Power Windows Problems

[mackintosh]

I bought a '98 V70XC with about 180k on it last fall for my wife to drive and my daughter to learn in (my other cars are manual trannies), and it's also turned out to be a great ski car. Initially, the power windows worked (not all switches though, I forget which). At some point, they all quit, although during the winter it wasn't so bad. Recently, my wife was driving and some stinky smoke came out of the left-most dash vent. It turned out that the window circuit breaker in the under-hood fuse box (must remove the outer lid to access) had burnt the holder. Oddly, some of the windows started working again at that point. AFAIK, most of the other accessories work (I don't drive it much).

Does this sound familiar to anyone? Are there common problem areas with window switches or harnesses? I don't currently have a manual, and I'm better at mechanical than electrical troubleshooting. Thanks for any help.

-David

[JRL]

The master (drivers) switch go bad all the time but I never heard of smoking up unless the switch is actually shorting out instead of just quitting

[Bricking it]

You say they have been intermittent for a while, I would check where the wires go from the door to the car, after opening and closing the door many times the wires can break here or wear through the insulator which would cause a short.

[JRL]

Or...the actual switch shorted out, not just dirty/worn out contacts as they usually are.

[nator]

Just purchase a new switch from any one. The same thing happened to me in South Louisiana in a rain storm, I had smoke then a failed switch; the switch I am speaking of is the whole unit on the drivers door which can be removed with a knife as a pry bar without removing the door panel.

[JRL]

Or, if you have a hook tool, you can attach it right in the middle and yank it up and out

[drgonzo439]

hey old post......I had the same problem... one day I pressed the driver side window switch and a puff of smoke came out of the switch and then went all the way down, then wouldn't work, somehow I got the window back up by pushing a small flat head screw driver in the switch but after it came back up. I replaced the window switch but still nothing, every other window works with the switch but the front. Now is it possible that the motor died and needs to be replaced or is there something else wrong???

please help, not having a front window that goes down is killer