Trans Am Information > Restoration

Power Window Switch - Can you clean it?

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GPlover74:
I have read the threads on the issues with the power window design for the 2nd Gen TAs. I am not sure I am ready to rewire mine but while I have the console out I was going to look at cleaning up the switch.  It looks like there are 4 corners bent in a bit that maybe holding the inner portion of the switch. Is there a way to disassemble the switch to clean it or is that not really necessary?

http://i1050.photobucket.com/albums/s409/GPlover74/IMG_1711.jpg

Thanks!

RENOVATIONS:
It's a simple mechanical switch...as long as you're careful, dis-assembly and cleaning shouldn't be a problem

GPlover74:
LOL. Careful and patience is always the key. I guess I could always buy a new one but I like to tinker and what better project on a cool, wet Wisconsin day!

Got it dissembled, it was just those 4 bent corners holding the inner portion in place. Looks like 33 years of "stuff" built up on the contacts. I am surprised it works at all? Would "electronics" cleaner and a small, fine brush do it?

http://i1050.photobucket.com/albums/s409/GPlover74/IMG_1713.jpg

http://i1050.photobucket.com/albums/s409/GPlover74/IMG_1724.jpg

http://i1050.photobucket.com/albums/s409/GPlover74/IMG_1722.jpg

Thanks!

RENOVATIONS:
Wow...yeah, surprised it worked at all considering the corrosion in there.
A brass wire brush and a mild cleanser should do wonders..and finish it with some dielectric grease on the contacts. When you're done, it has to work better than it did ;)

Rockford:
I'm glad to have come across this rather old posting.  For many years now, once or twice a season I would have a minor driver's side power window issue.  It would either refuse to go up and/or down.  I would just pop out the switch and toy with it until it began working again.  Usually it took one shot and I was good to go for the rest of the year.  As luck would have it, last October the day I was to store her, the window refused to come down.  Just today I decided to check and see if there was a fix for this intermittent problem.  That's when I ran across this thread.

I pulled the switch apart, and frankly, it was pretty clean inside.  There was some dust and hair that had somehow got lodged in there, so I cleaned that out, wiped down all contact areas with some WD-40 and put it back together.  What a mess though, with all that black grease GM applied in and around the switch.  In any case, the window now works.  However, when the switch makes contact now, I notice a spark which you can see and also hear as well.  It's a little puzzling as I don't think the power windows themselves have a separate ground for them.  I wonder if that black grease (which happened to get squished around) is a form of conductor?  I may have inadvertently had some of the grease hit two pins at once.

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