Cleaning powerwindow switches

[bag3lbit3s]

Over the years I've noticed these things build up junk and lightly oxidize inside to the point where it won't function. It's already happened to mine as well as my grandmothers car. So I thought why not help others out with this small little problem.
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-Mike

[Three Fat Tigers]

Well done!

How 'bout some suggestions on the cleaning part, what do you use to clean it? Personally I use 000 steel wool or a dremel with a wire brush type bit. Then treat with DeoxIt spray, which will likely help prevent a repeat. Also maybe note that the plastic clips that hold the switch can break easily so go easy on them. And I'd also mention an alternative to prying up the switch panel is to take out the screws that hold the arm rest to the door, then you can slide the panel out, or reach behind and pop it out of the arm rest without prying.

[bag3lbit3s]

I used a dremel with a wirebrush bit...Got them clean fast. Mine were filthy, I actually noticed that the cleaned ones vs. a non clean one rolled the window up faster. And in LA that's a safety issue driving down the wonderful areas of CA :-P. I didn't remove the entire armrest on the door since I was too lazy. I could maybe see you doing this if your armrest was hard from age, mine was still relatively soft and it came out fairly easy and no damage was done. Also like TFF mentioned be very careful with the clips that keep the switch attached to the panel, they break very easily.

[BRUNOP39]

Thanks for this great info,i am in the need for this.Thanks for your time spent.
Bruno

[VQ]

Thanks for that, I've already replaced mine with another one as one of the clips on mine was gone, but I might have a go at cleaning the damaged one...

[seth]

I'm going to do this tomorrow. My passenger side one is super sticky. Thanks for the how-to, it seems like if you break in to stuff like that without knowing what your doing you can break things. :)

[seth]

Finally got around to doing this. I snapped two of the black plastic clips while taking out the switches as careful as I could. They were real brittle on my '84. Nothing a little super glue couldn't fix tho. :)

My switches no longer stick now!

[740T_Whale]

When I had a 240, and cleaned my window switches, I found that if placed a magnet on the top of the switch, this would allow the ball bearing to say in place, thus allowing you to easily snap the top on to the bottom.

[Ryo240T]

I just did this and it fixed the rear window that would not go up ( its been raining here for almost a week and the window was down about an inch)! All the windows work like new! The directions are perfect! Thanks for great write up.

[H.M.S]

2 switches on my electric seats have stopped working, is this something you think might get them to work again?

[driven sydeways]

good write up! ive been doing this for years, and on my toyota. i use di-electric grease on the connections, only thing i do different.