Hello all,

My car - a 1985 IROC-Z - was butchered pretty good by the previous owners when it came to wiring and electronics. I have most of it fixed, other than a few console items - specifically, they removed the neutral safety switch because they added an aftermarket shifter of some sort.

Anyway, in addition to not having the switch, I have another issue that I can't imagine is related, but I can't figure it out.

The passenger side window - ONLY the passenger side window - won't roll up if the car is in gear. The issue though is that it's not consistent. What I mean by that is, if I start the car up and take it for a short ride, the window will roll up and down fine. But after X amount of time, the window stays down and won't move if I'm in drive. But the second I put it back in park, it rolls up. It's very strange.

When I first start the car, I can roll the window up and down as much as I want and no issues. My first thought was that as I was driving the car, the motor was getting hot (no idea how this would happen, though) and then wouldn't work, but that doesn't make sense as putting the car from drive to park wouldn't give it any time to cool down.

I should mention that everything inside the door is new - the motor and regulator are about 2 years old, but both have very little use.

I suppose this could be some sort of odd coincidence, but I'd like to try and figure it out. Any suggestions?

 

How about when you have the breaks on?? I think you/someone took power from the safety switch for your window!! All the wires are right there!!!

(Edit) Auto car?

 

Yes, auto.

 

One thought that came to mind when I read your post is ;

Have you used an accurate voltmeter to check the voltage both in park and in gear , with the engine both cold (just started) and warmed up ?

I ask because if the passenger's side window motor/gears are as gummed up as mine were , it's likely that the lower voltage available to the window while idling in gear may not be enough to overcome the slime that the grease had turned into . Specifically , I had the exact same problem of needing to rev the engine just slightly above idle to get the window to move . At idle in gear , mine was like 13.5 volts , which went to 14.6 above 900 or so RPM . The cure was , of course to take out the motor , take it apart and clean and regrease it (my option) or the more sane approach of just buying a new one . Ill throw in a couple shots of the motor , the first shot is when I first opened it and the second shot is after cleaning and new brushes , ready for a bit of new grease and reassembly .