RE-CHECK your switches!!

I was ready to take the door panel off and start looking for a loose / frayed wire, when I figured what the hell, let me look at these switches again.
I had previously hit them with electric cleaner, but it wasn't until I removed them totally and cleaned the bottoms, that the window came back to life!!! Down AND up as it should.

Very pleasantly surprised! Will be taking the console off this weekend and putting dielectric grease to all contact points

I am having a similar problem now and the window is stuck in the down position. Is there a easy way to loosen the window from the motor so I can slide it up manually until I can work on it?

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85 300D Turbo

If you have another 12 V power source or can use the lighter socket with a plug that has 2 leads, there is a very easy method:

Pull the door switch out so you can see the wires. There should be two wires that go to the window motor and another set (probably three) that go to the door tube going to the body. On the two wires going to the motor, connect one wire to +, the other to -. If motor is good is shuld move the window. Wrong direction, switch the + and - connection. This also tells you if the motor is good. Raise the window until you have time to find the problem.

Jeremy and Tango fox were right. After studying the wiring diagram and testing voltages at both back doors, I have 12 volts on terminals 3, 7 & 58 on the door that works, and 12 volts only on terminal 7 on the one that doesn't. 12 volts will appear intermittantly in terminal 58 as I push and pull on the rubber boot containing the wiring harness. I was able to roll the window up by applying 12 volts to terminal 1 and grounding terminal 2, as CL suggested.

So what's the best way to access the pillar wiring?

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Brian
87 300Dturbo 180K #14 head still running R-12 SOLD 12/2017
02 F350 Powerstroke 180K
05 Chevy Express 1 ton w/Royal Utility box 120K
08 Infiniti FX-35 40K
15 Golf Sportwagen TDI 35K
10 Sprinter 3500 chassis with a Class A Winnebago on it. 56K

Just did a search and found Jeremy's detailed post on removing the pillar trim...............well there goes next Sat AM

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Brian
87 300Dturbo 180K #14 head still running R-12 SOLD 12/2017
02 F350 Powerstroke 180K
05 Chevy Express 1 ton w/Royal Utility box 120K
08 Infiniti FX-35 40K
15 Golf Sportwagen TDI 35K
10 Sprinter 3500 chassis with a Class A Winnebago on it. 56K

I have a short in a similar location and I would like to hear more details on what is to be done. I removed the pillar trim and seat to find a bundle of wires in a tight fitting harness. Is it better to:
1. Remove the connectors and pull the harness for access, split it appart to find the short, or
2. Disconnect the bad wires and run a replacement for the bad wires taping it to the harness, or
3. Better suggestion???

Charles

I would just cut the offending wire somewhere in the pillar, splice in a new wire from that point to the door switch, and run it outside the existing bundle. Leave the broken wire where it is; removing it entirely is more trouble than it's worth.

On my 123, I cut the wires along the pillar before they enter the door. Then pulled one cut end back through the door (attach a small wire as a fish line for later) and out an access hole.

I trimmed the wires back some more (so my solder joints wouldn't end up at the bend I cut them at) then soldered a length of wire onto each end I had cut. I added about 3 ft of wire on each. Feed the new wire bundle back through with the fish line. That put the next splice, after trimming, at the base of the pillar where the bundle comes back out from the pillar. IIRC, on the w123 the harness is exposed at the base, then enters the pillar, then is re-exposed before going into the door connector.

I was amazed at how tight the original wire harness is compared to the bundle of wire I ended up with. I used heat shrink on the solder joints. Held up for over a year now - hopefully many more to go.

I know others will use butt joint crimp connectors. I've read good and bad with both. As long as the access is decent I prefer solder with heat shrink for weatherproofing.

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83 300d - 390k

Thanks,
I'd planned on solder with heat shrink.
Did you do anything to preserve the wire color codes?

Since you'll have the door apart, clean any old grease & re-lube. The arms on the window regulator bends necessitating a trip to the salvage yard & the depositing of 1 Benjamin Franklin. I've decided to make this a 2 year maintenance item.

Good advice junkman.

Charles - I think I taped a p-touch label on the ends of each new wire to keep me straight, but those were eventually cut off one-by-one as I soldered back to the original. Didn't seem worth trying to preserve color since both ends were terminating back to the original color with nothing attached in between.

Did you see Jeremy5848 post on this subject with his w124. I think he did this very fix quite recently. He probably has a great idea of where to splice in and how to access. Send him a pm or search for his post on this - he had some pics.

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83 300d - 390k

Follow up to original post: Took the pillar trim off today and fixed the wiring. Thanks to all on this forum who helped! It really wasn't very difficult at all, a lot easier than the front drivers door on my Grand Cherokee! I opted to use butt splices, they have worked out well for me. Just don't use the crappy crimp tool that comes with those cheap kits. I use my Klein crimping tool that I use everyday at work as an electrician. I also put a piece of fuel line inside the boot to protect the wires.

My wires looked similar to Jeremy's, like they had gotton snagged or something.

I'm going to try to post pics.

Attached Thumbnails

         

__________________
Brian
87 300Dturbo 180K #14 head still running R-12 SOLD 12/2017
02 F350 Powerstroke 180K
05 Chevy Express 1 ton w/Royal Utility box 120K
08 Infiniti FX-35 40K
15 Golf Sportwagen TDI 35K
10 Sprinter 3500 chassis with a Class A Winnebago on it. 56K

The rest of my pics

Attached Thumbnails

   

__________________
Brian
87 300Dturbo 180K #14 head still running R-12 SOLD 12/2017
02 F350 Powerstroke 180K
05 Chevy Express 1 ton w/Royal Utility box 120K
08 Infiniti FX-35 40K
15 Golf Sportwagen TDI 35K
10 Sprinter 3500 chassis with a Class A Winnebago on it. 56K