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Tue Oct 06, 2020 12:20 pm

The passenger side window will go down by engaging the switch on the passenger side, but it won't go up. I've taken the switch out, cleaned the contacts and put it back with no change.

The driver's side switch for the passenger window doesn't work at all (up or down).

I can bypass the switch on the passenger side with 12v and the window motor will power the window up and down so the motor appears to be working fine.

My question(s):

-Does this definitely point to the passenger side switch being bad? Seems logical to me, but it also seems maybe too simple.

-What about the driver's side switch for the passenger window...is it definitely bad as well or can failure of one of the switches cause the other to not work properly?

Thanks for your help! I have a multimeter and jumper wires in-hand if there are any other diagnostics that need to be done.

Tue Oct 06, 2020 12:23 pm

check for voltage on the yellow and yellow and black wires in the pass door. check swap the connector to the driver's side motor and the pass side in the driver's door.

try to up the window up and down from the driver's side.

Tue Oct 06, 2020 12:35 pm

dabaron wrote: check for voltage on the yellow and yellow and black wires in the pass door. check swap the connector to the driver's side motor and the pass side in the driver's door.

try to up the window up and down from the driver's side.

Just checked voltage on the yellow and yellow/black wires in the pass. door; both are getting 12v. Heading back out to see about trying the pass. switch on the driver's side, but I know that the van has 2 different window regulators; pass. side is original and driver's side is aftermarket. I think that the switch wiring might be a bit different...

Update:

Swapped the driver's side switches to see if the known-good switch (powering driver's side window) would power the passenger side window. It did not. Also checked the pass. window switch (driver's side) on the driver's side window, and it powered the window fine.

...Not sure what this tells me. :?

Tue Oct 06, 2020 4:18 pm

porterbrown wrote: dabaron wrote: check for voltage on the yellow and yellow and black wires in the pass door. check swap the connector to the driver's side motor and the pass side in the driver's door.

try to up the window up and down from the driver's side.

Just checked voltage on the yellow and yellow/black wires in the pass. door; both are getting 12v. Heading back out to see about trying the pass. switch on the driver's side, but I know that the van has 2 different window regulators; pass. side is original and driver's side is aftermarket. I think that the switch wiring might be a bit different...

Update:

Swapped the driver's side switches to see if the known-good switch (powering driver's side window) would power the passenger side window. It did not. Also checked the pass. window switch (driver's side) on the driver's side window, and it powered the window fine.

...Not sure what this tells me. :?

im also having window issues im trying to fix (could be a short somewhere UGH) .... I think both switches on drivers side need to be in working condition if the passenger one will work at all. could be wrong but i think it be like that.

Tue Oct 06, 2020 7:40 pm

Sounds like you have a broken wire in the door jamb. Pull the glove box and fuse block down and use your VOM to checking continuity across the wires. Just follow wire colors on each side and see what's broken.
If needed I have new replacement harnesses for both sides.

Stacy

Wed Oct 07, 2020 9:52 am

16CVs wrote: Sounds like you have a broken wire in the door jamb. Pull the glove box and fuse block down and use your VOM to checking continuity across the wires. Just follow wire colors on each side and see what's broken.
If needed I have new replacement harnesses for both sides.

Stacy

Thanks! I'm getting 12v at the yellow and yellow/black wires at the pass. side. From looking at the wiring diagram, those appear to be the wires coming from the driver side, but operating the pass. window switch from the driver side does nothing.

Could I be mis-translating the wiring diagram?

Wed Oct 07, 2020 10:07 am

You are on the correct wires for the passenger side, but consider that the broken wire may be intermittent. Your meter should have a continuity setting which will emit a tone. Hook it up that way and then swing the door open/close and manipulate the boot in the door jamb.

Don’t forget to check the wires in the driver side boot as well.

Wed Oct 07, 2020 2:26 pm

The Carrot wrote:
Don’t forget to check the wires in the driver side boot as well.

my passenger side did not work due to a broken wire (which was previously fixed by an PO) in the driver's door "boot" which was oh so fun to repair

Wed Oct 07, 2020 6:36 pm

The Carrot wrote: You are on the correct wires for the passenger side, but consider that the broken wire may be intermittent. Your meter should have a continuity setting which will emit a tone. Hook it up that way and then swing the door open/close and manipulate the boot in the door jamb.

Don’t forget to check the wires in the driver side boot as well.

Power to the yellow and yellow/black wires does not appear to be intermittent; I'm getting consistent power from those wires to the pass. side.

With that being the case, I'm still not sure how to diagnose the issue.

Thanks for the response!

Thu Oct 08, 2020 6:52 am

the diagram is a little confusing... but working with the driver's door side, you can rule out those two switches if you swap the two pin connectors - one goes to the driver's side motor, the other to the passenger side switch.

if both switches operate the driver's side motor after swapping the two pin connector (T2a and T2b) that rules out the switches. you MIGHT need to reflow the solder on the switches, i had to and that helped a ton.

if both switches work on the driver's side motor, then it's time to verify conductivity between T2b and T3a (behind the glove box). if you have conductivity, then it's time to go into the door and check conductivity between T3a and T3e.

i used my jump pack to operate the passenger side motor to make sure operates in both directions - connect + and - to wires to operate in one direction, swap + and - wires to operate in other direction.

you could try running a wire from the driver's side switch motor connector to the passenger side motor (T2c), bypassing the wiring in the dash and pass side switch. if that works, the issue is the passenger side door.

break it down into modules and i think you might find the issue.

reflowing of the solder really helped resolve the pass side intermittent actuation i was having with the switches.

