98 grand am power windows

I have a 98 grand am gt i picked up a couple weeks ago,and both power windows stopped working the other day.I replaced the circiut breaker,and no luck .This is deffinatly not my area.Also i had a stereo installed the other day at bestbuy,and i'm not sure if it has anything to do with the problem.any help would be appreciated.

grand ams are known for the power window motors going out on them, im sure you can find plenty of threads on here about it. you can usually tell if its the motors by letting them sit for 10 to 15 mins and trying again, it lets the motor cool down & then they work properly. The motors can be bought at an autozone, murray's, or napa.

Unless both motors work after sitting I don't think thats your problem, I would guess you blew a fuse in the fuse pannel, if there are more then one switch for the window try all of the switches first. If no switches work i'd look at your owners manual to find the fuse that provides power to the power windows and check that. if you have an ohm meter check the ohms between the fuses (if you have ohms your fuse is good, if not its burnt), it never hurts to check them all!

If you don't have a burnt fuse then i'd say the next step is to take the wire harness off of the back of the switches, turn the ignition on, and see if you have power going to the switches (1 if you do, 2 if you don't)
1. if you do then pull the pannel off of the door & unplug the wires going to the window motor (with the switches plugged back in) push the switch & see if your getting power at the window motor plug. if that all checks out then its your motor, if not work your back to the switches.
2. go back to the fuse pannel and see if you have power there, if you don't have power there then your problem is before that, make sure the ignition is on. If you have no power there then you probably have a bad "fuseable link".

"fuseable link" ...
A fuseable link is nothing more then a wire that drops in wire diameter to protect the system from an overload, just like a fuse does ...
how to find them ...
The positive wire from the battery runs to the starter, on the same post of the starter is 4 wires that all have a fuseable link built into them, best way to test them is remove them from the starter post (after disconnecting the battery) and get them out where you can work with them. bolt all 4 wires together with a jumper wire (jumper wire should be long enough to reach the positive post of the battery & has a loop the size as the fuseable link wires), connect your jumper wire to the positive post of the battery, and connect a test light to the negitive terminal of the battery. When you look at the fuseable link wires you can tell where they change wire diameter, push the test light thru the insulation on the far side of the wire diameter change, if you get a light your fuseable link is good, if not you will have to replace it (any auto parts store). be sure to tape up any places you poked thru the insulation to keep the wire from failing later.

hope some of this helps

Welcome to AF fulmik.

THier is also a relay for hte windows.
After checking that, test the power at the buttons.
If you still have no powr then you'll need to track down the short as gmack explained.

Good Hunting!

Thanks for the help i will try this again.xeroinfinity you said there is a relay,would you be kind enough to tell me the location of this relay.Maybe i missed something.

I am pretty certain its in one of the fuse boxes.

Also try cleaning the button/switch and its contacts.
Sometimes they get corrosion on them and quit working.

Here is a window wiring diagram (http://www.autozone.com/images/cds/gif/large/0900823d8009d4b7.gif)that may help issolate your troubles.

thanks for all the help i'll try again in the morning.

I just wanted to say thanks for the help,i found a problem with the switch harness clip inside the door.It came apart slightly,and is now working again.Thanks again.

Glad you solved it fulmik.

Nice when it is something simple :D