Power window switches on drivers door stopped working on 96 Camry.

[TommyN]

Hi,

Trying to fix a strange problem on a 96 sedan. Started as an intermittent problem where the window switches on the driver's door stopped working. Opened the door and they would sometimes work again.

The switches on the other doors work.

Thought it could be a wiring problem or the master switch.

Wiggled the harness between the door and the body. No change.

Removed the master switch to look at it and plugged it back in. Now the switches don't work at all.

Bought a used master switch on e-bay. Swapped it in and still none of the window switches work from the master. The window lock button can stop and enable the other door switches from working and the door lock button works.

Any ideas?

Thanks!

Tom

[newbie212]

Check the boot in the door.. Its kinda a pain to peel the rubber back but that area gets most of the strain.... I think thats where your problem is.. Thats where mine was.

[TommyN]

Thanks for your help newbie212.

I cut a slit in the boot between the drivers door and the door jamb. I found the fat blue wire was broken and the insulation was cracked on some of the other wires.

It was somewhat hard to fix the broken wire because there is no room to use the crimping tool.

I soldered a small length of wire on the jamb side of the broken wire and was able to use a butt connector on the door side.

Its working now and will hopefully stay together.

Thanks again.

Tom

[newbie212]

Glad to see it helped... Have a good day!

[larrybum]

Found a similar problem with two wires in a the cable bundle going to the drivers' side door. They were fairly small wires headed to the electric mirror. Took me forever to conclude it was a wiring problem since it is usually a connector problem. I never thought about wires actually breaking due to the flexing.

When I look at the route of the cable coming from the frame to the door, I note that the holes do not match up vertically. The frame hole is higher than the hole through the door which causes the wires to flex on two planes... more like a twist as the door opens and closes.

I popped out the rubber cover at the frame and at the door and routed a couple of wires AROUND the outside of the rubber and then laced them to the rubber on the outside. I snipped a little rubber off each of the GROMMETs on the door and frame to allow the wires to go through easily. Routing the two new wires was pretty simple and I simply soldered the two ends onto the sections of the broken wires near the two connectors. Wasn't too bad to do. There is a possibility that the route I've taken could cause some rubbing through the insulation of the new wires, but I doubt that this car is going to make it another 15 years anyway. I'm only now worried about whether another wire (the mirror has one more) is going to break in the future. At least at that point in time, I'll know what to do.

[dc_98_cam]

Originally Posted by larrybum

Found a similar problem with two wires in a the cable bundle going to the drivers' side door. They were fairly small wires headed to the electric mirror. Took me forever to conclude it was a wiring problem since it is usually a connector problem. I never thought about wires actually breaking due to the flexing.

When I look at the route of the cable coming from the frame to the door, I note that the holes do not match up vertically. The frame hole is higher than the hole through the door which causes the wires to flex on two planes... more like a twist as the door opens and closes.

I popped out the rubber cover at the frame and at the door and routed a couple of wires AROUND the outside of the rubber and then laced them to the rubber on the outside. I snipped a little rubber off each of the GROMMETs on the door and frame to allow the wires to go through easily. Routing the two new wires was pretty simple and I simply soldered the two ends onto the sections of the broken wires near the two connectors. Wasn't too bad to do. There is a possibility that the route I've taken could cause some rubbing through the insulation of the new wires, but I doubt that this car is going to make it another 15 years anyway. I'm only now worried about whether another wire (the mirror has one more) is going to break in the future. At least at that point in time, I'll know what to do.

This problem ... involving door locks and power windows that stop working comes up frequently ... more so on the Gen 3 cars. The next time you have the rubber cover at the door opened up, maybe you could take a picture or two. There is an helpful sticky posted at the top of the forum page.
Thanks for the update... hope your repair works for a while.