Thu Oct 08, 2020 7:49 am

dabaron wrote: the diagram is a little confusing... but working with the driver's door side, you can rule out those two switches if you swap the two pin connectors - one goes to the driver's side motor, the other to the passenger side switch.

if both switches operate the driver's side motor after swapping the two pin connector (T2a and T2b) that rules out the switches. you MIGHT need to reflow the solder on the switches, i had to and that helped a ton.

if both switches work on the driver's side motor, then it's time to verify conductivity between T2b and T3a (behind the glove box). if you have conductivity, then it's time to go into the door and check conductivity between T3a and T3e.

i used my jump pack to operate the passenger side motor to make sure operates in both directions - connect + and - to wires to operate in one direction, swap + and - wires to operate in other direction.

you could try running a wire from the driver's side switch motor connector to the passenger side motor (T2c), bypassing the wiring in the dash and pass side switch. if that works, the issue is the passenger side door.

break it down into modules and i think you might find the issue.

reflowing of the solder really helped resolve the pass side intermittent actuation i was having with the switches.

Thanks for that super helpful post! I've continued to read and research, and how the system works is beginning to become more clear.

-I've been able to rule out the switch on the driver side by using it to operate the window on the driver side.

-I'm getting constant (does not appear to be intermittent) 12v from the yellow and yellow/black wires at the pass. side, so I want to say that rules out broken wires in the door jambs.

-due to getting a constant 12v (noted above), I also want to say that this means the connections at the fuse panel are fine.

I'm heading out in a bit to run more tests at the pass. side switch and wiring as everything seems to be pointing that direction.

Anybody please feel free to correct me if any of my assumptions above are incorrect!

Thu Oct 08, 2020 8:03 am

run a jumper from the yellow & black and ground to the motor, it should move. then try the yellow and ground, it should move the other way. this will bypass the switch. if all is working, reflow the solder on the switch.

you might be suffering too much of a drop and the power needed to raise the window is too great. the wiring is all correct and all is working, but not enough current is flowing to make the magic.

Thu Oct 08, 2020 10:50 am

I had the same issue with my Pax side PW. Except that the PS window was slow to go down and encountered too much resistance to go up. Another difference to note was that my DS was original and PS was aftermarket (Prime Italy? Had a Made in Italy stamp, and a Bosch motor that mounted inside the speaker cutout).

Checked all the things mentioned here, and switches/wires were good. I greased the regulator slide and cleaned the contact pins with a wire brush. I also took apart the Bosch motor and greased the spline. One last thing that helped was that after I got the window glass set back into the regulator, I kept the two bolts that hold the glass and the two bolts that hold the regulator to the door loose and then ran the window up and down several cycles to allow it to find the path of least resistance, and then tightened down the four bolts.

Mon Jun 02, 2025 12:41 pm

Neither window worked after being intermittent for a while. I just replaced the window switches with a GoWesty pair on the dash. Passenger window now works great. Drivers window goes down fine, up only an inch at a time. Inch, stop, release the button, inch again and stop... Any suggestions?

Mon Jun 02, 2025 1:24 pm

Those symptoms on your driver side window suggest that too much current is being drawn, which causes the pauses in winding up the driver side window.

You're going to have to remove the door panel to examine whether there is excess friction in the window regulator, and if so, repair/lubricate as necessary.

The rubber window scrapers can get sticky and sometimes can benefit from being lubed with silicone spray.

Finally, and most likely, you have some corrosion or lack of grease (white lithium grease) in the driver side power window motor itself. If this is the case, you can buy a used motor, a replacement new motor, or service your own motor with the aid of this link:

https://www.thesamba.com/vw/forum/viewtopic.php?t=...mp;start=0

Mon Jun 02, 2025 9:06 pm

Howesight wrote: Those symptoms on your driver side window suggest that too much current is being drawn, which causes the pauses in winding up the driver side window.

You're going to have to remove the door panel to examine whether there is excess friction in the window regulator, and if so, repair/lubricate as necessary.

The rubber window scrapers can get sticky and sometimes can benefit from being lubed with silicone spray.

Finally, and most likely, you have some corrosion or lack of grease (white lithium grease) in the driver side power window motor itself. If this is the case, you can buy a used motor, a replacement new motor, or service your own motor with the aid of this link:

https://www.thesamba.com/vw/forum/viewtopic.php?t=...mp;start=0

Thank you. Makes sense. I'll see how that works out.

Tue Jun 03, 2025 8:15 am

Dexter

What were they doing before you changed over to the dash mounted switches? Is this a new problem or just a continuation from the OE set up?

Have you put 12v directly to the motor? this is always a first step.

Stacy

Tue Jun 03, 2025 9:27 pm

16CVs wrote: Dexter

What were they doing before you changed over to the dash mounted switches? Is this a new problem or just a continuation from the OE set up?

Have you put 12v directly to the motor? this is always a first step.

Stacy

Stacy, I had previously had passenger side motor replaced. After a couple years the windows were intermittent, not responding to the switches at all, then operating sluggishly, then not at all... Replacing the switches has fixed the response, but now the driver's side goes down (slowly) and up in steps. Cleaning the track improved it today. I'll remove the works soon and see if the winch is balled up or motor corroded.