Power Window down but will not go up

[drdsp]

I've searched the forum and found some great information about what seems to be a common problem. A power window (in my case the front passenger) will go down but not up. Thanks to the forum I found this great link helping to diagnose the problem (http://www.scribd.com/doc/14896086/2002-Explorer-Power-Window-System-Diagnosis) Unfortunately going through the diagnosis steps for "Test C: single power window is inoperable-passenger side front power window" my switch fails the first test: 0 volts between pin 3 and ground. The recommended course of action is "repair circuit 170".

Any suggestions on what to do next? I took the door panel off to trace the rd/lb wire. Wiggling the wire bundle while operating the switch did nothing. I'm thinking of getting to the switch on the drivers side and seeing if there is voltage there.

 

[BigRondo]

Welcome aboard!!

I will post some helpful info when I get home tonight........................

 

[1Aauto]

Welcome to the site

 

[BigRondo]

Forgive me if I insult your intelligence, but I must ask a couple of questions.

• Did you have the Window Lockout Switch on the Driver Master Switch in the UNLOCK position?
• Did you have the key in the RUN position?

This symbol is located on the left side of the steps & tells what position the ignition key needs to be in:

• 0 - Off
• I - Accessory
• II - Run
• III - Start

If the above listed conditions were good to go, then there is an issue with the power feed. This doesn't make sense. With no power going to the switch, the light on the switch wouldn't work & the window wouldn't go up or down.

The way the window motor works is by reversing polarity to the motor as follows:

There are 2 wires going from the switch to the motor. They are Red/Yellow & Yellow/Red.

If I am reading the schematic correctly:

When you press the DOWN button, the Red/Yellow wire is power(+) & the Yellow/Red wire is ground (-).
When you press the UP button, the Yellow/Red wire is power(+) & the Red/Yellow wire is ground (-)

I hope I haven't confused you too much.

Please verify if the key and lockout switch were in the correct position and we can go from there. I don't want to overlaod the thread with unneeded info.

 

[drdsp]

power window progress

Thanks for the info. Yes, key in run position and lockout in unlock position.

I pulled the driver's side switches. There are two connectors for the windows. It looks like one supplies power to the other window and takes power in on the other (light blue with black stripe).

Measured the continuity between the rd/lb wire on one of the connectors and the rd/lb wire in the passenger's window connector; 0.1 ohms which tells me that there is no break in the wire.

I powered the passenger's side directly from the battery and jumpered the connector for "window up" operation and the window went up and down when jumpered for "window down"; telling me that the motor and regulator assembly are working.

So, the next questions is why no power from the driver's side? There is 12v on the lb/bk but 0v on the rd/bl. So my guess is that the driver's side switch cluster is bad. I ordered another and will update post when I install it.

 

[BigRondo]

I will send info this evening concerning damaged/broken wires. I don't think you have a bad switch.

 

[BigRondo]

Thanks for the info. Yes, key in run position and lockout in unlock position.

I pulled the driver's side switches. There are two connectors for the windows. It looks like one supplies power to the other window and takes power in on the other (light blue with black stripe).

Measured the continuity between the rd/lb wire on one of the connectors and the rd/lb wire in the passenger's window connector; 0.1 ohms which tells me that there is no break in the wire.

I powered the passenger's side directly from the battery and jumpered the connector for "window up" operation and the window went up and down when jumpered for "window down"; telling me that the motor and regulator assembly are working.

So, the next questions is why no power from the driver's side? There is 12v on the lb/bk but 0v on the rd/bl. So my guess is that the driver's side switch cluster is bad. I ordered another and will update post when I install it.

I am going to PM you the Power Window Wiring Diagrams from my '02 Shop Manuals & The Connector Views, as well as the Component Testing Steps for the Driver & Passenger Window Switches.

I have a couple more questions:

• When you checked for power at the passenger switch, did you use a known good ground?
• Does the passenger window work correctly from the driver side switch?

A couple of observations:

• You are correct, the Light Blue/Black wire supplies power for the windows to the Master Control Switch (Driver Switch). The Red/Light Blue wire then supplies power from the Master Control Switch to the 3 other windows switches.
  
  
• You said you had continuity between the Red/Light Blue wire at the driver switch and the Red/Light Blue wire at the passenger switch. If this is the case and you have power at the Red/Light Blue wire at the driver switch, then you have to have power at the passenger switch.
  
  
• The question is; do you have power at the Red/Light Blue wire at the driver switch? If you don't, then I would agree that the issue is with the driver switch.
  
  
• The other wires at the passenger switch have to be good since you said when you provided power to the passenger switch from the battery, the window operated properly.
  
  
• I recommend testing the switches using the Component Testing Steps I have PM'ed.

Having said all that:

I had similar electrical issues with my '02 XLT. The dome lights would stay on until the battery saver feature turned them off, the accessory delay wasn't working, the driver side puddle light didn't work, the keypad on the door would set off the alarm when I pressed it, the door ajar light would flash and beep at highway speeds, the radio would shut off as soon as I turned the key off, the alarm would beep twice when I armed it. Recently all 4 windows stopped working. Most recently the driver door lock actuator stopped working.

A lot of electrical issues can be traced back to broken/damaged wire(s) in the boot between the body and the driver's door. I found 3 broken wires and repaired them. The thin black ground wire was broken and after repairing it all was back to normal. When the windows stopped working, I repaired the thick black ground wire and the windows now work like a champ. I had to repair the pink/black wire to fix the driver door lock actuator.

Here is the thread for removing the door panel: http://www.explorerforum.com/forums//showthread.php?t=303524

Here is a great thread for checking for broken/damaged wires, thanks to synyster for this awesome write-up: http://www.explorerforum.com/forums//showthread.php?t=270081

Be sure to take your time when looking for broken/damaged wire(s). Check all the wires for breaks/damage. When you think you're done looking, look again, and again, and again. A bright flashlight can be very helpful.

