So I helped my friend upgrade her center console to an NB2 model. Bolted and plugged right in.
…Turns out the NB2 switch is wired differently and as a result we melted some wiring.
Her windows were down.
Plugged the old switch back in and was able to raise the driver’s window, but the passenger window will not go up (fuse pops).
Is there a way to raise the window manually so she can at least drive the car/park it outside/etc. until we have time to figure out what fried?
Get into the wiring in the door, perhaps? You’ve got a short somewhere, hopefully it’s on the body side.
That’s my next step, pull the panel & run a (fused) jumper off the battery to see if I can raise the window using the motor. My fear is that if the motor is cooked, I would like a backup plan.
I've done a few window regulators lately. Pull the door card, disconnect the wiring at the plug, and apply 12 volts to the appropriate contacts. New motor is 70 bucks at Rockauto, if that one is fried.
Edit: Or you can do what my buddy with the Cadillac DTS did--cut a facsimile of a window out of 1/8" acrylic sheet and duct tape it in the opening.
Or, once you have access, unfasten the window from the regulator dealie and pull it up, then tape it.
One of my cars currently has two windows with bad window regulators, so I removed them and was able to slide the window up. One is held up with duct tape, the other just by pushing it up every time that it starts to fall down a bit. Your mileage may vary as to whether this is a viable plan. I anticipate the duct tape residue will be a pain to get off.
Tape of any kind is not an option, we literally JUST replaced the top with a nice canvas one the same day lol.
She just got in a fender bender with her daily this morning, so the miata needs to be made driveable tonight for work tomorrow AM. Rainy and low's in the 30s/40s lately so... windows are important :).
fingers crossed that the motor still works, good to know they aren't too expensive though!
If tape is an absolute no-no, that complicates matters.
Once you have access, it may be possible to block it in the closed position by attaching one or two small clamps (gently) to the track just below the raised window
So there's definitely no way to manually turn the motor/raise the regulator? that stinks. I was hoping for an emergency option with an allen head drive or similar... like you often see for power sunroofs.
Hopefully there's access to detach the window from the regulator with the window wide open, i've had cars before where you could only access the bolts in a specific~1/2 open position.
I know this is the wrong direction, but if you can get the window up (maybe remove from the regulator) rather than tape I've removed the offending regulator and used a piece of wood wedged in the bottom of the door up to the bottom of the glass, then screwed the wood to the door metal to hold it in place.
In reply to therieldeal :
Most of the ones I've seen are easiest with the window in a particular position, but not impossible with the window in most other positions. Hopefully you can still get at it, although likely with a bit of contortion and cussing.
Edit: Probably worth your while to view a youtube vid on the regulator replacement for that model so you have an idea what you're getting in to.
I think it's very unlikely that the motor is damaged--it's probably the wiring along the way. If you do what Keith and 1988RedT2 are suggesting, you should be fine. I've done this many, many times on many cars that had wiring issues.
Once you get that solved, you'll want to carefully dig into the melted wiring to find the short. Usually, if you remove the tape or shielding from the bad part of the loom, you'll find some melted wires that are now shorting to each other. Repair those and you should be back in good shape. I've done this many times as well, and usually find one wire that melted for 1-3 feet next to some wires that it melted into. I can't think of a time I found something like this happen in more than one area of the loom, so these repairs aren't usually that hard to make. Unless the melted part is way under the dash. The repairs are still pretty straightforward, but the access to make them is difficult.
For emergency purposes:. Remove inside door panel, unbolt the window from regulator (2 screws), and use a wooden dowel to prop the window closed.
Welp, in addition to the melty wires right near the switch (and possibly elsewhere, still need to go through the wiring), the passenger window motor was indeed cooked. The distinct odor of well-toasted electronics was quite obvious once we got the door panel off.
I was able to remove the three bolts holding the glass to the regulator and raise the glass up. I had brought some dowel and was working on getting a piece cut to just the right length and propped in place... when she comes out of the garage and says "i have this pool noodle...?"
...So we abandoned the dowel idea & cut the pool noodle into a few ~18" sections, put a slot in one end of each to slip onto the bottom of the glass, and stuffed them in the door. Added a few zip ties to make sure they would not shift around... voila! worked perfectly! She's back on the road, and I'm shopping for window motors haha...
Pool noodle, what a great idea!
How the heck do you hurt the motor by applying 12v to it? I'm confused.
The usual way they work is the motor has ground on both sides, and the window switch changes one of the wires to power. It could just as easily be power to both sides and the switch changes one side to ground, the motor doesn't care.
Weird.
Knurled. said:How the heck do you hurt the motor by applying 12v to it? I'm confused.
The usual way they work is the motor has ground on both sides, and the window switch changes one of the wires to power. It could just as easily be power to both sides and the switch changes one side to ground, the motor doesn't care.
Weird.
The motor has two wires, and the switch connects power to one and ground to the other. Polarity is simply reversed for up vs down.
It seems that plugging an NB2 switch into an NB1 harness sends 12v to the passenger motor in the "down" direction, 100% of the time, without touching the switch. I.e. just like holding the switch down for several mins.
After we finished the top and console install a couple weeks ago we went for a drive, and a few minutes into the drive we smelled toasty electronics. Shut the car off, found that the PW fuse had popped. Drove home & pulled the console back out, found some melty wires, etc.
Ugh, that makes sense....
If only the windows had been UP when we started the car, we'd have caught it right away... but alas, good ol' Murphy doing his thing
Pool noodles? Someone's feeling FANCY!
WonkoTheSane said:Pool noodles? Someone's feeling FANCY!
They worked perfectly! Rigid enough to hold up the window, yet flexible enough to stuff into the door easily. Compressible enough to act kind of like a spring / not need to be exactly the right length to stay in place.
Yeah, it sounds perfect! Last time this happened to me (well over a decade ago), all I had available was a 2x4 and a hand saw.. I like her idea way better!
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