1998 Century - Power Window Problem

[jspoljoric]

I have a 1998 Buick Century. Recently, my power windows stopped working. I replaced the drivers control switch and the circuit breaker. The windows will work intermittently at times and will only work for a few minutes when the do work. Is there anything I can check or replace short of going to the dealer?

[iam4uf]

I have a Buick Century and my windows wont work either. Here is the wierd part. If I try the switch all it makes is a clicking noise and none of the windows will work. BUT, if I open either one of the back doors the windws will then work. I replaced the master switch and does the same thing, anyone have ANY ideas? Thanks in advance

[papason]

I had pretty much the same symptoms. Mine is older than yours but I have heard of this for years and is likely applied to your cars as well.
In between the door and the frame I found the wires broken or nearly broken. they get worked alot in that place. I had to cut the rubber flexible housing to get to them but then I used quick connectors and they work fine again. Mine were in the drivers door.

[iam4uf]

Where exactly will the wires be? Near the front of the the door? Does that cause some kind of grounding issue? Thanks for your help.

[papason]

Well if you see a, Usualy black, flexible housing going between the dooor and the frame the wires will be in there. If you happen to have several you can follow the wires from inside the door. sometmes that boot will pull up enough to see what is inside, but to do the work I had to resort to cutting it open. (I chose lengthwise and on the bottom) Oh ya , Yoiu will probably have to take of the inside panel. Watch for the clips holding it in and try not to rip the panel. there is a fairly inexpensive tool that makes this easier.
It is pretty close quarters working on the wires, but if persistant it can be done. just make sure you match up the right wires for any wires that are severed. Usualy it will be color to color. but my main wire was two different ones. I learned this mostly by process of elimination and following the wires then when there seemed to be no other wires I hoped and was right.
What looks like the problems was most were severed or nearly so there was no current going through or not enough so you get little bits of movement sometimes.

[iam4uf]

I opened the door and just move the rubber harness and boom, my windows started working. Thanks for the tip. I am going to cut the boot and see if I can see what wires are shorting out. But, AT LEAST I know now what the problem is. I really appreciate the info. Thanks

[papason]

glad it was that simple

[Fred in Aiea]

iam4uf,

I am having the same problem. Wondering if you might share what you exprienced when attempting to solve this issue. I am wondering if removing the door panel might help make things easier. Any tips would be appreciated.

Feel free to e-mail me at my hotmail address which I use for posting on the net in order to keep spam away from my real e-mail address.

[email protected]

[NakedDancer]

I just had the same problem and this tip worked out great (thanks!). You probably only need to do the driver side door panel depending on where the break is and how much line you need to replace (try to do it without taking the door apart if you can). I also removed the plastic coverings under the steering column and the small L shaped plastic cover under the emergency brake so I could see/get to inside wires better. Cut the boot in the door facing until you see the covered wires. If you see no obvious breaks (even if you do) give each wire a tug and see if they come lose (I had 6 broken but only saw 3). I taped new wires to a stiff piece of wire and ran them from inside under the dash (behind the parking brake) and out through the boot. Where I spliced them into the old wires and taped them. Once I knew the wire colors that were broken I pulled those wire out of the boot from inside the car and spliced those to the added extensions. All my windows work now.

[y2icon]

well i guess ill add to the list my 93 century front windows dont work either. the back ones do but the front one. so i guess off with the door panel to check for broken wires