The passenger side window doesn’t go up and down very well so before I start to get into the door to see what is wrong, if anything, I want to clean the switch contacts as has been suggested many times on here.
I have removed the switch from the centre console and removed the back plate from the body of the switch. I am now stuck as I can’t get the rest of the switch to come apart. Is there someone who has actually cleaned the switch contacts please let me know how to get to the contacts? Below are two pictures of the switch.
Have you tried spraying some silicone spray down the groove in the quarterlight window where the glass goes and down the channels that the glass sits in? It made a big difference to mine.
I’d like to clean the contacts in my switches too, so I’m keen to watch this thread.
I’ve not stripped one of those type swithces before (Auto type) so can’t help with taking it apart. It does look like you have a few dry solder joints on the board though and they won’t help.
Thanks for your reply Robbie, I had hoped that the two or three people who said they had cleaned the contacts on their switches would have tried to enlighten those of us who haven’t managed it so far. I am loath to force anything as they may not be available for replacement as I found with my broken thermostat plug that leads to the radiator fan.
First of all, I couldn’t take the switch apart, I thought that if I could get the two switch knobs off it may have allowed the inside part of the switch to come apart. One side of these knobs will prise off the spigot it rocks on, but the other side wouldn’t come off. As a new switch from MX5PARTS was going to cost £113.00 I didn’t feel inclined to pursue the cleaning of the contacts any further.
Second of all, I went to Halfords and bought a spray tin of Halfords Silicone Lubricant For Rubber and Plastic. I sprayed down the window slide and that allowed the window to slide down using only it’s motor. So as this seamed to be the answer I took the door panels off and sprayed all the Nylon buttons etc that slide in metal runners, if it moved I sprayed it, and now they go up and down like an…A…s. drawers.[;)] The one thing I have noticed over the time I have owned the car is that the windows must need a fully charged battery to work well as they have always, until recently, worked better with the engine running. As an experiment I have connected the battery up to my all singing all dancing charger and will then see how the windows work without the engine running tomorrow. Maybe the window motors need quite a lot of “juice” for them to work, I don’t know really as electrics are a bit of a mystery to me, I am more mechanically minded
Having the battery in the boot doesn’t help. It puts a real strain on some of the electrics, greater distance higher resistance. Sometimes I think the car won’t start as it really labours before firing up. Starter 10 feet from the battery.
This could simply mean that your battery isn’t fully charged up. As mention before I have one of the chargers that you leave on all the time the car isn’t being used, as a result it fires up straight away irrespective how long the car has been in the garage, without any “labouring” of the battery.
I take it the recommendation for silicon lubricant is 'cos oil based ones would degrade the rubber in the seals? (ooerr, etc etc) So something like WD-40 would /not/ be a good idea!
I’ve actually got a mk2, and the windows aren’t too slow, but it’d be nice if they were a bit faster!
I shall tell the missus that we need some silicon lube. [:$]
Hi, I am not sure if there is any difference but the stuff we used was Silicone Lubricant. Just want to make sure you get the right stuff and by the way it does work, as it is about two weeks since I lubed mine and they are still ok today.
