It's time to say Goodbye to the Old Girl.

Kevlar

Kevlar

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Today I am going to replace two window motors and get the little Grand Am cleaned up and put a 'For Sale' sign on her.

It's had an interesting history with our family; it was first bought by a neighbor and good friend across the street from us, my mother-in-law bought it from her, then we bought it from my mother-in-law.

It's served us well and we have a lot of nice memories with it. Just this last year I've put quite a bit of money into it, more than I'll see back of course but I'll be glad for whoever buys it.

The entire cooling system has been replaced, fresh heads and gaskets, good tires, it's running very nicely right now and should for a good while yet.

I hope to get KBB price for fair condition on the private market.
Wish me luck!

:)
 
Well someone indeed will be getting a nice car. Hope the best for you sale. What is going to replace this car?
 
A 1998 Lexus LS 400 in very good condition. From another friend who took meticulous and expensive care of it.
 
please hang around here even if your driving a Lexus
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Well, got the motors in and working. Passenger front and driver's side rear. Now all the windows work. I forgot how much of a pain R/R door panels can be without the specialty tools and a lot of experience. But I got them off and back on, looks pretty good and the darn widows go up and down when you push the button! I call that sweet success!

So, now it's time to detail it out and get it sold.
 
good luck with the sale
 
Gotta love power windows! GL on the sale too!
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Well, got the two window motors replaced and thought everything was hunky-dory until last night, drove the car into the garage for the night because I was going to show it to someone in the morning, the front right window wouldn't work.

Crap.

Pulled the panel off, removed the motor and took it back to O'Reilly's figuring it went bad on me. They swapped me for it, no problem, got it back in the car and ...... nothing. Bupkis! Checked the wiring, no visible damage or fraying, no power to the door switch. Hmm....

Put the thing back together and did some research. Checked my diagram (a bit confusing but a YouTube video helped out there). Did some testing and messing around with the switches and wiring. I got just a few bumps from the multi-switch on the driver's side door.

After some testing at that master multi-switch, I get power on all the other three window switches but not the front passenger side. I think the switch may be going south. I also think that if the master multi-switch goes bad, it could affect the power to the other door switches due to the lock out switch, although, on the diagram I have it looks like the lock out switch may only affect the rear door windows, I thought it locked the front passenger window too. Can anyone confirm or correct that?

So now I'm faced with figuring out how to test that multi-switch or buy a new one for $120 +/- and see if that does the trick.

Any other thoughts?
 
Just went into garage and checked my wife's Malibu. Lock switch affected only rear windows, passenger front continued to operate. Check this link to see if it helps you confirm the problem.

http://www.a1electric.com/grandam.htm
 
Well, thanks Mel. That page basically dealt with replacing the power window motor. I already know the motors (new) are good, I hot wired them to test. What I need to find is where the power circuit is broken to both the driver's side master switch and the passenger door switch.

Last night I got a little action out of the master switch for the passenger door so there is a fault somewhere in the wiring. It would be an easy fix to replace the master switch but I'd rather not spend $120 if that's not the problem. Hunting down electrical issues is not my forte or in my comfort level but I'll just have to muddle along the best I can.

Thanks for the help!
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Make sure you check inside the rubber/plastic conduits between the door and the body. The constant opening and closing of the doors over time can damage the wires.
 
After checking the master switch with an Ohm meeter and test light and studying the wiring diagram I am assuming the conclusion that power to both front passenger door window switches (the one on the door and the one on the master switch) are routed through the master switch. The reason I've come to this conclusion is that both switches have no power to them. It may be possible that both switches have gone bad at the same time (not likely).

Tomorrow afternoon I'll find out if I'm right as I just ordered a new master switch from Napa.

To be continued ...
 
.... Well, this morning I picked up the new switch. $106 with the AAA discount plus tax. I came home for lunch and plugged it in and ..... nuthin!!! I can't tell you how disappointed I was. My second thought was that my wife would insist I try to return the switch for a refund. I was not relishing the idea of trying to explain that most places won't return electronic parts.

Then I started thinking about what the problem might be. Was is it? I dreaded the thought of trying to trace down a wire with a short somewhere. When I got home this evening the thought hit me upside the head; the passenger door switch wasn't plugged in when I tried the new master switch! Could it be? I remember messing around before when the switches were working that they both had to be plugged in to work. So ....

YES!!! SahWEET SUCCESS!!!

So, my suspicions were right. The power is routed not only through the master switch but the circuit is completed only when the other door switch is in too.

*heavy sigh of relief*

Now, she's all cleaned up, everything works and I have an interested party who wants to see it tomorrow. I wasn't too sure earlier but today is a good day.
 
Glad to see it works buddy; best of luck selling it too!
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Ok, the car's fate has been decided. We are giving it to our oldest daughter. It will be sort of a graduation gift as she will be getting her BA this May. She and her husband have been doing with only his little Ranger but that's worked out fine while they've been going to UNR together. After graduation, he will be going into a DO program and she will be looking for gainful employment to help support them. She needs her own car and this will be a good one for her.

The funny thing is, once we made that decision we got at least three calls from other interested parties. Isn't that just the way? :)
 
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