jns

Today when I turned the ignition on the pwr. windows,mirrors,dash lights,turn signals,starter and taillights were dead. They were working yesterday. The headlights and pwr. locks work. I didn't check before but the window winder relay was hot enough to cook a steak on. Any ideas before I call in an exorcist for these gremlins? Also, what are the white round things near the battery on the firewall under the cover with the brown wires coming out of it?

Rich Sandor

Nice. Have fun finding the short now that the battery is dead!!!!

Hmm.. couldn't find anything like that on my car. Photos? Maybe they are aftermarket alarm wires or something...

951Porschiste

I think this is what he's talking about. Aren't they some sort of ballast resistors?

jns

Yes sir, that would be the white gizmos in question however yours look pretty nice. Mine are corroded as hell. Also,my battery is charged up so it's not the culprit. I've cleaned a lot of grounding points and am going to clean the connections at the starter tomorrow. Is it normal for the window winder relay to get so hot? I wasn't even using the windows. What else does it operate so I can try to find a short(sunroof,etc.?). Could the relay be shorted out inside somehow. I pulled it off of the fuse box but still don't have power to the other accessories mentioned above. Please help.

hosrom_951

Those resistors are for the radiator fans, you're sig says you're car is an '86?
The '86 resistors were under the passenger side's dash, the later cars have them in the battery compartment area........you're pic suggests an '86 with the resistors in the battery area

Zero10

Haha, finally somebody else with the power window gremlin. I actually melted 3 relays into a puddle before I just took the case off one. That kept it cool enough, but every couple of weeks I had to replace the resistor at the top.

I searched and searched through my entire damn car, and never found the problem.
Eventually the car burned from something completely unrelated, but still, let us know if you do find the problem.

jns

Yikes! Sorry to hear about your car burning. With this old wiring, I might look into an emergency batt. disconnect and a Halon kit. I have to be able to drive it first,though. OK, so is it normal for the window winder relay to get so hot even when not using the pwr. windows or does this definitely mean a short? Also, when the windows did work the other day, I noticed they wouldn't work for the few seconds after the ignition was turned off like on other posts I read saying they were on a timer or something. Could there be a possible short there? Thanks.

Perry 951

Sometimes a failure of the window regualtor stop switch will result in a curcuit overload. Unplug the motors in both doors and see if you still have the problem.

Other than that.. relay or a stuck switch.

jns

Good plan, Perry. I think I'll just disconnect everything pwr. window related and try to diagnose from there. I still don't know how I lost power to almost all the interior accessories and signals. I tried cleaning the pos. wires at the starter solenoid but the nut was corroded and it took the threads off the stud when it came off. New solenoid en route.