Electric Window Fault

[nigelj77]

Hi folks, been out in the griff today and drivers side window has failed in the closed position.

I had the window down on my drive out, closed it when parked (helped it as usual as it's a little slow), went to open it for the drive home and nothing.

Passenger side is fine, are they independently fused, if so what number?

I expect they use a relay, are they known for failing, which relay am i looking at?

I've never even looked in the fuse box, I know they're above the battery, do they pull out for access?

Any help, suggestions or ideas appreciated, not sure when I'll get a look, garage is too small for working on it and it's dark early now.

Thanks in advance.

Nigel

[nigelj77]

I should probably ad it's a 2000 X reg 500 with low miles, I hope that rules out a motor failure.

[phillpot]

More likely to just be a dodgy connection or iffy switch

[Steve_D]

Only one fuse (F11). Permanent live not ignition switched.
no relay.

Quite likely to be the motor.

• Start with the switch. try switching it back and forth in case it is dirty contacts.
• Pull the switch (they are normally quite loose) confirm you have +12V to the red wire.
• Confirm Black wire is earth.
• operate the switch and check for +12 on the Yellow/Blue wire or the Yellow/Black wire. Then the same with the switch the other way.

Do the above testing with a test lamp rather than a multimeter. Dirty contacts will often pass sufficient to show on a meter but not have the grunt to do any work.

if you have confidence you could apply 12v across the Yellow/Blue wire and the Yellow/Black wire which will power the motor directly. Then swap the +/- to drive the motor the other way.

Steve

[nigelj77]

Thanks for the responses.

Steve D, thanks for so much detail.

Shared fuse rules out that, no relay (surprised at that but I bow to your knowledge) rules that out too, I tried the switch a number of times, I'll give it a go up / down a number of times again to be sure.

I can do some basic wiring checks which you suggest but I'm less confident about the direct 12v feed, I'd be worried I get something wrong.

Being colourblind may not help me....

[Zeb74]

Could be the wiring being broken in the loom passing through the door opening.
I have the same issue on my Chimaera driver window, moving the door makes it work. So I guess that a wire is tired after many opening and closing of the door.

[nigelj77]

Yeah, anything is possible, especially on a tvr, spoke to local dealer today, he suggested checking the motor terminals first, then voltage getting to the motor connector. Given the switch is mounted through the lower veneer panel it's worth checking it last incase of damage.
Will report back when I get time to check.

[nigelj77]

A little update.

Today I removed the speaker and disconnected the plug powering the window motor, activating the down side of the switch showed no voltage, activating the up side 13 volts.

I'm guessing from that it's the switch that's failed, I don't think it can be the wiring from the switch as with 2 wires from the connector the switch must swap the polarity?

Is my thinking correct?

[phillpot]

Try the switch from the other side

[nigelj77]

That crossed my mind but doubles my risk of damaging the walnut vener.

[nigelj77]

An update as promised.

I was planning to go to my local dealer to get some further investigation done and was expected it needed a new switch.

Last night I carefully removed the switch with no veneer damage, I then out of interest tried the switch, window working as normal......

I'm tempted to buy a switch just in case it's intermittent and sticks in down position, also think I'll lubricate the guides etc just in case the slow operation if overloading switch, motor or both.

[Zeb74]

You can switch your switches :-) from left to right, you will see after a while if the problem is still on the same window or not.

[QBee]

My window on my Griff Touring sticks sometimes - and it's just that, it sticks because it doesn't get as much use as the driver's side one.
A few goes with the switch, and some manual assistance on the glass, usually gets it going again

[fieryfred]

My problem was not the switch but the motor. With water running down inside the doors the motor was full of rust & gunge.
No wonder it was slow. The best way is to take them out & clean them up.