2003 Power Window Issue

I have a 2003 Taurus Sedan SE, 93K miles, four door, power windows & locks. Every couple of times I drive it, the power windows on the driver's side, both front and rear, will quit working. When I press the power window switch, I will hear a clicking from under the dash, but neither of the driver's side windows will go up or down. Both of the passenger side windows work fine. If I wait a few minutes, sometimes the windows will magically start working again, sometimes they won't. Sometimes I have to turn off the engine, walk away for a few minutes, come back, turn on car and they will work again. This always happens to both driver's side windows (front and rear) every time...either they both work, or they both don't, never happens to just the front or back. When the windows are working they are not slow or anything - no binding or weird noises or anything. Passenger side windows always work. I pulled the rubber boot off of the wire harness running from front door to dash and all wires look good - no breaks or missing insulation or anything like that. The wires look really good. I jiggle them around but that does not seem to help.

Any ideas? I think I have a bad switch, but I'm not sure. Also, how do you remove the window swich from driver's door? I tried to use a small screwdriver to pry up on switch, but it did not want to pop out. Do I have to remove the door panel? Is it secured with some screws or something from underneath? Or do I just need to pry up a little harder? I don't want to break it or the plastic trim.

Thanks for any help!

You will probably need to pull the door panel, or at least the piece of trim that the window switches are mounted in. I don't have the service manual for 2003 to look up the specifics. Sometimes there is a trim piece separate of the door panel that can be removed, but often the entire door panel will need to come off. I would still suspect a broken wire between the door and body of the car. Since the windows are intermittant, I would expect you'll find a wire that's broken inside the insulation (not easily visible). You'll want to look for a wire that has a bit of a kink to it. Pull out the wiring diagram for your car (which you'll likely need to easily troubleshoot this) and see what voltages should be at the switch from this kinked wire with various presses of the button.

-Rod

Rod, thanks for the reply.

I did some more checking, and here is what I found out.

The door panel does need to come off to access switch. There are 7 screws, easily accessible, that need to come out, then the panel just pops right off. I took the panel off, un-clipped the wiring harnesses, and sprayed some electical cleaner in the wiring harnesses and the switch itself. The wires looked pristine - like brand new....no kinks or cracks. Switch and connectors looks good too. Really good - suprisingly good. I let it dry, then put it all back together. It worked perfectly....until the next day. Then it was right back to the same ol' story....works perfectly one second, the next second, nothing. Driver's side only.

I checked the wires in the harness that runs between door and dash - removed the boot as much as I could without damaging it and the wires looked perfect - I was suprised how clean they were, and nothing was kinked, not even in the "service loop" where it wires sort of dip down then go back up into the dash. I could not completely remove boot with out ripping it - maybe I should do this. I don't think it is wires because the passenger side works perfectly even when drivers side flakes out. Jiggling wires does not help at all. Maybe I should try a new switch.

This happen to anyone else?

Thanks for the info on removing the door panel.

If you have access to a wiring diagram and a voltmeter, you could pretty easily test the switch if you don't mind getting to the switch connections again. If you'd like a copy of the wiring diagram for the 2002 model year, which likely would be pretty similar, send me a Private Message with the request and an e-mail address for you that can accept PDFs and I should be able to send the diagram to you in the evening.

-Rod

Thanks for the info on removing the door panel.

If you have access to a wiring diagram and a voltmeter, you could pretty easily test the switch if you don't mind getting to the switch connections again. If you'd like a copy of the wiring diagram for the 2002 model year, which likely would be pretty similar, send me a Private Message with the request and an e-mail address for you that can accept PDFs and I should be able to send the diagram to you in the evening.

-Rod


I send you an IM. Thanks for sending the diagram. I'm not sure how to test it other than to pull the door panel, and wait for the window to fail. Then throw the meter on it to see what is happening. When it works, it works great.....then it fails.....then works perfectly again. I'm going to try to score a switch at a bone yard or buy a new one. Autozone has it for $50. If that doesn't fix it, then I got problems.

THanks,

Ok, got a switch from the junk yard today. Getting old switch out was a pain due to the shape of the door - I know this sounds wierd, but if you ever have to change one of these out you will know what I mean. Anyway, so far, so good. Driver's window has not failed yet, and I drove it twice today. Only thing now is that the rear driver's window will not work at all. I thought it worked before during the times when the front drivers window was working, but now I'm not sure. I swapped the old switch back in and the driver's rear window would not work with that one either. Won't work by using the switch on the rear door either. That's a Ford for you. As long as the driver's window works, I guess I'm OK, but this is sure annoying. I'm gonna check out the wires going to that door and see if there is a problem.

Update.....checked for any wiring damage on rear window (driver's side) and just like the front, this wiring looked pristine. Checked switch, it seemed to be ok. So I loosened up the motor (3 bolts), and jiggled the motor free from the regulator, hit the switch and presto! Motor was working. Jiggled it back into place, snugged up the bolts, and it continued to work! So I hit all the moving parts with a heavy dose of CRC6-56, put it all back together, and so far so good!

