Power Window Switch

The woe of the power window switches has risen again. Only two of the windows operate from the drivers door control and one of them is not the drivers door. The switch I have has the "auto down" feature for the driver window.

Question is what other year master switches will fit my 1998? I have seem some advertised that say 1995 - 2000 and others say 1995-96 and does it make any difference? I really don't care about the auto down feature so is the switch the only difference between auto down and non-auto down?

The Contour runs great and have had very few difficulties with it all in all.

Any advice will be greatly appreciated.

Russ

I'm running by the Junkyard in two weeks from now. If you want, I can try to find one off a 98. No guarantees that I'll find one but I know they have a bunch of Contours there.

The one and ONLY switch setup that will work for you is from a 1998.

There's 95-97 flat switches, then 98 raised, then 98.5-00 flat again. The plugs are different so it's not interchangeable without replacing the whole door harness.

Guess I will try the junkyard over the weekend. If not successful I will ask for your help.

Thanks

Russ

Interestingly enough most of the switches that I found in the junkyard are part 93BG14A132AA and of course my car has a 97BG14A132AA and the plugs are different.

Any ideas?

CSVT1214 said:

The one and ONLY switch setup that will work for you is from a 1998.

There's 95-97 flat switches, then 98 raised, then 98.5-00 flat again. The plugs are different so it's not interchangeable without replacing the whole door harness.

Click to expand...

QFT. You can only buy a 98 switch for your car.
It is the only year where the switch was different than the rest.

This gets more curious by the minute. I located another switch and this did not correct the problem of the drivers window up and down. All of the other windows work well.

Apparently there is some sort of a logic box for the "auto down" that has gotten sick. Can this be bypassed and if so does anyone know how?

Thanks

Russ

Another thing to look for is loose connections in the pins in the wiring harness. I've run accross several pins that get loose and don't make the proper connection at all times. Sometimes the switch will work fine other time it won't go back up (like when it starts to downpour).

ctmystique - oh you are so right on the money! One of the contacts in the plug on the end of the harness that attaches to the window switch was burned and therefore not making contact. So, I made a pigtail. I drilled out the burned contact, attached the correct size push-on connector to a pigtail, attached the connector to the switch, ran the wire through the hole that I drilled in the plug, and spliced the wires. VOILA! Life is good.

Thanks so much for the heads up on checking the contacts. I had not really thought about that too much until a new switch did not work.


Russ

I think I might be struggling with a bad connection problem similar to the ones described here by ctmystique and RangerRuss many years ago. The driver’s Power window won’t close on my 1998 Contour Duratec automatic with 170,000 km. I paid $276 to a local auto electrical shop in Calgary to diagnose the problem and then replace the power window motor, but after about five hours and a couple of window cycles, the window stuck in full open position again, just like the original problem. The repair shop blamed bad new motor and promised to call me when they had a new one. Now, several days later, without any more examination, they say that it'€™s likely the control module€, which is no longer available, or broken wiring and they won'€™t do anything more to fix the problem without additional costs to me.

I don'€™t want to spend several hundred more on this. I'€™m hoping that someone can explain how the window circuit works and can offer good advice. Here'€™s the story so far:

Driver'€™s window won't close from completely open position.
All other power windows, locks, and mirrors operate normally.
I removed door panel. No obvious mechanical problem.
Up control on window causes clicking noise from one-touch relay.

I found the repair shop had cut into the wiring harness and left two bare connections. Applying 12V to the exposed connections moves window up and then reversing the polarity causes it to move down. It does that consistently, for many cycles, so it'€™s not a problem with the motor and probably the old motor was just fine.

I’ve been trying to figure out what's happening by checking the voltages at the window switch and the one-touch relay. At one point I thought the switch or the relay must be the problem. I took them apart, buffed the contacts for the driver'€™s window switch, the relay contacts, and the connectors, cleaned everything, and reassembled them. The system worked fine for a few up-down cycles and then started operating erratically and then stopped in the fully open position again.

The problem isn'€™t consistent which makes me think it'€™s related to a bad switch or relay contact or bad connections, but there is no obvious sign of burning or corrosion anywhere.. Is there another switch or relay somewhere at the regulator or motor that shuts off power at the end of the window travel? How does the polarity get switched to change the motor direction?

The two running power wires switch on the motor to change direction. Plus becomes minus and vice versa. You have to accommodate that.