window switch repair question
 

Hello,

My driver's side window switch that controls the passenger side window has been flaky since I bought my 1987 carrera. Today, it totally broke with the passenger side window about 4 inches down, and the driver's side window completely down. Now, neither window works. I figure that the switch itself finally broke, and somehow blew a fuse.

I was thinking that I'll follow these posts to try and fix the switches, since my mechanic doesn't appear to be in today:
http://forums.pelicanparts.com/porsche-911-technical-forum/178843-window-switch-repair.html
http://forums.pelicanparts.com/porsche-911-technical-forum/78743-electric-window-switch-wiring-diagram.html
http://forums.pelicanparts.com/porsche-911-technical-forum/6183-power-window-switch.html

My question is - since it seems like some posts refer to testing the leads with a multimeter, should this repair be done after disconnecting the battery? Or is it safe to do with the battery connected?

Thanks,

Gordon

I read up a little more on this subject, including the bentley manual on door switch replacement, and I will be removing the battery connection first. For future reference, though, should I be removing the negative terminal connection for fuse replacements as well?

Been awhile since I replaced my power window switch and you probably already know to check the relay & the ground connection.

Since the switch was pretty clearly mechanically broken, I ended up swapping out the passenger side switch with the broken one. I'm going to order a replacement switch from here, but in the meantime, I temporarily fixed it by opening up the switch itself.

It turns out that there are two pegs set on springs, which are both surrounded by small, fragile plastic enclosures. On my switch, the enclosures on both sides had basically cracked apart; there were a few pieces still left inside the switch housing which I was able to super glue together temporarily. Now the switch 'kinda' works, but i definitely want to replace it.

I found that the passenger side window doesn't work at all if there's no switch plugged into it. Kinda a no-brainer, but interesting to know.

I've got a bunch of pictures of it and some of my hand-drawn diagrams if anyone's interested.