Trying to diagnose my exact Power Window Problem.

[Addicted2Kouki]

Well, after careful searching.
Diagnostic testing via FSM and a Digital Multimeter.
Several power window amps.

I think my power window motor/regulator is dead.
the pwr window motor doesnt even move when 12v is applied from a car battery.

after researching more, I found this writeup.
http://zilvia.net/f/tech-talk/115051-write-up-free-effective-s14-drivers-side-auto-window-button-fix-pics.html

there was one thing that was said that made me think for a second:

the first way ** very easy ** yes you have guessed it ... pull on the button after the window has scrolled down so it doesn't keep clicking and eating away the power, dimming your lights, and sometimes the windows doesn't come back up until holding it for 5 secs. * seems like the actuator or the amp has a timer so when the window is down it stops the motor but because the BUTTON itself is broken (and doens't push up to the neutral position as explained above) it will keep pressing on the switch on the board which will tell the amp to keep scrolling the window down *every 3 secs or so* thus eating the power when the window has no space to go down.This is exactly what my power window did.
what confuses me is that I checked for continuity through the switch and it was fine up, down, auto down.

Can someone please tell me whats going on?

I dont want to end up spending money on a power window motor just for it to go out because my switch killed it or spend money and fix something that was never broken.



If anyone suggests power window amp, get the fuck outta here. I tested it in other cars so it isnt that.

[surreybc]

this is the only article i could find and it doesnt even specify what year it is for.

http://forums.nicoclub.com/zerothread/218638

[Addicted2Kouki]

Pretty sure its my pw motor.
Thanks though.
I have seen that article and I have printed it out so Im ready to change it out.


On another note...
Does anyone know of interchangeability between s13 and s14 power window motors?

[projectRDM]

It's long been known that the AUTO switch breaks and locks in the down position, keeping current on the motor. That's why the amp, switch, or motor burns up on virtually every '95 model and why it was redesigned in '96. You can easily tell if the switch is bad by just actuating it, if it feels sloppy or loose then it's broken. You can continue using it as long as you remember to pull back up on it once it's rolled down. Or you can replace it with a 96-98 switch assembly and door harness and repin the security portion of the '95 model door harness in.

The S13 motor does not swap over, but a Z32 motor does. Try finding one of those, they're easier to come by.

[Addicted2Kouki]

Thanks Russ. EXACTLY the answers I was looking for.

As always, you make my life easier and provide knowledge to me that was inacquirable through searching.



++++Posi rep

[mtx450]

It's long been known that the AUTO switch breaks and locks in the down position, keeping current on the motor. That's why the amp, switch, or motor burns up on virtually every '95 model and why it was redesigned in '96. You can easily tell if the switch is bad by just actuating it, if it feels sloppy or loose then it's broken. You can continue using it as long as you remember to pull back up on it once it's rolled down. Or you can replace it with a 96-98 switch assembly and door harness and repin the security portion of the '95 model door harness in.

The S13 motor does not swap over, but a Z32 motor does. Try finding one of those, they're easier to come by.

Yeah, I have the same problem. My question is if I get a new switch from the dealership, will it eventually have this same problem? What are the advantages to doing the 96+ up switch swap?

[projectRDM]

Yeah, I have the same problem. My question is if I get a new switch from the dealership, will it eventually have this same problem? What are the advantages to doing the 96+ up switch swap?

Any 1995 switch will wear, they never made an update to the design since it was redesigned for 1996. So whether it's new or not, extended use will break it. In my parts days I parted over thirty five 1995 models, I only had one good working switch out of all those. Some were completely broken and not working, others were just loose and needed care to use. If you buy a new switch and never lock it to AUTO, it won't wear near as quickly.

The '96-'98 switch doesn't have any issues from the ones I've seen, and it's rare to hear about a bad one. The only issue you run into is 80% of '96 cars did not have the OE keyless/alarm (optional on that year) and it was never offered on '97-'98s, so you won't have the wiring needed for key cylinder tamper, latch tamper, and arm/disarm triggers. I used to take '95 harnesses apart and pin the alarm wiring into '96-'98 harnesses to make it a direct swap, but people quit sending me their old ones to pull from and I ran out of new ones. If you're comfortable building a new harness you're fine, or you can just delete the OE keyless/alarm and go aftermarket.