The title says it all. Right rear window on my '83 300 won't go up or down using either the front switch or the switch on the door itself. No wirring noise, nothing. Does this mean that the motor is definitely shot?

Thanks.

Could be motor, wiring and/or switches. Test the motor by pulling the door switch assembly. Unplug the wires and apply external 12V to middle two wires (IIRC). Motor should move, reverse polarity to change direction. There are other treads on trouble shooting windows and probably a DIY. Do a search.

__________________
Charles
1983 300D, bought new, 215k+ miles, donated to Purple Hearts veterans charity but I have parts for sale: http://www.peachparts.com/shopforum/mercedes-benz-cars-sale/296386-fs-1-owner-83-mb-300d-turbo-rebuild-parts.html

Thanks. I assumed that since neither switch worked it must be the motor, since the odds are slim that both switches would fail. I see now that the front switch feeds into the rear switch.

I hooked the green and black wire up to 12V and the window does go up and down. So the motor is obviously not the problem. That leaves wires and switches. I'm VERY ignorant of testing things with my multimeter. Seems like 9 times out of 10 I hook the thing up and it just goes all over the place, never settling down to any particular number.

Could someone please, in tiny baby steps, explain to me how to use my multimeter to test the switch and the wires?

WAIT!

Before you go pulling the door apart, did you check your fuses yet?

I just had my rear left window go. I thought great I'm screwed. Turned out a fuse blew.

I also reccommend you buy a door panel remover before attack the door panel. There are these white little clips that break easily and can only be sourced from online vendors or the dealer.

__________________
-Typos courtesy of my mobile phone.

My fuses are fine. I'd read before that each fuse controls two windows. I have only one window that doesn't work.

I already removed the door panel. I used a very wide putty knife and managed to avoid breaking any of the clips. I noticed right away that the protective plastic barrier is missing, so someone has been in here before me. I inspected the lock vacuum pod and it appears to have been manufactured in 2008, so that must have been installed just before I purchased the car in April 2009. Whoever did that seems to have neglected to replace the plastic barrier.

Now I just need some simple instruction regarding how to test the switch and wires... I did a search and found nothing.

I need this too. I have a left rear window that's not working. I bought a meter from Harbour freight. Seems foreign to me what to do. It had no instructions.

__________________
www.myadvoforum.com
http://advopal.com

If your car is set up like mine then the two wires coming into the door from the hinge area go to a terminal block. put a jumper wire from one of the terminals on this block to ground and run a long jumper from the + side of the battery to the other terminal (it's best to have an inline fuse in the + wire). If the window moves then the motor is good. If the window does not move then try reversing the jumper wires to see if it moves this way. If the motor moves the window then I think you may have a broken wire at the hinge area. Have some one start the car and press the window switch on the center console while you test the two terminals to see if you have power.

__________________
1983 300SD
200000miles

Well you know that there is some disconnect between the fuse box and the motor itself. The msot common places for the wiring to get shredded is in the doors where it bends. A lot of times it will get old and break. Since you already have the door panel off and motor exposed, you might as well trace the wires to to door and see if there are any areas of wear and tear. WHile you have the motor out its a good idea to clean it out and lube it up (along with the regulator slide rails). From the door, its all tracing wires back to the fuse box, which can unfortunately be a PITA. With a test light or multimeter, all you have to do is put one end on a charged terminal and hit the switch...if the light/multimeter shows activity then your connection is good. (I believe the switches act by grounding one wire or the other, so correct action would be for the light to be ON when you touch a terminal and oFF when you hit the switch). Good luck!

__________________
TC
Current stable:
- 2004 Mazda RALLYWANKEL
- 2007 Saturn sky redline
- 2004 Explorer...under surgery.

Past: 135i, GTI, 300E, 300SD, 300SD, Stealth

Set it to 12VDC (or whatever reading is immediately higher, maybe 20V or 25V depending on tester). test it out by touching the probes to the battery, the needle should jump to 12-14V. Testing out terminals, touch the black lead to a ground (door, chassis, etc) and red one to the wire you want to test.

__________________
TC
Current stable:
- 2004 Mazda RALLYWANKEL
- 2007 Saturn sky redline
- 2004 Explorer...under surgery.

Past: 135i, GTI, 300E, 300SD, 300SD, Stealth

Agreed. One rear window only is most likely to be one or more broken wires where they go through the rubber boot between the door and the B-pillar.

__________________

"Buster" in the '95

Our all-Diesel family
1996 E300D (W210) . .338,000 miles Wife's car
2005 E320 CDI . . 113,000 miles My car
Santa Rosa population 176,762 (2022)
Total. . . . . . . . . . . . 627,762
"Oh lord won't you buy me a Mercedes Benz."
-- Janis Joplin, October 1, 1970

Thanks for all of the responses so far. As tbomachines said, I know that there's some problem between the fuse box and the motor (with both the fuse box and the motor working just fine). That leaves the wires or the switch. In addition to a visual inspection of the wires themselves, is there no way to test the wires using the multimeter so as to determine whether the wires are in good shape, thereby isolating the switch as the culprit?

A visual inspection won't necessarily work. Use your meter to verify continuity between the console and door switches. Odds are outstanding that continuity won't exist in some cases. Replacing the section of the affected wire(s) between the pillar and door switch is usually required.

Thank you. But this is exactly the sort of thing that I don't know how to do with my multimeter. What setting should it be on and where do I attach each lead? What numbers should appear, and what do they mean?

I'm telling you, I'm completely ignorant of how this works. I had the same problem in high school physics - I could nail the mechanics portion of the course all day long, but when we moved on to electricity and magnetism I was hopeless.

If you go to the Harbor Freighit Website and locate the exact meter you bought click on it so that it is the only item desplayed on the page and at the bottom of the page they will have a PDF with the Instruction.

You can look at it or save it to your computer by right clicking and using "save target as".
look fir the gree "Dowload product manual" button

http://www.harborfreight.com/cpi/ctaf/displayitem.taf?Itemnumber=98025

__________________
84 300D, 82 Volvo 244Gl Diesel

Most meters have a continuity setting. Some meters will emit a tone when there is good continuity. Just touch one lead to the terminal at each end of the wire being checked. Otherwise, use the resistance setting. Zero ohms indicates a good circuit; an infinite indication would reveal a broken circuit.

It is possible, however, that a partially broken wire could give a good continuity indication but not be able to carry enough current to operate the motor.