So several years ago @slcfj62 posted a thread on a semi permanent fix for the power windows and locks in our FJ62s. After running the power lock mod for many years I began to notice over time a significant loss of power to the locks again, with my driver's side rear often not rising at all under battery power in warm weather. I realized, duh, that mechanical relays, like our switches, have hardened contacts inside that, with the arcing from making and breaking high current circuits over time, will pit and develop a buildup causing resistance in the circuit. Now to @slcfj62's credit, it's easy to replace a relay. Pop it out and pop a new one in, viola, done. In the near future I intend to do a much more in depth relay circuit though that will add a full power source to each door, and four relays (two each for the window motor and the lock solenoid) in each door to provide full voltage and current to each device while still being easy maintenance. With the power of each lock solenoid passing through its own individual relay, this will also greatly reduce arcing and considerably lengthen the maintenance interval of having to replace relays. Downside is that the auto-down function of the driver's window will be lost. Personally, I never used it anyway so I'm not concerned.
In preparation for my own mod, I removed the relays I had initially added to the power lock switch and reverted to the factory circuit. This got me curious to try something though. Since my front doors were apart I cleaned and lubed the window regulator and track mechanisms (as an experiment I lubed with Fluid Film. Not sure how long it'll last but it seems to work good initially), and lubed the rubber track with CRC 03044 dry film teflon lubricant. I dismantled my main switch assembly and looked at the contacts and they were in rough shape. Very pitted and a great deal of buildup. My hands were nasty so I wasn't able to take a good pic of the worst one; the power lock switch. But I did get a pic of one of the rockers with buildup on one of the contacts.
To clean all the contacts (both in the individual rockers and in the switch housings) I used my Dremel with a carbon steel wire wheel bit [EDIT: recommend a brass one instead. It'll remove carbon buildup but much less actual metal than the steel wheel] on high speed and with very light pressure. It cleaned all the contacts beautifully and wasn't so abrasive that it took away metal. You can easily see how pitted they are. And this wasn't the worst of them by far.
There wasn't much left of the contacts in the switch housing for my power lock switch, but I still had enough to work with, so at least there was that. Here you can see the window switch housing cleaned up using my Dremel. Surprisingly not in horrible shape, but there was still a lot of buildup to clean off.
Now here's where I made an interesting discovery. I have a tube of carbon conductive grease, so I used a toothpick to smear a tiny dab on each contact in the switch housings. Not a lot, but just enough to fill the pits and create a large "like new" contact area and hopefully reduce arcing as the circuits are opened and closed. Much like using thermal paste to fill voids on a CPU core and heatsink.
I learned through trial and error not to put any in the center (darker copper colored) contacts where the rockers rest, as when the switches are used the rockers will actually break contact with certain center contacts depending on which way they're pushed, and the clearance is so small that even a tiny dab of grease was preventing that from happening (the exception was for the window on/off switch, as the current for all the windows passes through this switch. You can see where I put grease on the points that the rocker for that rests on). So I stuck with just applying it to the outer contact points, and I'm pleasantly surprised with the improvement it made. My locks are back to trying to jump out of the doors; right on par with when I first added the relays to the lock switch, and my windows work noticeably better. They still don't feel as "strong" in their movement as a new car, but I'm hoping with new window motors and the relay mod I'm planning, they'll be very close.
If any of you are wanting to maintain what power there is for your windows and locks but for whatever reason don't want to modify factory wiring, this will probably be your best solution. Downside is, I imagine this will need to be done every couple years to keep the grease fresh. Long story short there really is no "permanent" maintenance free solution and like all electromechanical systems, it needs to be maintained. I think this will be the best maintenance regimen for these switches though to make them last.
In preparation for my own mod, I removed the relays I had initially added to the power lock switch and reverted to the factory circuit. This got me curious to try something though. Since my front doors were apart I cleaned and lubed the window regulator and track mechanisms (as an experiment I lubed with Fluid Film. Not sure how long it'll last but it seems to work good initially), and lubed the rubber track with CRC 03044 dry film teflon lubricant. I dismantled my main switch assembly and looked at the contacts and they were in rough shape. Very pitted and a great deal of buildup. My hands were nasty so I wasn't able to take a good pic of the worst one; the power lock switch. But I did get a pic of one of the rockers with buildup on one of the contacts.
To clean all the contacts (both in the individual rockers and in the switch housings) I used my Dremel with a carbon steel wire wheel bit [EDIT: recommend a brass one instead. It'll remove carbon buildup but much less actual metal than the steel wheel] on high speed and with very light pressure. It cleaned all the contacts beautifully and wasn't so abrasive that it took away metal. You can easily see how pitted they are. And this wasn't the worst of them by far.
There wasn't much left of the contacts in the switch housing for my power lock switch, but I still had enough to work with, so at least there was that. Here you can see the window switch housing cleaned up using my Dremel. Surprisingly not in horrible shape, but there was still a lot of buildup to clean off.
Now here's where I made an interesting discovery. I have a tube of carbon conductive grease, so I used a toothpick to smear a tiny dab on each contact in the switch housings. Not a lot, but just enough to fill the pits and create a large "like new" contact area and hopefully reduce arcing as the circuits are opened and closed. Much like using thermal paste to fill voids on a CPU core and heatsink.
I learned through trial and error not to put any in the center (darker copper colored) contacts where the rockers rest, as when the switches are used the rockers will actually break contact with certain center contacts depending on which way they're pushed, and the clearance is so small that even a tiny dab of grease was preventing that from happening (the exception was for the window on/off switch, as the current for all the windows passes through this switch. You can see where I put grease on the points that the rocker for that rests on). So I stuck with just applying it to the outer contact points, and I'm pleasantly surprised with the improvement it made. My locks are back to trying to jump out of the doors; right on par with when I first added the relays to the lock switch, and my windows work noticeably better. They still don't feel as "strong" in their movement as a new car, but I'm hoping with new window motors and the relay mod I'm planning, they'll be very close.
If any of you are wanting to maintain what power there is for your windows and locks but for whatever reason don't want to modify factory wiring, this will probably be your best solution. Downside is, I imagine this will need to be done every couple years to keep the grease fresh. Long story short there really is no "permanent" maintenance free solution and like all electromechanical systems, it needs to be maintained. I think this will be the best maintenance regimen for these switches though to make them last.
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