power window assembly cleaning warning re tiny part getting loose (1 Viewer)

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semlin

semlin

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some true 80 series tech here... ;)

not sure if this is a 93-94 only issue or if maybe my truck was missing a part.

I took apart my ds power window switch assembly to expose all the contacts and cleaned all the carbon off the contacts with isopropyl alcohol and q tips. it made a dramatic difference and i highly recommend it.

BUT, if you do this, watch out for the tiny spring inside the window switch lock button. when you separate the plastic switches from the circuit board and contacts, the window lock button can come apart. it consists of two plastic pieces and two springs. one of them is a tiny spring on one side that makes the switch alternate between up and down when you press it. nothing is holding this spring in place so be very careful not to play with that switch while the assembly is apart. It was super finicky to reattach the spring and have it hold when reassembling the switch. I have no idea how toyota does it at the factory.

incidentally, i discovered that the up contact on my driver side switch is physically worn away about 50% at an angle. I assume the carbon was so bad that there was minimal contact and it was arcing. For now it works fine but there is less surface contact than designed so I expect it will carbon up quicker to have to replace the whole switch in the not too distant future since there does not seem any way to just replace this piece. if your up switch is not working well consider cleaning these contacts sooner rather than later.
 
Oh crap and thanks, but i should of read this thread before i done mine, because i have lost the bits you are talking about. And now since cleaning my contacts my drivers side window switch no longer works, all the others work just not for the drivers window, any idea's what I have done i dont want to have to buy another switch.
 
check your fuses. maybe the driver is on a different fuse? otherwise i think you'll have to pull it all apart again to figure it out. the driver's rocker switch is different from all the others and, unlike the others, the contacts are firmly attached to the switch assembly. it is hard for me to see how cleaning could make the switch fail to go up or down unless you went a lot further in dissassembly than i did.
 
semlin said:
check your fuses. maybe the driver is on a different fuse? otherwise i think you'll have to pull it all apart again to figure it out. the driver's rocker switch is different from all the others and, unlike the others, the contacts are firmly attached to the switch assembly. it is hard for me to see how cleaning could make the switch fail to go up or down unless you went a lot further in dissassembly than i did.
Click to expand...

The alcohol and q-tip was all you needed to clean the carbon up? I had to take some fine sandpaper to mine and I still wasn' t all that impressed.
 
where do all the itty bitty springs go?
I've got 5, and don't see a clear location to install them

cleaned up the contacts with an eraser (pencil) works great. hit it all with contact cleaner (spray) then after it dried, hit it with some silicone spray to (hopefully) keep the contacts from building up carbon as quickly.

Incidentally-- I was dumb enough to play with the window lock button. It *is* hard to reassemble.
 
Not sure if you guys are interested but while you have your switches out, the auto-up mod is easy and works great (if you let your kids play in the front seat with the ign. on it may not be such a good thing)
 
sandcruiser said:
where do all the itty bitty springs go?
I've got 5, and don't see a clear location to install them

cleaned up the contacts with an eraser (pencil) works great. hit it all with contact cleaner (spray) then after it dried, hit it with some silicone spray to (hopefully) keep the contacts from building up carbon as quickly.

Incidentally-- I was dumb enough to play with the window lock button. It *is* hard to reassemble.
Click to expand...

they sit on little white plastic vertical posts surrounding some of the switches but I do not recall exactly where (and i think there were more than 6)
 
just five springs, they do fit on little white posts that provide grounding to the switches. If you look on the top piece (dark brown in my case) you can see the five copper squares where the springs contact the top.

Got it all back together, and I'm happy to say that the windows work.... better. Still a far cry from perfect. Looking at maybe replacing the rubber... also pulling the doors off and making sure that the motors are grounded well and that that there isn't too much voltage drop between the + and the ground.

If your switches are balky- this is a pretty easy mod to do... just do it with good light, clean surface, and try to limit the potential for springs and e-clips flying too far!
 
I'm seven years behind on this thread and I just opened up my power window/locks assembly in the car over a gravel driveway... Anyone know of a mechanical parts diagram for this assembly?
 
Try a search for master+door+switch; there are a few threads with photos. Haven't seen a parts diagram for the innards of the switch. If you've lost parts and need a replacement switch your options are new Toyota, used Toyota from the parting out section (some mid 90's Camry switches will work IIRC), or an aftermarket switch like from Switch Doctor for about $50.
 
OK, thank you very much.

Here is where things stand: The assembly was in working condition before I took it apart (driver's side window not going up or down. I think even messing with this assembly was a mistake (i.e., likely the power window regulator and/or motor)).

I'm pretty sure I have all of the parts but I have 3 issues.
1. There is a tiny black torsion spring (a little over 1 cm long), maybe from the window lock; i.e., the kind of spring where the round coil part slips over a post/pin with a short arm set against something fixed and the long arm against whatever needs to spring back/forth, up/down. I don't know where this goes.
2. A tiny "white rocket" with a coil spring coming out the bottom of it. This whole assembly is about 1 cm long. I don't know where this goes either. Are there more than one of these?
3. How do you get the window lock assembly back in place? There is a cube-ish plastic piece in the bottom of the assembly that springs laterally in and out of its' plastic housing, with electrical contacts on one side (it's obvious which way it needs to face). I don't know how to keep the "cube" pushed back into it's place so that the window lock button and everything under it can slide back down into place.

FYI, I have ordered a new power window/switch assembly, but will try to salvage the one I have.
 
John Dannenbrink said:
OK, thank you very much.

Here is where things stand: The assembly was in working condition before I took it apart (driver's side window not going up or down. I think even messing with this assembly was a mistake (i.e., likely the power window regulator and/or motor)).

