1993 240 wagon=sudden failure of all four electric windows, regardless of the overide or safety switch status.

I pulled the switch assembly from the door. There is no voltage going to the center override switch, I think the yellow wire should have voltage? All fuses were probed successfully with probe light.

Should I find voltage at the center switch of the switch assembly?

Thanks,
Arne

 

the red wire to the backdoor lockout switch in the drivers door should be powered when the car is on. this power comes from an accessory relay, the red wire also goes to all 4 switches on the drivers door, BUT the there's also a red wire from the front/left window switch to the drivers door window, and this one is NOT always powered.

that accessory relay gets always-on power from fuse 10, and also gets on-in-Run power via fuse 12. if the passenger side front window switch doesn't work either, then its probably the relay or wiring to it.

 

see here
Volvo Wiring Diagrams

 

I have a window relay on order. Meantime I noticed the black wire on my switch assembly, passenger window (first switch in line) does not make continuity to ground. When I short a ground wire to the first black wire the window works! Question-does the relay play any part in providing ground via that black wire?

Thanks

 

no, the relay purely provides power when the ignition is on. its there to keep the heavy current off the ignition switch contacts.

so if the ground wire fixes your windows, then your relay is fine. the ground wire at the drivers door switches goes through the door hinge wire tunnel to the window harness near the fuse panel, and a 9 pin (3x3) connector 'F', where its the black wire at one of the rounded corners of said connector... the drawing suggests this connector is near the top of the fuse panel, closer to the door hinges. on the other side of this connector, the black wire goes through the window harness to near that accessory power relay, where its wired to one of the grounds on the side of the center console, just under the tray, or on later cars, grounded to the transmission hump on the drivers side just forward of the shifter.

 

Aha! If I can't find an obvious break in the ground wire am I free to simply find another ground, perhaps in the door itself?

 

the door itself is not well grounded... I'd find that 9 pin connector, and disconnect it, and see if there's a ground on the black wire on the upper half of the connector... if not, then I'd ground that black wire. if that IS well grounded, the bad wire is probably the one leading into the door.

 

I was able to solve a power window ground problem by t-ing in a ground to the door. Can't hurt to try, can it?

 

That's what I was wondering. It looks like a royal pain to pull that door apart and get at the harness between the door and the body. I pulled back the accordian sleeve and there are several wires in there a little frayed though.

I''ll look at it again this week and see how it goes.

 

Also, I cannot find that 9 pin connector anywhere. Wires on this car change colors like a chameleon. And it's stock wiring too.

 

on the side of the fuse block, there should be a brown wire or two spaded onto fuse 10, and a couple blue-yellow wires on fuse 12, these should go up and join a harness bundle... that harness goes up and across the dash, and it goes down, right below where these blue-yellow and brown wires join it should be said 9 pin connector.

fyi on the fuse block, each fuse has 3 spades just to the right of it... the left and middle row are the 'output' of that fuse, and the rightmost row is the 'input' to that fuse. certain sets of fuses have their inputs tied together inside the fuse block, fuses 1-2-3, fuses 7-8-9-10, fuses 11-12-13, and fuses 15-16, each of these groups have their inputs tied together.

fuses 1-2-3 are powered by a yellow wire when the ignition key is in I or II (accessory or run). fuses 7-10 are powered by a brown or red wire directly off the positive terminal so they are always hot. fuses 11-12-13 are powered by a blue-yellow wire in II (run) only, and fuses 15-16 are powered by a white wire when the headlight switch is in parking or headlight, even if the ignition is off.

 

There were 4 wires severed inside the accordion sleeve that protects wires in-between the door and the body. I pulled the door panel off (fragile), the fuse block away from the body and pulled enough slack to where I could splice those wires back together. Took a long time, but that was it. No failed components anywhere. Power windows are working!

Thanks

 

the wiring through the door accordion should use very flexible high strand count wire (many thin strands) with very tough insulation. I used to have a couple rolls of aerospace wire I'd use for those sorts of jobs, it could take a million flexings without failing, and the insulation had a teflon layer which was very resistant to abrasion. the cheap PVC insulated stuff sold as 'hookup wire' at a hardware store won't last real long in these sorts of applications.

 

Yes! I was amazed at that wire. Never seen anything like it before. Must have been 50 wires in 16 gauge strand and tough insulation. It was hard to strip and crimp. But nonetheless it was all severed, nearly everyone of them.

 

87 was the last year of the biodegradable insulation. early 87's have it, late 87's don't. ours was made in october, and seemed to be fine. while it primarily fails in the heat of the engine compartment, all the wiring in the car is subject to hardening and cracking... considering that car is 30 years old now, eeek.