Now all four windows are working. I am going to give the driver's side switch a few days to convince me it is going to be fine, but for now, all is good.

That's great news, congratulations! Thank you for the helpful follow-up, no doubt this will be a troubleshooting step for others in the future.

-Rod

auxbar:

I've got a '97 3.0l Vulcan wagon and I had a driver's window motor stop working on me last Fall. I pulled it out and tested it and it wouldn't work. So I dropped it (accidentally) - and it started working. Seemed to work fine on a 12V source, so I re-installed it. Worked fine for exactly a year and failed again. Finally replaced it with a new unit. Pulling it apart revealed that there was a nylon/plastic gear meshing with a metal gear. The plastic had developed a mushy spot that wouldn't mesh any longer with the metal. Maybe dropping it a year previous got it just past this (at the time less-damaged) spot enough to start working again.

If your rear door window has gotten as much service as a driver's door window typically does (by say, your kids), I'd expect a future failure like I experienced. Sorry...

Ok guys....here I go again.....window worked for a few months...now its on the fritz again. Driver window only....all the others work fine. Replaced window switch, window motor, and OTD (one-touch down) relay. A couple of months ago I discovered that if I reach under the dash and jiggle the OTD relay, the window would work. Now jiggling the relay no longer works, but if I reach under the dash and push on the side of the relay toward the passenger side of the car while pushing on the window switch, the window will go up and down. So I made a little wedge out of folded up paper, and jammed that beside the relay, thereby creating some pressure on the relay, the window would work. Well, now that doesn't work anymore....if I reach under the dash and put some serious pressure on the side of the relay, it will work, but the paper wedge trick no longer works. So maybe it is some problem with the relay socket...but either way, I am to the point where I want to bypass the whole OTD relay thing and just wire myself a little momentary rocker switch straight to the window motor and be done with it.

Can anybody give me some direction as to how to do this? I'm not sure how many wires are coming off of the window motor. I am guessing three: one ground, and two 12v - one to make it go up, and one to make it go down. Can I take a ground to the middle of my switch, and two 12v to either side of my switch? Then go from the switch to the motor? I hope this makes sense...I got a wiring schematic, but I can't make heads or tails of it. I was going to grab my meter and start troubleshooting.

Are there any experts here that can give me a step by step on how to do this? I would be forever in your debt........THANKS!!!!!!

You might try just bypassing the OTD relay with a jumper wire. Remove the relay and install a jumper wire between terminals 3 and 4. Hopefully you'll have wire terminals on the jumper that match up with what's on the OTD relay so you can determine if one of the connections are weak. If the jumper attachs securely, try the windows out and see if they work fine.

Since with the OTD relay removed, I'm not sure whether or not the GEM will trigger a diagnostic code if the "Auto" switch is closed but the current sense loop never tells the GEM that the window is down and to release the OTD relay coil. That will be an experiment for you to try.

-Rod

OK....thanks for the info Rod.....wish I would have read that before I started digging into this once again. I decided against removing and inspecting the main fuse block where the relays plug in....I figured if I was having problems with the OTD relay that was one thing, but if the fuel pump relay goes I'll really be in trouble. Plus access is kind of a pain, and I did not want to create more trouble for myself.

So here is what I did. I got myself a toggle switch - it is an on-off-on type switch, with 6 terminals total on it. I wanted a momentary rocker type deal, but could not find one. I actually had to get this switch at Radio Shack - no automotive stores had one. I mounted the switch on the door panel - I had to drill a hole, but no big deal to me. Then unplugged factory connector to window motor. Then I ran a #14 AWG 2-conductor cable from the battery to the switch - I ran the (+) lead thru an in-line fuse. I terminated these on the middle two terminals. Then I ran the same type of cable from the top two terminals of the switch to the window motor terminals. Then I ran the same type of cable from the bottom two terminals and tapped (opposite polarity) to the cable running from the switch to the motor. Picture in your head 6 terminals, or 3 rows of 2 side by side terminals...like this
1 2
3 4
5 6

1 = (+) to window motor (+) - doesn't really matter which
2 = (-) to window motor (-) - the other terminal on motor
3 = (+) to Battery via in-line fuse (+)
4 = (-) to Battery (-)
5 = (-) tapped to cable coming off of terminal #2
6 = (+) tapped to cable coming off of terminal #1

For the taps I just used scotch-locks.

Window now works like a champ with my new switch. New switch will always work, even if no keys in ignition, but this is not a big deal to me. This may not be the best fix for everyone, but I'm happy I don't have to pull the dog-gone door panel off any more to goof with the motor, and crawl under the dash to jiggle the relay while pushing down the window button to make the window go up or down. Its a happy day.....

If anybody decides to try this and wants some help or a better explanation, just shoot me an IM.