[Shirley1999]

Hi everyone! First time car owner here - a few months ago I bought a 1999 Camry LE, only 89,000 miles and working wonderfully.

About a month ago, I noticed that the driver-side window wasn't properly on its track. I took it in to the shop and they diagnosed that the power window regulator needs to be replaced. I decided to keep the window closed for now and wait until I save up some money to pay for the replacement.

However, about 2 weeks ago, all of a sudden all four power windows stopped working - all at once. At first, when I opened & closed the passenger window, it made this sad whirring noise, then all of a sudden no noise and no movement from any of the windows. I've tried opening the windows from the switches on all four doors, and nothing works. I also noticed that the lock button on the driver's side door stopped working, but the lock button on the passenger's side DOES work (ie I press it and all four doors lock & unlock just fine).

Any ideas about what could be the problem? Is there a connection between the regulator problem in one window and the fact that none of the windows work anymore? And why would one lock button work and the other one doesn't?

Any help or suggestions would be really appreciated! Thanks so much!!

 

[SpawnedX]

Hi everyone! First time car owner here - a few months ago I bought a 1999 Camry LE, only 89,000 miles and working wonderfully.

About a month ago, I noticed that the driver-side window wasn't properly on its track. I took it in to the shop and they diagnosed that the power window regulator needs to be replaced. I decided to keep the window closed for now and wait until I save up some money to pay for the replacement.

However, about 2 weeks ago, all of a sudden all four power windows stopped working - all at once. At first, when I opened & closed the passenger window, it made this sad whirring noise, then all of a sudden no noise and no movement from any of the windows. I've tried opening the windows from the switches on all four doors, and nothing works. I also noticed that the lock button on the driver's side door stopped working, but the lock button on the passenger's side DOES work (ie I press it and all four doors lock & unlock just fine).

Any ideas about what could be the problem? Is there a connection between the regulator problem in one window and the fact that none of the windows work anymore? And why would one lock button work and the other one doesn't?

Any help or suggestions would be really appreciated! Thanks so much!!

I can't speak with 100% certainty for the Camry, but most vehicles, if the window switch motor on the driver side is disconnected or dead, the other window switches will not work because it is all routed through that one switching system. The locks would still work though.

 

[Shirley1999]

So do you think there might be a connection between a window switch problem and the window regulator problem?

 

[SpawnedX]

Could be, just take the door panel off and test the switch with a meter.

 

[slavie]

If the master switch in the driver's door is broken, then yes, the rest wouldn't work either. Probably a safety feature, as the window lock switch is in the master's, so if inaccessible assumed locked.

No need to take the whole door panel off - just take out the window switch panel. Hint: pry it from the side that's to the front of the vehicle - that's where the clip is. If you pry from the rear, you'll brake the tab.

Once out, inspect it. Don't know how electrically inclined you are, but that's where you need to check.

 

[Shirley1999]

Thanks for the advice - that makes sense, that the problem lies with the master switch. I'm not really so electrically inclined, the most I feel comfortable doing is checking a fuse. I guess I might need to ask the mechanic to look at the switch along with the regulator. Any ideas on how much it'll probably run me?

 

[dc_98_cam]

What are the weather conditions where you live? Is there a lot of moisture, rain, humidity? Water ... in any form ... can cause electrical connections to deteriorate. If you drive with your driver side window down frequently, maybe moisture has accumulated and caused some sort of problem on the power window master switch, located inside the drive side door panel.

This is also possible with the integration relay, which controls the door locks, and is located below the driver side dash panel.

Do you think that you might be able to remove the integration relay and inspect its copper terminals? If you can remove this relay, clean the terminals with a fine grade of emery cloth and then use an electrical contact cleaner to rinse it off. Re-insert the relay and see if there is any improvement in the door lock operation.

... This is just a tentative guess, but it might not be too difficult to accomplish. I would suggest disconnecting the main car battery before attempting to perform any operation such as this one. ... just to be safe.

The integration Relay is shown in the link here:
https://picasaweb.google.com/userda...key=Gv1sRgCL32gpHOw_btzwE#5807030283488406354