On my '85 300d, I am having an issue with my left rear power window motor only operating in one direction (guess). The door switch is not operating, but the console switch works (in one direction).

The brown ground wire running into the door switch is not testing out as grounded.

One of the brown wires running into the lockout button on the left console switch set is grounded, the other is not.

Anyone know where the actual ground is for that? I was under the impression I would find a major one inside the console, but not on my car.

Tks

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Mac
2002 e320 4matic estate│1985 300d│1980 300td
Previous: 1979 & 1982 & 1983 300sd │ 1982 240d

“Let's take a drive into the middle of nowhere with a packet of Marlboro lights and talk about our lives.” ― Joseph Heller, Catch-22

That would be normal if the switch was open.

Behind the instrument cluster, right next to the window relay.

Given the wiring configuration, the problem is likely the switch. If the window runs one way, the wiring pretty much has to be intact vis-a-vis the console switch.

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When cryptography is outlawed, bayl bhgynjf jvyy unir cevinpl.

I have swapped out both the console and door switches to test them. The substitute door switch I know to be good, the console switch is off the shelf so it is possible that it has exactly the fault of the one in the car... but how probable? Neither changed the result.

Why would I not get a ground at the brown wire running into the door switch?

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Mac
2002 e320 4matic estate│1985 300d│1980 300td
Previous: 1979 & 1982 & 1983 300sd │ 1982 240d

“Let's take a drive into the middle of nowhere with a packet of Marlboro lights and talk about our lives.” ― Joseph Heller, Catch-22

Was the safety switch closed?

It's pretty common for the wires to the rear doors to break. The ground wire to the door will only affect the door switch.

If you need to get the window up, you can remove the rear door switch and jumper power and ground to the motor via the switch connector.

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When cryptography is outlawed, bayl bhgynjf jvyy unir cevinpl.

The motor in the door does not have a designated ground point, it runs off of reverse polarity meaning one wire will act as ground and will also work as positive.......if you remove the motor and take it to your battery, you will see what I am talking about.

One of the switches must not be reversing the polarity as it should...

Have you removed the fuses and inspected them in hand? to make sure a end is not missing.

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It most certainly does. It just isn't located in the door.

I think I understand what you think you are trying to say. But that's only because I already understood how the window circuit actually works.

__________________
When cryptography is outlawed, bayl bhgynjf jvyy unir cevinpl.

From the wiring diagram for the 85, it would appear that one way there would be no ground, is if the safety switch was not activated when you checked for a ground at the door switch.

If your motor ran in one direction, then one of the motor leads had 12V and the other was grounded. But if only console switch caused motor to run and in only one direction, that does not tell us anything about the lack of a ground at door switch. (Edited to clarify)

It is possible the ground could be due to a chafed wire in the B-pillar (I have had that), but then you would expect the fuse to blow when you apply 12V to that line (switch in mid position) (double check fuses are still good!)

When checking for ground from door switch, make sure you are testing from proper pin that brown line 4 leads to. Also make sure you test to a known good ground, like the door frame. This is a pic of the switch interior, but don't know which vintage (85 has blue line for LED light)

One final thought. With the safety switch on, and your lights on (dash cluster lit up), you should also see faint lighting in all console and door window switches. The rear doors need the safety switch to be ON in order to light up. If you don't see the LED on one side, then either the blue wire or the ground are bad. That is an easy test to confirm ground.

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Graham
85 300D,72 350SL, 98 E320, Outback 2.5

Note that the motor operated only fron the console switch, in which case the safety switch and its associated wiring was not a factor.

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When cryptography is outlawed, bayl bhgynjf jvyy unir cevinpl.