power the motor and by bypassing the switch, wires should be dark blue and brown coming out of window motor, unplug it and use a extra batter to power window swapping wire sides will reverse motor....pink on switch is main power to switch....

 

You might have a broken wire going into the door.
Using another 12V source and doing as cad tech suggested should work.
Also he is correct, usually the brown and dark blue wires go to the motor.
If you have the panel off you can try to find the motor to verify the wire colors connected to it.
Those older ones had really big wires that had a tendency to break in the conduit going from the body to the door because of flexing over time.

 

Ok, thanks for the tips. The window worked fine before. I put it down to enter my parking garage at work and then it wouldn't go back up. Just happened all of a sudden.

 

if jumping it does not work start tapping on the motor till it does like a starter motor.....

 

Ok, I just don't understand. When the switch is plugged in, the passenger window works super, driver's side does not. When I unplug the switch and test the pink wire going into the harness that plugs onto the switch, there is power there. I tried jumping a wire from the pink wire to each of the wires for the passenger side, and nothing. What am I doing wrong? I need to make sure I'm jumping the wires right so I can accurately test the drivers side motor. I know there's power to the switch because as I said, the passenger side works fine, I just can't unplug the switch and make it work by jumping the wires.

 

Some have had success by holding the switch down and vigorously slamming the door.

If that works, you likely have a "dead spot" on the motor armature.

Regards,
Warren

 

Sounds like your window motor is dying. As noted above, sometimes the phsyical shock from whacking the motor will restore temporary operation.
It sounds like you might have a motor problem indeed.

 

If you have power (12volts) to the motor, it may have a dead spot on the armature or the carbon brushes in the motor may be worn down. Sometimes if you tap the motor it may run as a result of moving the armature a little off the dead spot or the vibration moves one of the carbon brushes againist the armature. If you like to tinker you can take the motor out and clean the armature and or replace the carbon brushes. I used to rebuild these DC window motors as a side line. 90% of the time it was worn brushes.

 

But why can't I jump the wires to make the passenger side work just to make sure I'm doing it right? I know that window works and I want to make sure I'm jumping the wires right. I just want to make sure it's not the switch before I tear the door apart.

 

Are you saying this?:

The driver side window controls do not work, but the passenger side control works.
As in, neither window opens from the left control, but the right window works properly.
Also which door are you in "jumpering stuff" and what color wires are you trying to jump?

Do you have a test light handy?

 

Sorry for the confusion. From the drivers door, the driver's window will not go up, but I can operate the passenger side window from the driver's door just fine. With that said, if I am jumping the wires correctly, I should be able to make the passenger side window operate from the drivers door just to make sure I'm doing it right. It works with the switch plugged in, so it should work with the switch unplugged and I jump the wires.

Last night, I checked the pink wire on the harness that plugs into the switch. There is power there. So, with the switch unplugged, I tried to jump a wire from the pink wire to each of the other wires to make the windows operate. Nothing works. I plug it back into the switch, and the passenger side window works just fine, the driver side does not. What am I doing wrong?

By the way, is this one switch, or can I buy the drivers switch only? Make sense? There are two buttons...are they separate or do I have to buy both buttons? I can't remember what it looks like on the bottom.

 

Well if I remember correctly there are lots of wires on the back of that switch.
There should be at least 6.
If you jumper power to one wire, you have to jumper ground to another.
Remember the motor gets power AND ground through the switch, the switch reverses the polarity to make the window go different directions.
You would have to have 2 jumper wires connected to make the window move.
It sounds like you are trying to just jumper power to the motor and that will never work.
So you need to know which is power, which is ground and which two wires go to each motor. Jumper power to one for a motor and ground to the other for that same motor and it should go up or down, reverse the polarity and it will go the other way.

Does that make more sense or did I misunderstand you again?

 

Nope, you totally answered my question. I wasn't using a ground jumper wire. I thought the harness was already grounded through the big black wire. That's what I'm doing wrong. I'll try it again tonight and report back for anyone else that may have this issue. Thanks so much.

 

Most welcome.
I hope you get it figured out.

It is easy to see how it works with a schematic.
I don't have one handy.

 

I took the door panel off last night and tapped on the motor with a hammer and it works fine now. I know I need to get a new motor as I figure this will happen again. Where is a good source for this?

Also, I discovered the emergency brake pedal doesn't come back up fully enough to cause the brake light to go off. It's only about a quarter of an inch off. Think I should just lubricate the mechanism, or is the switch adjustable?

Final thing: The gear selector is off a little bit. I have to drop it a little below "D" and then back to "D" to get it to go into gear...same with reverse. Also, the reverse lights will not come on unless I hold up on the gear shift a little. Doesn't feel like there's a lot of play there...actually feels normal. Where should I adjust this to make it right?

I have to say, this is the nicest $500 car I've ever bought. As long as the engine holds out for a while, I think I'll drive it as long as I can. I need to get some pics of it.

Thanks again for the help...I appreciate it!

 

The park brake cables probably need to be adjusted, the spring on the cable helps return the lever.

The shift linkage on some of those older cars is manually adjustable also.
I used to put the trans in neutral, loosen the adjuster, then make sure the lever is in the neutral detent and tighten everything back up.
The pointer is separately adjustable on those older ones too.
The reverse lamp switch is also adjustable but once you get the shift linkage adjusted right you should be okay.