96 Camry XLE - Windows, locks, power seat not working

[Bobby99]

My 1996 Toyota Camry XLE has 186,000 miles on it, and it works very well. However, last fall, the power windows, door locks, power seat, and power sunroof all stopped working at the same time. Now that weather is warmer again, I WANT my windows to work!

I checked fuses (which are not labeled well), but they seem fine. I checked the fuses to the left of the steering column (behind coin tray) and the fuses in the engine compartment. I also removed both kick panels but there was only 1 fuse on each side. All fuses are fine. I also found a lot of relays, but no circuit breakers.

Is there a circuit breaker somewhere that I can't find that controls all of these items? Can I just reset it? Or is there a fusable link somewhere that needs to be replaced?

I looked in the library and found a book on '92-'96 Camry's, but it did not tell me where any circuit breakers were in the '96 Camry. It suggested looking to the left of the steering column, but I'm not seeing anything there. Probably moved in the 1996 Camry to another location? Any suggestions?

[Joe W]

I'm not sure about the '96 but.....I recently did a '91 that did have resettable circuit breakers that looked a little like a relay.They were located fairly high up under the dash near the left kick panel and were reset with a pin in the hole in the center.The fuseable links are located off of the battery,look like big fuses.Can you remember which accessory you were using when all this happened?

[Bobby99]

Joe W,

Thanks for your quick response. The last thing I was doing before the power windows and door locks all went out was measuring the voltage going into my front passenger-side window motor.

This window was winding down fine, but would run out of juice when I tried to wind it up. So I wanted to check the power to the window, as well as the motor itself. So I had the door panel off, and had the motor partly taken apart, and I decided I should measure the voltage into the motor. The voltage did seem a little low when I tried to wind up the window (I can't remember the actual numbers anymore). But I couldn't figure it out, so I put the door back together again.

But now, none of the windows or doors locks were working. I took the door panel off again, but couldn't find anything wrong there. I'm guessing I somehow accidentally shorted out the wiring harness while I was measuring voltage, but I don't know. I was trying to be careful.

Since everything else went out at once, I'm still pretty sure it's a fuse or circuit breaker. If I can fix this circuit breaker issue, I will still have a bad front passenger-side window, but I can live with that.

Anyway, thanks for any suggestions you can give me. I still cannot find the circuit breaker to the left of the steering column. That is where the hood release is, and also the emergency brake and release is there in the 96 Camry. So maybe they moved some of the electrical system somewhere else.

- Bobby

[Joe W]

To access the circuit breakers I had to remove the lower dash panel.

[mnjh94]

I figured out the problems on pw/l. all 4 of them didnt work, I check everything turned out just fine, Last time i checked is the main switch that can cause failures. Mine is 91

[Bobby99]

Thanks for everyone's help, especially, Joe W.

I never did find a circuit breaker in my 1996 Camry XLE, but by removing the cover underneath the steering column, I was able to see some more fuses to the left of the steering column. These fuses were not visible or accessible from the fuse box behind the coin tray, because they were another 6 inches to the right of that.

So, by removing the large cover underneath the steering column, at least I could see them, but they were still unaccessible because of the heater ductwork that was routed in front of them. But luckily, the ductwork joints are just pressed together, and by hitting the ducting a few times, it broke away to give me access to one 30 amp fuse and one 40 amp fuse. The 30 amp fuse was blown, and I replaced it with one from the engine compartment fuse box. So for anyone else out there with this problem, the 30 amp fuse hidden behind the heater ductwork is the fuse that controls the power locks, windows, etc.

The power locks, windows, seat, and sunroof now work, so I put everything back together. Again, thanks for your help.

- Bobby