When you click on links to various merchants on this site and make a purchase, this can result in this site earning a commission. Affiliate programs and affiliations include, but are not limited to, the eBay Partner Network.
The power windows went out on both sides on my 86 within a couple weeks of one another. I haven't completed diagnostics yet- on my first foray I couldn't get the connector off of the driver's side motor, decided to retreat and refresh my patience rather than going all gorilla on it.
Have power to switch, and sunroof works, so I think the initial power circuit and relay are OK.
Looking over many, many threads on this- I see that some have success cleaning up the motors but that oftentimes folks find a broken wire on both pass and driver's side.
My harnesses are intact, so I'd like to be fairly surgical if I need to cut the casing & inspect the wires under the chafe-guard. Can anyone provide a very specific explanation of where in the harness they found a break? Most descriptions aren't clear about whether it is most common in the plastic tube, in the door, or in the unibody/under the dash. Wire jacket color(s) appreciated as well, if available.
Thanks.
Last edited by SMTCapeCod; 10-23-2015 at 10:35 PM.
The last couple wire failures I've diagnosed were in the flex tube or adjacent to it. I used a cable tracer (tone generator and non-contact receiver) to pin the location without having to strip apart the whole harness. The motor needs to be unplugged to do it this way. Ohm meter identified which conductor was broken before trying to identify the location in the harness.
Regardless of location, it's still necessary to pull the harness out to do proper repairs. Solder-and-shrink seems like it would be the solution, but this just moves the flex/stress area to smaller sections adjacent to that repair. You'll want to substitute some fine-strand wire for the broken piece, splice out of the flex regions at the tube. Consider that all the wires are flexing the same amount, so it's likely they are close to failure too.
The last couple wire failures I've diagnosed were in the flex tube or adjacent to it. I used a cable tracer (tone generator and non-contact receiver) top pin the location without having to strip apart the whole harness. The motor needs to be unplugged to do it this way. Ohm meter identified which conductor was broken before trying to identify the location in the harness.
Regardless of location, it's still necessary to pull the harness out to do proper repairs. Solder-and-shrink seems like it would be the solution, but this just moves the flex/stress area to smaller sections adjacent to that repair. You'll want to substitute some fine-strand wire for the broken piece, splice out of the flex regions at the tube. Consider that all the wires are flexing the same amount, so it's likely they are close to failure too.
Yep.
That flex point tube is unforgiving. My first symptom was I dropped a speaker. Dissected and found the break along with wires that looked like they were ready to go. Though time consuming, I spliced before and aft the tube so that only whole wires were to be in there. I left slack on each end at the splice points to allow for movement, and I slathered a little grease in there.
Thank you, that helps and the tip regarding the likely shortfall of soldering/shrink wrap is a great insight.
Fine strand wire- is that a specification I can look for?
Seems I can hone in on the tube and area just inboard of that as likely problem areas, and I'll see if I can get smarter regarding use of the ohmeter.
Is there a plug for the door harness(es) under the dash, or is it just spliced into one of the main dash bundles?
I don't recall a specific plug. If I recall there was one of those factory black wrapped bundle of wires which fed into the tube. IIRC there was a white plug with two wires for the alarm business.
Extremely helpful, now I have a better sense of what I'm up against and how folks have tackled repairs. Your thread on taking the pins our of the plugs was great.
10-23-2015, 08:58 PM
Power windows- location of common broken wires
