayed in a generous amount of aerosol dielectric grease (someone might have a better idea to re-lubricate. I plugged the hold with a tiny ball of epoxy putty. It seems that the ball bearing that stops in the off/on/run position is clicking into it's groove more cleanly. i suspect that i has an occasional electrical gremlin when that bearing wasn't seating properly and allowing the arm to drift and break the electrical contact.... these switches seem to be built pretty ruggedly in the area where the contacts are located, so i wouldn't be surprised if a lot of "bad switch" problems are due to the ball bearing not seating properly in each key position. i'm not sure what type of lubricant is used when they're assembled, but i'm assuming that it gradually turns to an adhesive and causes malfunction...i'm hoping my suggestion might buy extra years for switches that would otherwise get trashed...