power window motor nightmares !!!!!!!!

hey guys and gals,

i have a 1999 blazer, 4.3, auto, 4wd, with power everything, and no previouse electrical problems at all untill....

like the title says, i had to change out my drivers door power window motor. what a joke. when i get to the motor i find that it is pop rivited in place. well i get my drill and start drilling out the rivets. after drilling all the rivets, i see that i damaged two wires in the wire loom that runs by the power window motor. the drill chuck must have wore the insulation off the wires. they are right next to each other, but they can't touch together, so i taped them up to keep them from shorting out on anything. i wonder that, if when drilling, if the drill chuck could have grounded the wires and caused a short between them ?? i don't think that the key was turned on at the time??

part way through the job i run out of daylight. so i move the blazer to the driveway, and see that the speedometer is not working, and the fuel guage is not working either. so i drive around a bit more and the speedo starts working again, but the fuel guage is pointing straight south. at this time the drivers door panel, and power switch panel was not hooked up.

the next day i finished the job of replacing the power window motor. then i checked all the fuses, trying to find why the fuel guage isn't working. they all looked good. so i drive around a bit more, and no change with the fuel guage. it's still pointing straight south. the fuel guage needle now points straight down all the time. it doesn't matter if the ignition is on or off, the needle doesn't move from that position.

then i decided to check the other switches in the drivers door panel. i find that the outside rear view mirror control no longer works, as well as the power door lock switch. all the power windows work from this panel now, but nothing else.

what did i mess up on this thing ?? i am to old to be fighting this when the snow is flying, and i can't afford to pay to have it fixed either. any advice will be greatly appreciated !!!!!

thanks
ron

Skooterbum... good to hear from you again. You and I just keep holding on to these 99 Blazers. I had a similar problem with my fuel guage going south. I believe I just pulled the battery cable...let it sit...and reconnected. It seems like the problem self corrected then. As for the controls. I would pull the little switch block off the door (you don't have to remove the door, just pull up on the door switch console toward the front end..it's hinged in the back) and check the connections on the back. There are different connectors for the door lock, windows, and mirror actuators. I actually had to replace the switch box assembly a couple years ago because the contacts on the window switches were so corroded they would barely work. If this doesn't work it may be a fuse. I'll have to dig a little deeper for that though. Let us know what you find.

hey TCGrove, yea i still have my blazer, but am getting awful close to getting rid of it. it is in the nickel and dime'ing me phase. it is hard to keep up with it anymore. with the winter months coming on, i am not wanting to have to be dealing with things like this either. i am to old for this stuff now. i hope yours is treating you better than mine is me !!! LOL

anyways, in response to your post, [thanks for it by the way], the battery took a dump on me in the middle of dealing with the window motor. so i had the battery out of it all night, charging up. i went the next day and put a new battery in it. the fuel guage was messed up at this time. i will unhook the battery again, and hope, and cross my fingers too, to see if it might reset the fuel guage.

in response to the switch connections, they are all tightly connected, and there were no visible signs of any corrosion on the wire connectors, or the bottom side of the switch panel. i did check the fuses too. one thing i think i need to do now, is to check the switches with my little curcit testing light to see if power is going through the switch.

the thing that is bothering me, is the wires that got there insulation wore off while i was drilling the rivets out. i don't think that the key was on, or in the ignition. but i could be wrong. now if i am wrong, and the key was by chance turned on, with the drill chuck turning, and wearing on those wires, could it have shorted them out and damaged these things ?? i will check the switches to see if they are working, and unhook the battery too, and post back later.

thanks
ron

In most cases, if you have a circuit that is hot all the time (regardless if the key is on or off) and it shorts out, the fuse in that circuit should blow. Most window motors and switches are key on only.

It almost sounds like either an Ignition Switch going bad, or a Multifunction Switch going bad or last but certainly not least, the sending unit on your fuel pump going bad. The Speedo issue points towards the Ignition Switch.

hey Rick, thanks for your input. could you explain a little bit more about the multifunction switches that you mentioned ?? one's that would be tied in with my problems, and location of them ?? i am willing to try just about anything to get the problems fixed.