Sorry for the long winded post. I hope I haven't overloaded you with information.

Good luck getting the whole thing sorted.

 

[kliped]

hi guys, i am new to the forum and came across this forum when i was searching for the answer to the exact same problem. i was wondering if anyone knows if the original poster ever figured out what was causing his problem.

 

[drdsp]

power window progress

All the information sent when I made my inquiry was quite helpful.

I believe the problem was switches on the drivers side. I replaced the unit and all works fine.

 

[kliped]

All the information sent when I made my inquiry was quite helpful.

I believe the problem was switches on the drivers side. I replaced the unit and all works fine.

thank you for your help, i have been following the diagnostics from the link you posted. during test c3, i am getting .1-.2 ohms resistance on both wires and it says anything under 5 ohms to replace the master switch, so looks like i am going to give that a try tomorrow.

 

[kliped]

for anyone that wants to know in the future, a new master switch fixed my problem

 

[Sedition]

I have this problem but it's on the drivers side. All other windows work up and down and I can hear the relay clicking when I push the drivers side button down. I can't hear the motor spinning freely or any grinding of gears. Also the up side of the drivers side switch does feel somewhat different now when I push it.

I have had no other problems with the power windows until just now, after I had finished changing my rear brakes.

I will probably go with replacing the master switch straight up. After I figure out how to pull the door interior off.

I hate working on automotive interior. I can rebuild an engine without hesitation but when it comes to interior I am hopeless. can anyone give me a clue as to where to start with pulling the door interior off? Thankyou..

 

[Sedition]

So, I went to get an interior pulling tool from the auto parts store but my Ex wouldn't start because the battery was low, just a few slow cranks and then died, then after I got it started the driver side window started working again.

I'm so happy I don't have to pull the god forsaken interior off the door....

For now at least.

 

[cross6]

So, I went to get an interior pulling tool from the auto parts store but my Ex wouldn't start because the battery was low, just a few slow cranks and then died, then after I got it started the driver side window started working again.

I'm so happy I don't have to pull the god forsaken interior off the door....

For now at least.

The windows in these trucks like to stick in their tracks/weatherstripping. Very common on non-driver doors because they don't get "exercised" much.

If one window won't go down, hold the down button while someone slams the door shut. Usually once or twice is all it takes. Dealer service manager showed me that trick.

My rear door windows fuse shut a few times a year. A little silicon spray fixes it right up.

 

[Islandguyhere]

Gen 3 Explorers 2002 - 2005 & Mountaineers (maybe Aviators). This is 2003.

I know this is an old thread but now that these are getting over 20 years, I bet more people are having a problem. Good information above but here's an easy way to diagnose after spending about 12 hours doing it, I'm going to shorten that down to about 30 minutes for you

If your passenger door front window won't go up and the driver's button and the passenger button for the passenger door window don't work making it go up, there's only two wires you need to worry about

Pull both door panels and pull both window switches off and pull the plugs from the switches so you just have both plugs on both doors exposed.

There's two common wires that connect between the two switches. There is a white and yellow wire and a brown and blue wire. Those are the only wires you need to worry about for passenger window not going up.

Connect a connectivity meter, for those that don't know use multimeter set on ohms, and somehow make your probes long and connect the probes to the back of the plugs to where the brown and blue wire is on both plugs plug. I used alligator clip extension wires. Don't worry about the gauge you just testing for a few seconds.

You'll find on the meter that there's a break in the line of the brown and blue wire. That's the wire that's broken guaranteed

Go back to your driver's door jamb now that you know that there's no connectivity going on the brown and blue wire. Take a pick and get in there and find the brown and blue wire in the bundle and pull it and you'll see it's broken and reconnect it however you want

Now you're going to hear could be the motor could be the buttons themselves. Generally it's not

The way you can guarantee that is not those take a paper clip to the passenger door with the plug plugged in to the passenger window switch and paper clip jump the The brown and blue wire with the yellow and white wire and your up button on the passenger door will work. But your driver's door up button still won't work. Again, this is because your brown and blue wire is broken between the two doors. And what you're doing is you're jumping power directly to the up wire for your passenger door button bypassing completely the driver's door switch.

Don't leave this as a permanent fix as your plug is constantly live and it could catch on fire. This is just to test it. If you want to see the button and the motor work just fine. Jump that paper clip between the white and yellow and the brown and the blue and your button and motor will work just fine

So you repair your brown and blue wire and you're good to go. But in my situation I had a bigger problem which was in the driver's door hinge boo..

There was no brown and blue wire broken. In fact, there was no brown and blue wire at all in the driver's door hinge in the boot and that's why spent 12 hours figuring it out.

I didn't see a broken wire because there wasn't a broken wire that could be seen and there was no brown and blue wire which I didn't know to look for to begin with so no way to know it was supposed to be there. Found that out thru testing above.

What had happened is these wires in the driver's door jamb break cuz they get stretched over time and they get old and brittle and they shrink and then get stretched and eventually snap. The outer coating of the wire. The plastic is like plasti dip type stuff and it stretches and so when the wire breaks on mine both ends of wire pigtailed from that tension one up into the door through the hole and one up into the body through the hole where the hinge is. So there was no visible broken wire which made 12 hours of work to figure this all out

I finally got a flashlight and an angle that I could see in the holes and sure enough in one of the holes I saw the pigtailed wire up in the hole. Pulled it out with some needle nose looked in the other hole. Could barely see the end of the wire. Used a pick, pulled it out, reconnected fixed it good to go

Next time it won't take 12 hours. It'll take 30 minutes and hopefully for you knowing all this it'll take you only 30 minutes to fix your passenger up window problem. GL