2002 Sunfire Window Problems
 

Well, 8 years of ownership and my wife's car has its first problem.

The driver's power window sometimes gets stuck down and will not go up. After a few minutes of turning the key between off and the accessory position, the window will eventually go up.

I figured it was a bad window relay, but the car does not have window relays. (How does that work?) Anyway, while in the fues panel, I noticed that it has a circuit breaker for the windows instead of a fuse. That smells a lot like a design flaw covered up with a quick fix.

What should I be looking at? Window regulator? Window motor? How do I check them?

check the motor. If it's getting voltage and not working, you have your culprit. If it's not always getting voltage, it's a wiring problem somewhere before the motor.

Window regulators are a very common problem on these. Might as well replace the whole unit if it's bad, motor and all. The motors are cheap, and wimpy.

Be sure to check the switch first though.

The circuit breaker replaces two limit switches. It kicks out if you hold the button down, going up or down. It will also kick (or should) if something gets stuck in the window while it's going up.

With no relays, it just uses a single, double pole, double throw switch. It just makes a + to +, and a- to - connection going up, and then reverses polarity going down.

Sniper has the diagnostics right. Either way, the door panel comes off to check it, or replace it.

If the window is binding on the way up, it could trip the breaker, and the breaker takes a minute to reset itself. Maybe something is just crooked in there Or got wet.