Can anyone provide a comprehensive check list for trouble shooting the electric windows...? What to check and where to find it... Thanx
one side only or both sides? Sunroof work? there's a circuit breaker on the dash (one of the rectangular buttons above the radio...check your owner's manual for which one it is (I think mine's to the right of the rear window de-fogger, on my 84 325e). The switches simply pry out...visit the local junk yard and you'll likely find some that will work fine (as well as one or two that won't) and check fuses first. again, the owner's manual has the listing.
As above. If they are stuck down, you can crank them up by hand. The tools should be in the trunk's tool kit if you still have all the pieces. Just remove the little round blank on the door card. You insert the tool and crank up the window. I have never done a door window, so I am not sure if it is the same tool you use for the sunroof. It might be the white plastic piece with an allen screw. Once you get the round blank off, it should be self explanatory.
I recently was told there is a "fuse" in the dash above the radio. I am having similar problem with 89, have not yet verified.
mact, so that is what that funny button (rt of the r/w defog) is for... but that doesn't help; & granthr, thanx for the tip on the window crank, I might have to use it; I messed up the fuel, temp and interior fan, trying to trace out the fuse handling the windows - but the car runs fine, great zoom & got 29.56mpg highway; removing the AC belt resulted in a noticable uptick in response, so, guessing I may get as much as 32mpg out of it; but back to the electrical system... is there a particular manual that has a superior electrical diagram?
That "funny button" is the circuit breaker switch for the windows, and can be in any of the 4 positions above the radio. On later models (88 to end of production for E30) it's located near where the window switches are. If you press it and see red on the button somewhere then press it in and try again. If the windows still don't respond, I suggest you check the fuse. Note, the fuse and circuit breaker switch are two different things! Check Fuse 17 in the fusebox in the engine compartment (driver's side in front of windshield). It should be a 30amp fuse. Check with an ohmmeter if possible (set to audible) and test across the fuse. Did you try any of these things yet?
Thank you all. Apparently it was the "funny button" above the radio; I had pushed it several times to see if it activated anything, or did anything - and in the mean time the windows were still not working. After your posts, I pushed it several times, more deliberately, and suddenly the the windows worked; so the switch itself was a bit corroded or something. but before that I tried tracing out the window circuits with a bulb indicator and hot lead to the fuses... the process must have overloaded some other things, because the gas gage, temp, fan switch now do not work... but that is another thread - Thank you all again.
for this I'd suspect the flasher switch. I've had similar sypmtoms and swapping out the switchy fixed ' em. (get a used one or two at the junk yard. window switches, other small things too.)
