Hi guys, I really need your advice again. I took my car in because the windows didn’t roll down and it was a fuse and they replaced it and they worked fine… for a week. Now not only the front windows won’t go down but all 4 windows won’t. He says the fuse went out again. These guys say it will be one hour to 5 hours to figure out what’s wrong and they charge $140 an hour. He’ll call me after an hour to tell me if they could figure it out. Should I find another place? How can I find another place that might be less? I live in an expensive area. I really appreciate your help.
Time to give up. They are trying to tell you that you have serious electrical problems and even if repaired more will most likely show up. At five hours labor you are close to half of the trade in value Assuming you are employed having a dependable vehicle is more important than any attachment you may have to this thing.
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When the windows did work, were they going up really slow?
No, the windows weren’t going up slow.
Today the windows are working perfectly!
What does this mean?
I really appreciate your help.
There’s a loose or corroded connection somewhere.
are you using only the driver window control?
do the window controls on each window work ok?
there is a central window control for 4 windows and a switch on each window?
A blown fuse usually means there’s a wire involving the window motors who’s insulation has rubbed off and it is connecting to the chassis ground occasionally, like when going over a bump, or maybe the vibrations of operating the window motor. You could get lucky, might can find it by yourself. Look at where the wires go from the body of the car to the driver’s door, in the hinge area. They’ll go through a rubber grommet of some kind. Has that grommet fallen out, and the wires are now chaffing against metal every time you open the door? Look at the wires in that are carefully to see if the insulation is in good condition. Any cracking, rubbed off parts, that has to be corrected.
More likely if it is a wire insulation problem, it is behind the driver’s door panel. If you feel up to removing the door panel, do that, then get a good flashlight, maybe a mirror, and take a look inside the door for wires that are chaffed or burned or have fallen off their connectors. The short circuit could be in any of the doors that have power windows of course, but more likely in the driver’s door b/c that one has the most switches and is the door that is opened and closed the most. And it might not be a wire insulation problem, but that a door motor has shorted out internally. That could happen if the door window’s hardware lube had dried out and was sticking, making it difficult for the motor to open and close the window.
There’s a pretty good chance the tech will figure it out in an hour. If not, either do it yourself or find somebody who do the job for less money. About all I can say. Generally this kind of work would be in the $100 per hour range, so $140 isn’t too much out of line; if you have a good feeling the techs there know their stuff, probably best just let them solve it for you. This is the price paid for the extra complexity, but which affords you the convenience of motorized windows. I should say at this point all four windows in my Corolla still work perfectly after 25 years. Manually operated.