windows arnt working

[5.9 ANDY]

this is a 1998 ZJ, 5.9 limited.

ok, today they were working, and now they are not.

none of them are working, at all...

it is dark and late, so i was unable to check the fuze, ill bet that that is the issue, but i want to cover all possibilities.

they arnt making any sounds or nothing, just.... no movement.

thanks.

[Turbonut]

Not much to add other than a circuit breaker or fuse problem. If that checks out OK, check for power at the driver's door along with a good ground. Have seen a broken ground wire cause this problem also.

Years ago on a Buick I owned, no power windows, it was a broken wire the flexible harness between the door and body.

Good luck and hope it's a simple fix.

[grandpapy]

if it's like most vehicles main power goes from the fuse to the driverside switch assymbley if the fuse is good and no shorts or broken grounds i would change the driver door swith assembly you can ark some wires and see if the other side starts to work. enjoy!

[-Joe-]

forget about them, leave them up and use your a/c

[Marcos]

Are your door locks working? On the later models (after 95), the windows and locks are all controlled by the door modules. The modules get one main + and - wire each, and then power the accessories directly, with no fuses in between. If the locks work, then it's probably not a power/ground/fuse issue.

[5.9 ANDY]

Originally Posted by -Joe-

forget about them, leave them up and use your a/c

yea, there is a slight issue with that.

and thank god at least the front 2 are stuck down.

[5.9 ANDY]

just went out and checked, the windows wrok now.... it must have fixed itself..... the JEEP gods have smiled uppon me.

[grandpapy]

Originally Posted by 5.9 ANDY

just went out and checked, the windows wrok now.... it must have fixed itself..... the JEEP gods have smiled uppon me.

hmmm... sounds like bad ground or driverside switch assembly look into that. i'm sure it'll happen again.

[5.9 ANDY]

Originally Posted by grandpapy

hmmm... sounds like bad ground or driverside switch assembly look into that. i'm sure it'll happen again.

as long as it happens when they are down.... or it will be like a swet box....

[cologc46]

Odds are you have a bad wire in the door harness. Same thing happened to me last week... at end of a trail, went to roll up the windows and all 4 were dead. I had broken wires in that harness about 5 years ago. I thought, broken wire again. So, I opened the door a crack with my finger on the window switch. Sure enough, as I slowly swung the door open, I found a spot where the wire made contact and was able to roll up the windows. Next day I spent pulling out the wiring harness and rewiring the broken ground. While I was at it, I fixed several other, soon to be broken wires.

Next time your windows fail, try moving the door and see what happens. Might be a broken wire.

[ISUzj]

Originally Posted by cologc46

Odds are you have a bad wire in the door harness. Same thing happened to me last week... at end of a trail, went to roll up the windows and all 4 were dead. I had broken wires in that harness about 5 years ago. I thought, broken wire again. So, I opened the door a crack with my finger on the window switch. Sure enough, as I slowly swung the door open, I found a spot where the wire made contact and was able to roll up the windows. Next day I spent pulling out the wiring harness and rewiring the broken ground. While I was at it, I fixed several other, soon to be broken wires.

Next time your windows fail, try moving the door and see what happens. Might be a broken wire.

Hey did you pull the door off of your ZJ and rewire them? or how did you go about it. My windows have completely stopped and I guarantee it is a wire in b/t the door. I checked; and out of the 23 wires I need to replace 12 of them...

did you reconnect them before the door grommet or inside the jeep or where?

So i plan on taking a Saturday fixing the sagging door and while I am at it completely rewiring that harness.

[IdahoZJGuy]

I had a similar issue like this with mine last week. Intermittent issue was driving me nuts. I checked everything - I thought. Long story short - the problem was in the switch on the door with the problem. I took it apart (four tangs on each side, pry apart with small screw driver) and found that the little metal contacts (there are two of them in each switch) had gunk built up on the contact points. If you use a rubber eraser (end of a pencil) and clean the contact points on the switch and then reassmble the switch carefully (tangs like to fall shift off floating point if you assemble too fast) and connect back to the wires before you put the panel on that may fix the problem. It did mine.

Since then I have been up and down mountains, gulleys, etc. Lot's of rolling and rocking. Still works fine - now if can just fix my transfer case problem; I'll be back out in the woods soon.

[elmer_fud]

Originally Posted by Kyvang

Hey did you pull the door off of your ZJ and rewire them? or how did you go about it. My windows have completely stopped and I guarantee it is a wire in b/t the door. I checked; and out of the 23 wires I need to replace 12 of them...

did you reconnect them before the door grommet or inside the jeep or where?

So i plan on taking a Saturday fixing the sagging door and while I am at it completely rewiring that harness.

see my instructions here

93 ZJ Door Harness Problems

i think the wiring changed between 95 and 96 though, so this will not work for Andy

[cologc46]

Kyvang: I searched the forum, and found the thread that elmer_fud linked in his post above. That inspired me to pull the harness and do a much better job fixing the broken wires than I did about 5 years ago. My sloppy job back then, working in the crotch of the door, holding back that rubber boot, etc, lasted a lot longer than I thought it would. I am hoping that this latest repair will be the last even longer.

The trick is finding the magic key on the 2 connectors under the dash, which releases the connector. There were several decoys on my connectors that led to a lot of cussing. Once those were apart, I had the harness out on the bench, fixed, and back in the jeep in an hour. YMMV.