First, the long, involved, careful procedure, then the quick'n'dirty method... On 12/29/98 Scott Fisher (sefisher@cisco.com) posted this repair procedure to Audifans. I have edited out some of the story but I left all the details that matter. This article will help many others, since I'm sure that 4000 and probably 5000 series cars use the same power-window switch gear that my '83 CGT does. It's literally a five-minute fix. The passenger's-side window switch in my '83 CGT decided to fail, with the window in the partway-down position. It would roll further down but not up. I kludged up a solution in the garage of our new place: pulled both switches, swapped the (working) driver's side to the right and rolled the window up. Neat, kept the interior dry, and didn't cost anything or require serious tools (which were still in transit). But I knew I'd want to get the passenger's window going sooner or later. [this is the emergency fix that most of us need before we have time to work on the car - get that window shut! - Huw] Disassembling the switch turned out to be easy; the bezel just snaps into (or out of) place, and was easily removed with my handy machinist's scribe to lever it off. Similarly, the rocker switch pops out; the rotating pivots are how it clips into the switch base, so if you lever the side walls of the switch base away from the rocker while lifting the rocker out, it just slides apart.  Be sure to be holding the switch with the rocker side facing up, because here's how the switch works: The rocker has two plastic cylinders which project down into the switch base. They in turn press on a pair of ball bearings, which rest in the middle of a pair of shallow metal Vs. These Vs make the electrical contact; it'll be obvious when looking at them how they work. I shook out the ball bearings (carefully, I've seen tiny ball bearings go skittering under things) and lifted out the metal Vs. They turned out to be symmetrical and identical; that is, they could be installed 180 degrees or swapped from side to side with no problems (to simplify initial manufacture, no doubt). On the underside of the Vs there are a pair of contacts, looking very much like contact-breaker points (for those who remember what THOSE are). There's a matching set of points-material contacts in the base of the switch. In my non-working switch, it was easy to determine the orientation of the Vs even when they were out -- the burned contacts gave it away. A thin layer of carbon covered the points, and explained why the switch had stopped working. I used the straight end of my machinist's scribe, very gently, to remove the black deposits from the end of the contacts, burnishing them slightly. Just to be safe, I rotated the switch Vs so that each position had one never-been-burned contact and one just-been-burnished one. The ball bearings slipped neatly into the valley of the Vs, the rocker clicked into place, and the proper-sized bezel clicked in just as authoritatively. I "gently prised" the non-illuminated [temporary substitute] switch from the panel, lifted out the ashtray to get access to the connectors, and tested my rebuilt switch. It worked perfectly. I returned the working spare switch to the spares box and installed the original, lighted switch. Now, of course, the passenger's window goes up and down with alacrity, while the driver's side is a little slow and creaky. Since I'm taking some time off work this week, I'll probably pull that switch and spend five minutes to make it work properly too. Tricks: 0 - remove the ashtray before beginning, you should then see the white nylon connectors for the power-window switches. 1 - carefully pry the switch straight out of the trim panel by levering behind the switch bezel. It's just held in with a spring, but be careful not to scratch the trim panel or the bezel. [mine push straight out, I forget whether it is up or down, but who knows what year and model my switches and trim plate came from anyway? - Huw] 2 - use the corner of a straight screwdriver to pry the narrow edges of the switch connectors, which is where the barbs are located that keep them connected. The connectors then pull straight off. Thread them out from under the trim piece and lift the switches out of the car. 3 - look closely behind the switch bezel to see where it clips to the switch base. Again, lever gently with a pointed metal object (if you haven't yet purchased a double-headed machinist's scribe -- looks like Dr. Mengele's dental pick -- get one, it's one of the most useful tools you can own). 4 - if I were doing this again, I'd lever the rocker insert out over a small cardboard box, just in case the ball bearings drop out. 5 - if I were a hardware geek instead of a content geek, I'd have contact cleaner lying around the house, and I'd use that on the burned contacts. 6 - be careful not to gouge or damage the contacts when you're cleaning them up; you don't want to remove metal, you just want to remove the insulating carbon layer. And, later that same day, Mike Mulholland (meyeke@netinc.ca) chimed in with his experience: Thanks for the great write-up on switches Scott. I was less detailed when I did mine....after removal I drilled two small 1/16" holes into the switch on each side of the rocker and near the top. into one hole I sprayed contact cleaner until it came out the other side. I then shook the filled switch for a minute or so ...then I used compressed air to blow out the residual cleaner. reinstalled it and it works great....now has several months of use. Thank you, Scott and Mike! (used by permission) |
