eLECTRIC WINDOWS NOT WORKING

I have a 1990 Subaru legacy and can't operate the electric windows or the moon roof. Also my air conditioner and defrost will not work, none of my gauges or my auto shoulder harness will work. All the light work on my dash

Any ideas on were to start to look for the problem?

Thanks for the help.

 

Start at the fuse box, location and fuse type and sizes should be in your owners manual, if not fuses it may be a ground wire loose, write back and let us know what you find.

 

Agree.

 

I checked the fuse box under the dash and under the hood. All fuses looked good. There was no fuse or relay marked for the windows.. How do I determine what fuse or relay operate the windows,moon roof,cig. lighter and dash board?... I took the driverside door off and checked for loose ground... found no loose wires.... (how do I determine which wire is the ground...are they green like in house wiring?) any idea on what to check next...

Thanks for your help

 

Sometime you need to check a fuse, not just look at it. Your manual OR a fusebox diagram should tell you which fuse/relay is for the items mentioned. Sometime it is printed on or next to the fuse what function it is for.

 

Pull every fuse out and inspec them one by one. Sometimes the fuse is labeled something else.

 

I pulled every fuse out and they all looked perfect. how do you check them? I looked on the fuse box and found everything execpt electric windows. could there be another fuse box besides the one under the dash and the one under the hood. What about the relays, how do you check to see if they are good or bad.

Thanks

 

If you put a DVOM across the fuse, what does it show?

 

Joe ..What is a DVOM ? thanks

 

That is a digital volt ohm meter get one cheap at radio shack if you work on cars you will need it.Also good for around the house.
Cost about 15 bucks at Radio shack

 

If you plan on fixing any electrical problems the DVOM in the best tool you will have for troubleshooting also a test light is nice.
But a DVOM is a must have item.

 

Another awesome tool for doing electrical diagnostics is the Power Probe. I absolutely love mine.
Billy

 

just buy a troublelight, they are really inexpensive. it will tell you if there is power or not, ground it to the body, and touch each fuse, test both sides of the little metal prons sticking up on top, you should do this with the key on, or even the car running, as some don't turn on without power, you also might want to hold the button for the window while doing this, as some don't get power to the relay or the fuse until activated. and replace any fuse with the same watt fuse if it is dead. I hade the same problem every so often with my 92 passat, put in the highest wattage of fuse it will take and still operate once you find it, that way it has a higher resitance and will be less prone too blow. A trouble light should also help you with your relays, but only when you press the button. Also if you hear just a clicking sound, without anything whenever you press the window button, it most likely is a relay, if there is nothing, then it's probably a fuse. At the very worst it could be a blown motor, but with all windows and sunroof not working it's very unlikely they all blew. If you try all that, there might be a short in the wiring harness. There have been cases where a small mouse or something could have chewed through it, or depending on the location battery acid corroding it, or a sharp piece of metal cutting into the wire and shorting it out or severing the wire. If all else fails, take it to a mechanic, they can run the codes on it for all electrical, see what turns up, or they might have some more suggestions for you, someone who deals more with imports and subarus would be able to give you more advice. I tend to lean towards older domestics myself.

 

Putting in a higher voltage fuse is NOT the answer to fixing an electrical problem. More times than not you end up with more or worse problems because now you have shorted a wire or something else out. Not a good idea to do this. Put the right fuse in it, if it blows you have a short somewhere. Do it right the first time and you wont likely have to do it a second time.
Billy

 

fuses only blow for one reason, too high a current draw. if you exceed the limits of the 'wire' in that circuit with a bigger fuse, the wire becomes the 'fuse' and will be the next to blow.

i had a caravan last year that the customer complained that one fuse kept blowing, so he finally put a bigger one in it, shortly thereafter, nothing worked inside the car. the entire wiring harness under the dash melted into a big glob, how it didn't catch on fire is a miracle! the car was headed right to the junkyard after that, the insurance company totalled it! DO NOT put bigger fuses into anything that it's not rated for, not your stereo, not your tv, not your house, not your car, not anything!

to the original poster(thomasb), you need to go to your library and hope they have as good reference material as mine does. we have large 'mitchell' manuals, and i photocopy the wiring diagrams and folllow them closely. you will probably find one common relay or fusible link feeding everything that isn't working.

without a wiring diagram, you are flopping around on the deck---useless! you need a roadmap(wiring diagram) to find out where you are headed

let us know what you find

and at the least you will need a test light or a cheap voltmeter(dvom) that's how you 'do it yourself'

 

I didnt mean like put a friggin 50 in a 15 spot, I meant like a 30 in a 20, 40 in a 30 ect. and I did that with my windows on my passat, and it hasnt had any problems whatsoever in a year. Before I kept replacing the 30 with a 30 and it kept blowing, then I put a 40 in and I havnt had a problem with it since. Nor has my car melted or caught on fire.

 

well you didn't say that before.

if i remember correctly, the guy put a 25 into a 20 or 15 cavity(on the caravan)

and when i looked under the dash, i found one wire from the harness rubbing on the e-brake mechanism bracket, it would have been easily found and fixed before he put that final band-aid on the car. it was melted from that spot through the fuse box and through the firewall back to the big power splice near the battery--it needed both harnesses, under-hood and under-dash.


in your car, i'd put a 30 circuit breaker in place of a 30 fuse rather than a bigger fuse. i know that closing all 2 or 4 windows at the same time will pop a fuse when they all stall at the top at the same exact second.

i still can't say to use a bigger fuse ever, sorry.

 

Morlock:

NO. NO. NO. NO. A 25 in a 25. A 20 in a 20. Not a 25 in a 20. Period. The fuse is rated for a reason. And that must be stricted adhered to.

My 80 Trans Am has the ORIGINAL fuses in it. If there's no problem in the circuit, the fuse won't blow. Period. Same in your house. Same in your car.

The proper repair is to find the problem as Mike and Billy said. Minimum tool: DVOM. Mine cost 25 at Sears and is analog and digital. Best tool I've ever bought.

I fixed my grandfather's dryer using it and found the problem (broken glow coil) in 10 minutes. Saved me 100's of bucks. You'll never stop using this thing when you get one.

 

This is slightly off topic, but...How does someone learn to use a DVOM? I bought a cheap one (Wal-Mart) that was supposed to have a "complete, thorough user's manual." Yeah, right! There's two leads, three jacks, and nearly two dozen settings. Very confusing to a beginner. Does anybody know where I can get a copy of "Multi-Testers for Dummies"?

 

Ya.

When I bought my DVOM at Sears, there was a nice book next to it that was essentially what you stated. LOL. "How to use a DVOM".

I think it was 10 bones or something like that. Interesting book. Most tests you do are resistance and continuity checks. Some checks are live voltage.