So i've got a 68' Wildcat four door hardtop. the windows are all electric, theyve worked twice before but totally randomly. when the drives control has worked, they've all worked together, so i know the motors are good, of course, they only worked for about 5 minutes then stopped again. the fuses are good, there power to the fuse pannel and im getting continuity through the drivers control board, cant seem to locate the power source for the controls though. wondering if theres possibly a bad relay somewhere along the lines or something im just totally unaware of. Been looking for a wiring diagram for the car, so if anyone knows where to find one itd be a huge help if you let me know, any ideas for this problem would be greatly appreciated, thanks alot guys! -luke
It may well be the relay. Not sure where it is on a '68. Your very first priority should be to buy a factory chassis service manual, either on paper or CD, which contains the wiring diagrams. They're on ebay on a regular basis. Devon
More often than not I have found these problems in the wiring harness between the doors and the pillar. Over the years the opening and closing of the doors flexes the wires to the point of breaking so they don't make contact. And they can be intermittent because whenever the wires happen to touch where they are broken the windows will work. The harness is inside a flexible rubber boot. Pull the boot out of either the door or the pillar and take a look at the wires themselves. Not always an easy fix but it's always the cheapest.
You will need a digital multi meter, a screw driver and some patience. 1- Remove the switch assemblies from the doors, then pull the switches from their respective contact plates. Be careful not to pull the switch apart. If necessary GENTLY pry it loose with a small screw driver inserted between the bottom of the switch and the phenolic plate on the switch. There may also be a couple of retainers from the switch up and over the phenolic plate. Pry them back GENTLY also. 2-Turn on ignition and test for voltage to ground on all ports until you find which is the feed wire. These are usually set up in a triangle shape so the one in the corner of the right triangle should be the hot lead. 3- Turn off the ignition and set the meter for Ohms, then ground one lead on a good surface and test the connection by grounding the other lead. Then test each of the other cavities in the switch base for a reading. You should be reading motor resistance if the motors are good AND they are well grounded. 4- If the resistance readings are good take a short length of #10 or #12 wire stripped on both ends and insert one end into the hot side of the switch. Turn the ignition on and insert the other end of the wire into either of the other cavities. The motor will work or try to work depending which side of the switch you chose. If the window is up and you hit the up side it will try to go up but won't be able to. 5- Repeat for each other set of switches. The switches on the older cars control the motors directly with no relay. Power seats do have relays, but not windows. Good luck- Tom
Devon, where is the relay on your wildcat? if its a two door its probabaly substantially different but i cant imagine the wiring being too drastically different from the 68, may be a good place to start.thanks for the adivce, im pulling the doors apart now, tracing wires here and there, and of course, trying to clean up any corrosion on the old fuse box, this should be a good place to start, if i come up with anything new ill post it back up. gotta get myself that chasis manual, fresh out of college and dont have the 80 bucks to spare on the book now, but thats the next investment, the cd seems like a great idea, might be worth it, just love having the book right with me when im getting into this stuff, but its quite a deal. thanks again! -luke
Not sure about the '68 Cat (. . . can't remember), but the relay for the '68 Riv is located on the inside of the firewall, under the dash near the centre dash support, along with the ignition key buzzer, and I think it's the same on a Cat. The PW relay, or Ignition relay (according to the book), should make an audible click when you turn the ignition key to the ON or ACC position. It has Pink, Orange/Black stripe, and Red/White stripe wires attached to it. If you hear it click the relay is probably OK, and it should have a good ground source too. There are also some other good pointers for trouble shooting PW problems in this thread ! :TU:
Sometimes my windows will only work with the drivers door open. I think theres a bad wire inside that boot. today I had to roll em down while holding the door open going down Archer road in G-ville. LOL
Found the relay! Thanks Devon, it was right where you said it was, pulled the thing out, turned out to be rust all stuck on the top of the coil so it couldn't fully close. But i'm finding something else strange, the relay seems to stay closed all the time, even with the key out, there's power constantly flowing through it and it starts to get warm, not sure if this is normal, wondering if anyone else has experienced this same issue. all the wiring for the windows and relay i beleive is original, (although it does get hard to tell when the car's had so much work done over such a long time) but if anyone has any ideas why this would be happening, or if its supposed to happen, any advice is greatly appreciate. thanks again. -luke
Definetly a broken wire in the boot Steve, and maybe more than one. Sounds like the main feed wire, the red one - check em all while your in there ! :TU:
Replace that faulty relay - it should only work with the ignition is switched to the ON, or ACC position ! :TU:
I suggest looking for things common to all of the window motors. Voltage and ground come to mind, and either could be the culprit. Grounds corrode, and the 12 volt side tends to work loose with age, or could burn up due to a defective connection. If the motors or the windows are in a bind, it could aggravate the 12 volt side's damage, or trip a cut out. The easy way to check a ground is to use a voltmeter, checking for voltage on the groiund side during activation of the motor. Let us know...
Put a meter on the connections, the power into the relay only comes on when the key is turned on or to the Acc. position, that seems correct, but the feed to the coil in the relay is constantly running, whether the key is on or even in the ignition, with that coil constantly receiving power the relay just stays closed all the time. i assumed that the coil power would only turn on the same as the power that feed into it, if thats not true, then whats the purpose of the relay? it doesnt seem to act as a switch at all since its constantly closed. thinkin about just splicing the coil wire with the ignition wire so it only comes on with key activation. thanks for all the ideas, im slowly getting there!
Something to consider here is that the coil must also receive a ground signal to close the contacts. The presence of voltage means nothing without a ground. Can you hear the relay energize? See if you can find a wiring diagram, but it is common to control a ground, and if that connection is defective, the relay will not operate correctly.
When it comes to relays, there are two types, those with one contact, and those with several. Normally, there are two sets of contacts, and the relay, at rest, closes one set, and opens the other set. These are called, respectively, normally closed or NC, and normally open, or NO. The normally closed contacts are typically used to supply either voltage or ground to a set of contacts for the use of other switches, like those in the passenger doors. Relays have two circuits inside: one to operate the electromagnetic contacts, and the other is the contacts driven by the electromagnetic circuit. The window motors use voltage and ground to operate, and typically the polarity is reversed to control their direction. It is likely that the relays, in their at rest position, or the normal position supply ground everywhere, and the control switches determine where and when voltage is applied to the motors. The operation is intuitive, however, it may be necessary to locate a wiring diagram for the layout.
