Power window issue:

It's our first nice spring day here in central Ohio today, and to enjoy it properly I attempted to roll down all four windows on my '99 SE sedan. Unfortunately my happiness at having a nice day off was spoiled when only the drivers side windows went down. I've tried removing the master switch from the driver side door and making sure all the terminals were corrosion free, and turned the car on and off several times (sorry, I'm a computer geek, I've got to try a re-boot :D) with no luck. The manual lists 1 circuit breaker for all four windows, so I think I can rule that out.

What really has me scratching my head is that I KNOW the passenger side front window worked last week. I tried to roll it down to scrape off some snow, but it was frozen up. Still, I saw the glass start to move down slightly, and it went back up when I pushed the switch that way. That was only the front window though, so even if I did something to the motor in that process, I can't figure out how it would have screwed up the back passenger window too. The last car I confronted this issue with, I ended up replacing the master switch with a junkyard part. Same solution here or am I overlooking something?

Since all power to the other windows is routed through the master switch, I'd say that is your problem.

Sounds like you child proof lockout switch is "on"

Sounds like you child proof lockout switch is "on"

The lockout switch will not prevent the windows from working from the master switch, it just cancels out the other 3 individual switches. You should be able to operate all the windows from the master switch regardless of the lockout position.

You should remove the switch and put a circuit tester on the leads and have someone press the corresponding switch on the master switch to see whether or not power is being sent to it. That will help you narrow down the problem. If you end up needing a master, I suggest searching for a used one cause a new one is a bit pricey.

i would put my money on the motor itself. my window motor is bad,, the window still moves a little when i press the button but it usually just stops. if it kind of twitches when u press the button, but doesnt actually go anywhere, id say thats what ur problem is.

The issue seems to have randomly fixed itself. I'm completely puzzled. Of course, it's back to being cold as heck here, and I haven't driven my car very far lately (I work less than a mile from home) so it may manifest itself again once things warm up and parts expand a little, but for now I"m hoping for the best.

Just so you know, Pontiac has more power window issues than any other car I have ever seen. Mine has had that erratic behavior before as well. I had tint put on my car and waited the three days before rolling down my windows as was required. All the windows rolled up and down perfectly before that, but when I got to roll them down after the tint, the passenger rear did nothing at all. It started working a few days later and has a problem ever so often. I've looked into many solutions to this problem but never actually could figure out the problem. Everything is perfect whenever I look at it.