90 camry windows and locks

xchristinex77@hotm · 01-31-2008, 02:29 AM

All of the power windows and only the driver side seatbelt have stopped working in my 1990 camry. The power locks also do not work. But The passenger seatbelt works fine. Not sure if this makes a difference, but the sunroof also has no problem. Anyone with any ideas on what is going on? Your suggestions would be greatly appreciated.. Thanks

DFBonnett · 01-31-2008, 07:40 AM

First thought would be a fuse. Get the manual here
http://www.camrystuff.com
then go through the Body Electrical section.

Brian R. · 01-31-2008, 09:57 AM

Links to the manuals are also provided in the sticky post at the top of this forum.

jdmccright · 01-31-2008, 11:29 AM

I'm seeing alot of these issues lately with '90 to '92 Camrys (mine included). The wiring harness that goes from the driver's door power controls to the lower left kickpanel runs through a rubber boot that is flexed every time the door is opened or closed. Eventually, fatigue breaks the wires that control these functions. A quick check might be to operate the driver's door power controls while squeezing and kneading the harness with your fingers at the flex location (between the door and body...closer to the body). Intermittent operation will confirm breaks there.

Given the severity of your symptoms, I'd say most of the wires are broken, requiring a new (or newer) harness. New harnesses may be out there but will be costly. A used parts junkyard can have one for $40-50, but inspect it before you buy it...remove the electrical tape that holds the rubber boot in place and pull it away from the flexed area. I replaced the one in my '92 Camry with one having ~126k miles...it had no wire breaks but did have some cracked insulation. I taped up each damaged wire and wrapped the flexed part with more tape to help with reinforcement, slid the boot back in place and taped it back in place. If you can find a low-miles used one, great, but don't count on it...these cars run forever as we all know.

ProMan · 01-31-2008, 01:41 PM

I would just use a soldering gun to solder the broaken wires back together and tape them.

jdmccright · 02-01-2008, 09:41 AM

It only takes one broken wire to disable each function. If all of the locks, windows and one seat belt motor aren't working, that's at least 6 broken wires...if not more.

If you have the time, you could splice a new piece of wire into each of the broken length, but I wouldn't make the splices where the flexing occurs. Have them terminate 2-3 inches away from it and use heat shrink tubing to cover the splices. Staggger the splice sites so that they are not all in one section of the loom, making it hard or impossible to feed back through the door holes. Finally, use a similar gauge wire...even though logic might dictate a thicker gauge, for the same reason as above. Some are actually harder to bend and will fail sooner due to using thicker wire strands and insulation.

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