My car's power windows

[unfalliblekrutch]

So I have a 2001 oldsmobile Intrigue GL, and the back right window stopped working, or so I thought. At one point a few months ago, it just refused to roll down anymore, so I forgot about it, until last week, my rear left window went out too. At that point, I got mad, and made a mental note to try to find out what's wrong when I had time. So the next day, really early in the morning, I tried rolling down the windows and for some unknown reason, all of them worked! That afternoon, after getting out of school, the rear right window was dead again, though the left one continued working.

At this point, I thought maybe it had to do with the temperature outside. Perhaps the cold night had shrunk some component within the circuit just enough so it completed the circuit, while during the summer heat, something expanded enough so that the windows didnt work.

So I try again today, in the morning, and the left one still works but the right one is still broken. At this point, I have no idea what could be causing this problem. I don't know much of anything about cars, but common sense tells me that it's not the motor, since it did come back for that one morning. I believe it's a wiring problem, but I'm not sure.

Has anyone else experienced this with their cars and/or has an idea what the problem is?

 

[unfalliblekrutch]

TTT

 

[sniperruff]

no. it has to do with olds' crappy reliability records. there's a reason that a car loses so much value in a short period of time. i admit the car looks nice, but i guess so does the murcury new cougar.

 

[Squisher]

Originally posted by: sniperruff
no. it has to do with olds' crappy reliability records. there's a reason that a car loses so much value in a short period of time. i admit the car looks nice, but i guess so does the murcury new cougar.

How constructive.




My first guess would be a loose connection. Pop the door panels off and wiggle the wires.

 

[PlatinumGold]

Originally posted by: Squisher

Originally posted by: sniperruff
no. it has to do with olds' crappy reliability records. there's a reason that a car loses so much value in a short period of time. i admit the car looks nice, but i guess so does the murcury new cougar.

How constructive.




My first guess would be a loose connection. Pop the door panels off and wiggle the wires.

my olds intrigue has the same problems. i believe that this is a problem common among GM vehicles.

it's weird, the worst is when my driver side window acts up in winter, i go thru a drive thru and then the window won't go back up. you coax it, you push it you wait and then eventually it goes back up. then for a long time it will work without any problems.

weird.

 

[unfalliblekrutch]

PlatinumGold: My driver's side window has yet to act up. *knock on wood* Any idea what causes it? I looked at the wires connected to my driver's door window switches, and they're all connected pretty well. I doubt the problem is the switches anyhow, since the window refuses to work with either the switch on the driver's door or the switch on the particular window's door.

 

[0]

Originally posted by: PlatinumGold

Originally posted by: Squisher

Originally posted by: sniperruff
no. it has to do with olds' crappy reliability records. there's a reason that a car loses so much value in a short period of time. i admit the car looks nice, but i guess so does the murcury new cougar.

How constructive.




My first guess would be a loose connection. Pop the door panels off and wiggle the wires.

my olds intrigue has the same problems. i believe that this is a problem common among GM vehicles.

it's weird, the worst is when my driver side window acts up in winter, i go thru a drive thru and then the window won't go back up. you coax it, you push it you wait and then eventually it goes back up. then for a long time it will work without any problems.

weird.

I fixed this exact problem with my transport minivan.

The window rolled down, but not up. Turns out the motor that drives the window has a small thermal overload embedded inside of it, that opens when excessive current flows. This is used to shut off the motor when fully down or fully up. The problem is, the overload is nothing more than a bimetallic strip that opens when heated. Over time, it gets weaker, and will simply open when a slightly above average current flows, i.e. when you're rolling up the window (it won't go).

Solution? Simply bypass the strip. Pitfalls? Well, my windows are just fine now, and if you hold down the button for an excessively long time, you will probably blow the fuse - it hasn't happend to me at all. This is a known solution for these types of windows. Of course, you can pay big $$ and get a new motor, since the overloads are embedded, but why?

 

[unfalliblekrutch]

Originally posted by: 0

Originally posted by: PlatinumGold

Originally posted by: Squisher

Originally posted by: sniperruff
no. it has to do with olds' crappy reliability records. there's a reason that a car loses so much value in a short period of time. i admit the car looks nice, but i guess so does the murcury new cougar.

How constructive.




My first guess would be a loose connection. Pop the door panels off and wiggle the wires.

my olds intrigue has the same problems. i believe that this is a problem common among GM vehicles.

it's weird, the worst is when my driver side window acts up in winter, i go thru a drive thru and then the window won't go back up. you coax it, you push it you wait and then eventually it goes back up. then for a long time it will work without any problems.

weird.

I fixed this exact problem with my transport minivan.

