slow windows.....

[britlude]

its not necessarily the motor......


a while ago i fitted new window motor units both sides, as you do, and the passenger side remained slow and reluctant to lift....

as it was a nice day, and i had some enthusiasm to investigate, i set to, removing the door card and seal to get to the motor.... disconnected the motor and connected an 11.1v RC car battery to it, to see what it did, expecting gunged up tracks to make it slow.... to my surprise it worked perfectly.... hmmm... voltage supply issue then.... reconnected the motor and powered it via the door switch loom connector... hmmm ok too.....

jumped the loom connector and tried from the now disassembled drivers side...


(quick aside.... the drivers door now disassembled for the 3rd time today! 1st time was to investigate why the drivers window wouldn't lift after the MOT.... switch was ok, relays in the control box were clicking with the switch command... not movement up tho..... removed control unit, re soldered terminals and relays, now works..... (spare control unit sourced as emergency spare later... get the same unit from a prelude or accord, and avoid NSX tax!!!!) refitted and put all back together!

2nd time was to tweak the outside door handle linage, as it was opening the door right at the end of the handle travel.... hmmm... shame i didnt notice this when i opened the door earlier, not after refitting everything!!!

end of aside!!!)


so, from the driver side loom connection the window still fell and rose well, still not as quick as the drivers side, but better...... so time to attack the switches!

the drivers side feeds into the control box, so the relays in that do the heavy current work, the passenger side switches are pure switches, so the contacts do the heavy current work, and there's 4 contacts it has to go thru to complete the circuit.... soooooooo

fortunately the passenger side switches can be disassembled with a simple cross pin hiding under the rubber shield....

IMG_20240426_130825 by JON SUTH, on Flickr

IMG_20240426_131300 by JON SUTH, on Flickr


this is the drivers door passenger switch..... pretty dodgy normally closed contacts....

basically 2 wires come out of the switch to the passenger switch, both are normally +12v.... if you want to move the window one wire is disconnected from +12 and tied to ground, depending on which way you want the motor to spin... this also means the passenger switch has (normally) two +12v wires coming to it, so it can do the same thing... saves wires!!! as you can see, the normally closed contacts are grotty, giving a resistance and less power available to the passenger switch in the first place.... the passenger switch was similar, so when you try with the drivers switch, it still has one grotty connection there, and still 2 on the passenger side, so again, a slow window as there'e resistance in the circuit..... do it from the passenger side, the power has to come thru the 2 grotty contacts in the drivers switch and still use a grotty one on the passenger side... so either switch you use, it had to go thu 3 grotty contacts before actually completing the motor curcuit!

anyway, cleaned up and with a bit of contact grease, it's back together and working better than ever.... it's still slower than the drivers side, so i suspect the physical connections between the switches and loom are tired, but that is for another time....

IMG_20240426_131426 by JON SUTH, on Flickr

IMG_20240426_131421 by JON SUTH, on Flickr

[goldtop]

bookmarked - thanks for that, and useful to check out the windows of mine. I do have new sets for both sides in case they are necessary.

[Papalazarou]

Thanks for sharing. My drivers side is really slow, do definitely worth investigating.

[Heineken]

Very good to know - that's another point on my list.

[mutley]

I recently replaced both window regulators and are still a bit slow , more work to do !

[Old guy]

Excellent observation. The passenger side will always be a little slower even if the switch contacts are in perfect condition. As you note, the power source for the passenger side window regulator originates at the master switch in the driver side door, then back out the driver's door and presumably somewhere across the dash and then into the passenger's door switch and then the window regulator (and then back again over the same path). Given that both wires to the regulator motor are switched that probably adds about 6+ m of wire that does not exist in the circuit for the driver's side regulator.

In addition to the switches, it probably would not hurt to inspect clean and apply contact enhancing stuff to all the plugs in the circuit.

You noted that you applied contact grease to the switch contacts. Did you use actual designated contact grease or dielectric grease? Dielectric grease will do a good job of preventing future oxidation of the contacts and if the contacts make good 'contact' it will not impede operation. But, dielectric grease (usually silicone) is an insulator and will not enhance contact operation. There are greases that will enhance conductivity such as Electrolube and others (I use GB Ox Gard sometimes). What also works very well is DeOxit D 100L. It is a slightly viscous liquid, not a grease; but, it does a spectacular job of enhancing the electrical operation of the contacts. The DeOxit guys now make a contact grease which has D100L in the grease along with the option for suspended metal particles to enhance conductivity . I can vouch for the D100L liquid. I have not direct experience with the DeOxit greases.

I wish I had thought of this when I had my doors apart to install the Hugo regulator kit.