The Multifunction Switch is in the steering column and is no job for the inexperienced mechanic. They are very expensive $500 or so and you have to work around the Air bag.

The Multifunction Switch is in the steering column and is no job for the inexperienced mechanic. They are very expensive $500 or so and you have to work around the Air bag.

OUCH!!!! ok i see that is something i won't be messing with!! i checked the switches that are now not working, and found that i have power going into them, but not coming out. obviously, they need replaced now. my guess is that when i was working on the window motor, and had to remove the switch assembly, i damaged the switches then. it was cool outside, and was not easy to get the electrical plugs removed. i had to grip the switch assembly "very" tight, to disconnect all the plugs. that must be what damaged them. i think that it will be a $160 repair for the switches.

that leaves the gas guage. it's still not working. the needle is still pointing straight south. the needle / pointer does not move at all. during start up, or running down the road. it is "dead".

what is the trouble shooting procedure for the guage ?? the guage itself is not something that can be replaced is it ?? from the drivers seat it looks like the whole guage panel would have to be replaced. i am over due on getting my eyes checked for new spectacles though. LOL

OK, the gremlins have been at work again. the gas guage has not registered anything for about 100 miles or so, and there have been many stops, and shut downs in the 100 miles. well i started it earlier and the gas guage started working again.

Rick mentioned that it acts like the ignition switch is going bad. with the gas guage working again, at the same time when i started the blazer, it seems to me that he made the correct diagnosis.

the power window switches still don't work, but i am guessing that i damaged them when i had to grip the switch assembly so tight while removing the electrical plugs from them.

now i ask, is it a major job to replace the ignition switch ?? this is something i have never had the pleasure of doing before. please offer up any advise and caution notices.

if the fuel gauge is really pointing "south" then i would say you have a bad ground somewhere?

if it is just stuck on "E" with the low fuel light on, it is the sending unit.

my fuel gauge only works if it is below 40 degrees F outside. 95% of the year it is on "E" with the low fuel light on, but im not gonna mess with it til the pump goes. usually i reset my trip odometer at every fill up, drive 200 miles, then fill up and reset again. that way i know the tank never goes below 25%. My fuel gauge hasn't worked normally for 6 years now...

I have replaced my ignition switch, and it didn't change my fuel gauge (dis)function at all, so i wouldn't bother with it, if that is the only problem.

if the fuel gauge is really pointing "south" then i would say you have a bad ground somewhere?

if it is just stuck on "E" with the low fuel light on, it is the sending unit.

my fuel gauge only works if it is below 40 degrees F outside. 95% of the year it is on "E" with the low fuel light on, but im not gonna mess with it til the pump goes. usually i reset my trip odometer at every fill up, drive 200 miles, then fill up and reset again. that way i know the tank never goes below 25%. My fuel gauge hasn't worked normally for 6 years now...

I have replaced my ignition switch, and it didn't change my fuel gauge (dis)function at all, so i wouldn't bother with it, if that is the only problem.



hey viggy58, thanks for your input. yes the fuel guage needle was pointing straight down. not stuck on full or empty, it was straight down. the low fuel light was not on either.

i glanced at my repair manuals walk through, on ignition switch replacement. i am not going to try to tackle that one. i am too old, and my body would not like it one bit.

you mentioned that it could be a bad ground. do you have any ideas where i would want to start looking for it??

i agree with you 100% on not replacing the fuel pump, or ignition switch when the guage is the only problem. although i am strongly considering trading this thing in, because it is starting to be a weekly thing with parts going bad, and little things like the guage not working would have a negative affect on the trade in value.

most guys would not have a problem with a faulty fuel guage, because as you said, we would just use the trip odometer, but it is a different thing for the female population. LOL

i was pretty frustrated when after replacing the power window motor, the fuel guage, power door lock switches, and power rear view mirror switches all quit working at the same time. i have never had a single electrical problem with this thing untill now, and then i get hit with multiple things.

i am not happy with the part stores prices on the replacement switches. it would cost me over $160 to buy them new. hopfully the junk yards will treat me better.

anyways, if i can be lead in the right direction to find a possible short that would affect the fuel guages operation that would be great!!!!