Having fun, but dodgy window switch.
Having fun, but dodgy window switch.
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Highdown

Original Poster:

41 posts

228 months

Monday 22nd October 2007
quotequote all
Have had my S3 about a month now and having a ball. Had a bit of a fright at the weekend with a bit of a corner wiggle but nothing too scary. Am now slowly going round the chasis have stripped of as much lose paint as possible and removed as much dirt as I could and have just finished waxoyling the chasis, started off with clear waxoyl and just finished the rear drivers quarter with black. Black is better as you can see where you have sprayed. Its good to have the car up on stands so good I might do a second coat all in black!!

One issue I have is a sticky passenger window switch. sometimes it works perfectly others nothing at all. Has anyone else had this and any guidance on how to isolate where the problem is?

tvrgit

8,489 posts

281 months

Monday 22nd October 2007
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Is it the switch or the motor? Swap the switches and see if the problem moves with the swap.

If it's the window, it's more likely the window sticking in the runners, than the motor itself, Try lubricating the two runners for the glass, with vinyl and rubber lubricant, and greasing the window mechanism itself.

Highdown

Original Poster:

41 posts

228 months

Monday 22nd October 2007
quotequote all
Have tried the sticky window, don't think it is that. Have switched switches not an issue either. Coudl take the door panel off and test the circuit.....Can you access the wiring behind the dash through the glove compartment?

Longers

4,505 posts

257 months

Tuesday 23rd October 2007
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Highdown said:
Coudl take the door panel off and test the circuit.....
Had the same problem on mine when the window stuck in the down position. I couldn't find a problem with switch etc but auto electrician found the cause for me; it was a bad earth in the door itself.

coolcatmaz

3,521 posts

231 months

Tuesday 23rd October 2007
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mine on the passenger side gets stuck if I lower it too far down. just a helping hand on the glass gets it going again if it gets stuck

Road2Ruin

6,468 posts

245 months

Tuesday 23rd October 2007
quotequote all
Highdown said:
Have had my S3 about a month now and having a ball. Had a bit of a fright at the weekend with a bit of a corner wiggle but nothing too scary. Am now slowly going round the chasis have stripped of as much lose paint as possible and removed as much dirt as I could and have just finished waxoyling the chasis, started off with clear waxoyl and just finished the rear drivers quarter with black. Black is better as you can see where you have sprayed. Its good to have the car up on stands so good I might do a second coat all in black!!

One issue I have is a sticky passenger window switch. sometimes it works perfectly others nothing at all. Has anyone else had this and any guidance on how to isolate where the problem is?
I had exactly this problem about two weeks ago and it was quite simple to sort, but time consuming. Heres what I did.

The problem was that the window would work intermitently so tracking the problem down would be an issue. It turned out to be a break in the cable right in the corner of the door where the cable goes through into the bulk head.

Step one. Test switch.
Using continuity tester test the terminals on the switch and press it up and down to verify a signal.

step two:
Test motor, using a seperate battery (doesnt need to be 12v, 6 v will do) take the door panel off and unplug the motor at the plug nearest to it. Get two wires and connect one to + other to - then feed into terminal of motor. DOesnt matter which way round they go as this just affects whether window goes up or down. if it work then next step.

Step 3:
Using continuity tester again check wires from plug nearest motor to switch (other side to where you stuck battery a minute ago) they were colour coded yellow and white and yellow and blue on mine. The switch (in theory) should have the same colours going to it. put the tester on each end of the wire and wiggle the wires from inside the door and listen for a broken signal. More than likely this will happen.

If it is a broken cable as mine the next step it to find the break (easier said than done). Mine was really hard to spot in the hinge of the door behind some foam packing. Anyway, where ever it is you will need to cut the cable before and after the break and connect a new stretch of cable between. In the end I replaced the whole length of cable right up to the motor plug from under the dash.