I'm pretty sure I have all of the parts but I have 3 issues.
1. There is a tiny black torsion spring (a little over 1 cm long), maybe from the window lock; i.e., the kind of spring where the round coil part slips over a post/pin with a short arm set against something fixed and the long arm against whatever needs to spring back/forth, up/down. I don't know where this goes.
2. A tiny "white rocket" with a coil spring coming out the bottom of it. This whole assembly is about 1 cm long. I don't know where this goes either. Are there more than one of these?
3. How do you get the window lock assembly back in place? There is a cube-ish plastic piece in the bottom of the assembly that springs laterally in and out of its' plastic housing, with electrical contacts on one side (it's obvious which way it needs to face). I don't know how to keep the "cube" pushed back into it's place so that the window lock button and everything under it can slide back down into place.

FYI, I have ordered a new power window/switch assembly, but will try to salvage the one I have.
Click to expand...
I don't recall where the springs go, been some time since I tore mine apart. The window locks was PITA to get back together. Again I don't recall what I did, but remember much fiddling with that particular piece. I know right, lot of help I am. (I did get it back together and didn't seem to help. I went the new switch route.
 
Grounding of the window motors is irrelevant as the power circuit is completely within the two wires connecting to the motor.
It is a DC motor and changes direction by changing the polarity of the power in the two wires connected to the motor.
 
John Dannenbrink said:
1. There is a tiny black torsion spring (a little over 1 cm long), maybe from the window lock; i.e., the kind of spring where the round coil part slips over a post/pin with a short arm set against something fixed and the long arm against whatever needs to spring back/forth, up/down. I don't know where this goes.
2. A tiny "white rocket" with a coil spring coming out the bottom of it. This whole assembly is about 1 cm long. I don't know where this goes either. Are there more than one of these?
3. How do you get the window lock assembly back in place? There is a cube-ish plastic piece in the bottom of the assembly that springs laterally in and out of its' plastic housing, with electrical contacts on one side (it's obvious which way it needs to face). I don't know how to keep the "cube" pushed back into it's place so that the window lock button and everything under it can slide back down into place.

FYI, I have ordered a new power window/switch assembly, but will try to salvage the one I have.
Click to expand...

Spring attaches to back side of window lock (plunger style) switch (the small square pictured on the right above in Taco's post). It faces the white nylon portion of that switch, the shorter arm sits at 9:00, same horizontal line as the hole of the spring which goes over the small stem, and the longer arm rests within the channels of the nylon body accommodating the open/closed or up/down feature of this switch.

To reset properly:

1 - pry plastic square button top off the nylon stalk of the window lock/plunger switch. It's not glued or press fit, it comes off pretty easy.

2 - now the white nylon stalk, the black plastic housing assembly and "torsion spring"......nylon stalk stays inside black plastic housing, spring rests on back side where you can see the small black stem the hole of the spring slides over. Do the small arm first then carefully guide lower/longer spring arm's "foot" into the white nylon guide channels with your fingernails (big hands/paws make this part hard).

3 - carefully slide completed assembly into square opening pictured above on the left. You will need to carefully squeeze the front in so that the assembly will slide down into that square. Once you get that in, do NOT ever again pull that out just leave it in that seated position.

4 - once done cleaning carbon off metal contacts, replace springs on white stalks (5), and all silver rockers. Marry two halves back together and once screws are back in you can then replace square window lock top again (only goes on one way).

Clear as Mud? I should shoot a video of this since I've done it a few times and have it nailed down. Can do this weekend if you don't get resolved based on my Watson & Crick writeup here. Good luck!!!
 
retrofive said:
I don't recall where the springs go, been some time since I tore mine apart. The window locks was PITA to get back together. Again I don't recall what I did, but remember much fiddling with that particular piece. I know right, lot of help I am. (I did get it back together and didn't seem to help. I went the new switch route.
Click to expand...
 
I got it back together before seeing your replies, tlin and retrofive. I did not include the torsion spring or the "white rocket". Moreover, I notice from the photo and retrofive's description that I only have 2 of the 5 springs on nylon posts. 3 are likely enjoying some long overdue R&R in the gravel driveway.

That said, all windows are working (except driver's w/bad motor) as are power locks. Window lock doesn't for obvious reasons.

That said, does the "white rocket" spring ring a bell? Where might it go, and what's it's purpose? How about the 5 springs? Since I'm getting fine results without them, what's their function?

Thanks much for your help. I'll likely tackle the torsion spring and maybe the rocket later; shouldn't need the video -- greatly appreciate the offer and will holler if I think it will help.
 
John Dannenbrink said:
Window lock doesn't for obvious reasons.

That said, does the "white rocket" spring ring a bell? Where might it go, and what's it's purpose? How about the 5 springs? Since I'm getting fine results without them, what's their function?

Thanks much for your help. I'll likely tackle the torsion spring and maybe the rocket later; shouldn't need the video -- greatly appreciate the offer and will holler if I think it will help.
Click to expand...

If you're anal retentive, you'll be back in there soon enough to fix the window lock switch. Hopefully my experiences last year with that little headache resulted in some sort of writeup you'll benefit from and shorten your repair. That's the goal of Mud....

"White rocket"? Doesn't ring a bell (for some reason my mind wandered to Vegas.....kidding). Please post a pic of it, that would be helpful.

I never knew exactly what the function or necessity of the five little springs are, they certainly don't impact the electrical or mechanical aspect of the window switches so no sleep loss if a few are AWOL. You're now the guinea pig, if you figure out what goes wrong when they aren't all there, do share!! :)
 
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