The window rolled down, but not up. Turns out the motor that drives the window has a small thermal overload embedded inside of it, that opens when excessive current flows. This is used to shut off the motor when fully down or fully up. The problem is, the overload is nothing more than a bimetallic strip that opens when heated. Over time, it gets weaker, and will simply open when a slightly above average current flows, i.e. when you're rolling up the window (it won't go).

Solution? Simply bypass the strip. Pitfalls? Well, my windows are just fine now, and if you hold down the button for an excessively long time, you will probably blow the fuse - it hasn't happend to me at all. This is a known solution for these types of windows. Of course, you can pay big $$ and get a new motor, since the overloads are embedded, but why?

How?

 

[0]

Originally posted by: unfalliblekrutch

Originally posted by: 0

Originally posted by: PlatinumGold

Originally posted by: Squisher

Originally posted by: sniperruff
no. it has to do with olds' crappy reliability records. there's a reason that a car loses so much value in a short period of time. i admit the car looks nice, but i guess so does the murcury new cougar.

How constructive.




My first guess would be a loose connection. Pop the door panels off and wiggle the wires.

my olds intrigue has the same problems. i believe that this is a problem common among GM vehicles.

it's weird, the worst is when my driver side window acts up in winter, i go thru a drive thru and then the window won't go back up. you coax it, you push it you wait and then eventually it goes back up. then for a long time it will work without any problems.

weird.

I fixed this exact problem with my transport minivan.

The window rolled down, but not up. Turns out the motor that drives the window has a small thermal overload embedded inside of it, that opens when excessive current flows. This is used to shut off the motor when fully down or fully up. The problem is, the overload is nothing more than a bimetallic strip that opens when heated. Over time, it gets weaker, and will simply open when a slightly above average current flows, i.e. when you're rolling up the window (it won't go).

Solution? Simply bypass the strip. Pitfalls? Well, my windows are just fine now, and if you hold down the button for an excessively long time, you will probably blow the fuse - it hasn't happend to me at all. This is a known solution for these types of windows. Of course, you can pay big $$ and get a new motor, since the overloads are embedded, but why?

How?

If you're interested in doing it, it involves removing the power window motor. On my vehicle, I had to remove the inside door panel and with the window fully up, tape the window to the frame of the door (when you remove the motor, the window will want to drop).

Remove the motor. You must then dissasemble the end of the motor where the wires go in. On mine, it wasn't too bad, there was a connector and three screws. The rotor of the motor comes right out too. The bimetallic strip is located on the other side of the connector, so you must disassemble that end of the motor to get to it. Then I simply soldered a jumper over the bimetallic strip, then reassembled everything. That's it.

The hardest part was getting the motor out of the door, since you have to contort your arms to get to it.

 

[altonb1]

More than likely, the motor is beginning to fail. The thermal strip solution MAY be correct, but if you go through all that effort and the motor fails later, you will wish you had spent the money and just replaced it up-front.

~$70, including core charge


Good luck with what you decide....

 

[Mermaidman]

In addition to the power window motor/regulator, the wiring inside the door could be the culprit. Check if the wire is kinked or fraying.

Check out this Intrigue forum:
Intrigue Forum

I used to have a 1998 Intrigue and had power window problems the first two years. They disappeared after that . . .

 

[0]

Originally posted by: altonb1
More than likely, the motor is beginning to fail. The thermal strip solution MAY be correct, but if you go through all that effort and the motor fails later, you will wish you had spent the money and just replaced it up-front.

~$70, including core charge


Good luck with what you decide....

That would be fine, but like I said, the biggest hassle is getting the motor out of the door, which would have to happen anyway if a new one is to be installed.

 

[altonb1]

Originally posted by: 0

Originally posted by: altonb1
More than likely, the motor is beginning to fail. The thermal strip solution MAY be correct, but if you go through all that effort and the motor fails later, you will wish you had spent the money and just replaced it up-front.

~$70, including core charge


Good luck with what you decide....

That would be fine, but like I said, the biggest hassle is getting the motor out of the door, which would have to happen anyway if a new one is to be installed.

No arguments on that...I just meant that if the door is disassembled,. motor removed, strip bypassed, door reassembled and then the problem returns after a week or so, the OP will be kicking himself for not replacing it outright. I had a Ford Windstar and the window stopped working while it was about 2/3 of the way down...in late-fall/early-winter on an abnormally warm day. We went to my wife's grandmother's house about 2.5 hours away...it stopped working on the drive there. Since it was warmer than normal, it wasn't a big deal--until we were driving home and it was in the 30s. Heat cranked full-blast and we still froze our butts off. The next day, i took the entire door apart, removed the motor, got the window back up, and then reassembled the motor in the door so the window would stay in place. I also decided to NOT attach the power cable just in case it decided to work again and we inadvertently hit the window controller.

We traded in the vehicle a couple of months later, so I never worried about replacing the motor and since it broke in col weather season, I figured I could survive long enough w/o it.