w123 power window won't go up
 

So it's raining and unfortunately the power window on the driver's side got stuck in the down position.

I've been having the problem of the window sticking, but it usually comes back up after a few tries. The problem has gotten worse and worse to the point of me not being able to get it up at all.

I've looked on the forums for similar problems but couldn't find much help.

I need to know what I should specifically do with detailed instructions. I don't know how to check power or anything, so explicit details are needed.

Thanks for the help.

With the assumption that the motor is functional, you can easily test the switch by swapping it with the RF switch. Pop them both out of the console, switch the plugs, and see if the problem goes away.

If so, replace the LF switch.

Ya, these are switches that I bought about a year ago and were much nicer than my older ones that would stick. I tried switching back to the old and it still didn't work, but I'll try switching with the new RH side as well.

What should I do if that doesn't work?

Mind you, the window goes down fine, but it is always hard and now impossible to get it to go back up.

That symptom leaves little possibility for anything else but the switch.

My only question is whether you "help" it to go back up when it's stubborn..............or does it suddenly and smoothly go up by itself for no apparent reason?

Ya, when it starts to go up it will go up all the one with one button press, but sometimes it might take 6 or 7 button presses to get it started. But yes, once started it goes up fine.

Replace the switch.

After sitting a few weeks, the drivers window-switch on my '82 240D started needing 3 - 4 tries to go up. When it did go up, the widow moved easily, without needing any 'help'. Finally it went down but wouldn't go up no matter what. So I removed the switch, released the driver's rocker button by gently prying the switch housing away from the button pivot-pins with a pocket screwdrive, then scraped the carbon & crud from all the contacts with same small screwdriver. Also flipped the moving contacts round so they would have fresh contact with the fixed ones. Be carefull to not loose any parts. A tiny bit of grease will hold the balls & springs in the rocker-button while you snap it back in place. Repaired switch has worked perfectly for a couple weeks now.
Or, my indie MB parts-supplier said a new switch is under $30.

Happy Motoring, Mark

ya, I cleaned my old ones but they were still kind of sticky so I bought new ones. And now these are going... I'll try taking them apart to see what's up.

The below is what I found when my Rear Window would not go up but would still go down.
Upper left switch contact is burned; the others show some problem also.
I cleaned all the contact points and moved the switch rockers to a different position and the window works fine now.

So, does your window work fine not, or fine now?

Happy Motoring, Mark

Okay, here's what happen. I switched the right and left window switch and my window did go up. So it was obviously the switch. These were supposed to be pretty new, but I opened them up anyway to find a piece of something stuck in between two of the contacts, preventing the window from going up but allowing it to go down. I cleaned this part off and put it back together.

Now it works fine!

Thanks everyone

Sorry for the bad spelling was supposed to say "fine now". Taking apart the Window Switch and cleaning the contart points resulted in a Working Window both up and down.

Is that a statement or a question? If a question, the answer is yes.

Last night I tried to roll my rear driver side power window down with the switch in the front. Went down slowly, and then wouldn't come back up (I only put it down a couple of inches). The switch does stick up front, and you have to manually rock it back. This happened one other time, but after hitting the switch a few times it went on up. I tried reaching to the back door and rolling up, but no luck. Could this still be the switch up front causing the problem, or do I likely have a bigger issue?

Do you believe the switch magically repaired itself over the course of several months?

I once worked for a ferry company where the owner would put all the broken water pumps and alternators in a rear storage shed. A year or two later, when he needed one, he'd run back there and get it. We all considered this building the "recovery room". If you left the broken component in there long enough, it would magically fix itself.:rolleyes:

It's rumoured that the 'rebuilt' alternators sold by a local recycler are refreshed using the same technology, albeit with a liberal application of fresh silver paint.

I wasn't clear I don't guess -- I was just wondering if the switch up front is bad, would it keep the rear switch from working too? I didn't know if the fact that it wouldn't go up with either switch meant it might be something else.

Thanks! I had tried manually helping it up and it wouldn't budge. I tried for the last 2 days trying the switch a bunch of times, and FINALLY late last night I was driving and hit it several more times and up it went! I will be replacing the switch sometime soon. Until then keeping it up!

Old thread but I'll add my 2 cents. Front left window wouldn't go up on my daughter's 84 126. Sprayed a bunch of electrical cleaner in the cracks around the edges of the switch, let it sit for a couple of minutes and it worked. So I now have this idea that rather than disassembling the switch it might work to drill a hole thru the plastic and spray cleaner down inside on the contacts. May try it.

This is certainly worth a try; especially if you are not at Home.

It depends on the issue inside. If there is some junk inside or perhaps light burning of the Contacts the Spray might work.
Drilling a hole in the Switch also allows an entrance for more Junk so there could be a trade off there.

The Switch Contacts on Mine seemed burned beyond what some contact cleaner could be expected to do and I scraped them with a Pocket Knife and that was 3-4 years ago. The only issue I had was that I only did the Diver side Switch and ended up having to pull the others about 1 month later.

Can someone tell me or point me in the direction of how to get to the switch I have a 1984 300td and the passengers window did this to me yesterday