Step 1)
Remove
Power Window Switch
Ok, this is a problem that I had with my car,
and I've seen the problem on another Saturn, so I figure
it's probably not uncommon. When the trouble with my power
window switch first became evident, it was when I couldn't
get the passenger side window up on my '99 SC1. After
dismantling much of the door, my wife suggested that I check
the switch. Like any wise man, I considered the advice of my
wife and decided to check the switch. It was the problem.
The trouble is that the switch that you actually touch moves
a plastic post with a spring, which moves a see-saw like
metal piece, which sometimes does not make good contact like
it is supposed to. Over time this can build up charring on
the contacts, and eventually make the switch work
intermittently or not at all. Also, as in my case, heat can
build up and melt part of your switch. Pictures of this
problem to come...
*Note that this is the switch on the 2nd Gen interior. I
have not looked at the 1st or 3rd Gen interiors to know if
they are similarly designed.
First:
Removal. The switch is not held down by any screws on
the 2nd gen interior. It is held down by spring clips that
will push out of the way as you pull up. It is easier on the
SC’s because there is the coin tray you can grip to pull up
on.
Once this is up, you will need to disconnect the wiring
harnesses from the switches so you can get at the whole
thing. You may be able to do this with your hands, pushing
in on the clips and pulling out on each wiring harness. A
flathead screwdriver or something else to push in on the
clip may help.
If you have the power passenger mirror, don’t worry about
disconnecting the wiring from it, though it would work the
same way if you needed to. Instead, just remove the whole
thing from the housing by squeezing in on the black tabs on
each side. This should come out very easily.
Now your switch assembly is removed and you can take it
wherever is easiest to work on it. Someplace where you won’t
lose small parts is recommended.
This is what the switch should look like, approximately, on
an SC. The SL/SW switch is similar in design, and the
interior parts are extremely similar – there’s just more of
them, plus a lockout switch.
At this point you need to remove the power window switch
from the rest of the overall switch panel. Just use a
Phillips screwdriver and take out these 4 screws.
The switch should now come right out from the switch panel,
and will look like this. (On a side note, this is a good
time to clean up your switches and get the stuff that the
last owner dropped into them.) Now you are ready to take the
top, with the finger switches, off of the rest of the switch
assembly. To do so, use your Phillips again on these 3
screws:
Now the finger switches and the plate they mount to will
lift up off the rest of the switch assembly. There are some
pieces in here that are not held down, so be sure to keep
track of them. They are often somewhat held in place by
small amounts of jelly, but they may still fall out. This is
what the switch will now look like without the finger
switches, and with the two loose pieces removed. You can see
the small amount of charring that had built in the 2 weeks
or so between when I cleaned the contacts and when I fixed
the melted piece (discussed later):
These are the toggle switches. (Note that the express down
window does not have these toggles, but a slider. I have not
gotten further into the switch to look at how the express
window switch is designed.) You may very well see black
charring around both ends of these toggle switches. This
appears to be a self-perpetuating problem – once the switch
chars a little, it is even harder to make contact, and it
chars some more.
This may be as far as you will need to dismantle your
switch. Use some electrical contact cleaner and clean that
puppy right up! If you have had trouble with your power
window not working from time to time, this *may* solve the
problem.
I do encourage everyone to read further, however, because
the occurrence of charring may have caused another problem,
which happened to me. Heat may have caused some damage,
which I will show in a few pictures.
Next we will take apart the finger switch assembly. There is
a small metal pin running through each of the finger
switches. Look at each end of this pin. One end has a head,
the other doesn’t. Push in on the end without the head, then
grab the head end and pull the pin out.
End with head:
End without head:
Pin sliding out:
At this point, the parts should practically fall apart. In a
2-window switch, there will be 6 parts – the 2 finger
switches, a white post from each finger switch, the switch
base, and the pin.
Notice that the white posts are different. The one for the
express window has a single peg sticking down. Posts for
regular windows have 2 smaller pegs sticking down. The pegs
on the regular window white posts push on those metal rocker
switches.
This was where my ultimate problem was. The heat that was
created along with the charring had melted one of the pegs
on my passenger window post piece. This meant it could not
push the rocker switch all the way to make good contact, and
the poor contact caused the problem with the charring all
over again.
Below is a pic of the post with the melting (on the left),
and the post I got from a junkyard to fix the switch with
(on the right).
You’ll want to examine your posts and see if any melting
like this has occurred. If not, great, just clean up the
switch with contact cleaner.
Assembly is the reverse of disassembly. All the parts are
keyed so they shouldn’t be able to be put in wrong. Take
your time, and it will go together just fine. One note: when
you place the finger switches (on the base) back on the
lower switch assembly, make sure the express window switch
peg fits in the slide for it on the lower switch assembly.
If you don’t get it in there, it will be evident
immediately, and you will just have to take the switch apart
again and try again.
If anyone needs parts for inside the switch, like I did,
note that you don’t have to find a switch to match your car.
My part came from an SL. The SL’s have the same parts inside
the switch as the SC’s – there are just more of the 2-peg
posts. You can rob parts from an SL switch to put in an SC
switch, and vise-versa.
So there it is. If anyone has any questions, or if any part
seemed unclear, feel free to ask me questions.
