Electric window switches. Any one tried disassembling?

[Maj]

Hi all.

So my drivers window switch had started to malfunction. I've taken the switches off and blown some contact cleaner through it which helped but didn't cure it. Now wondering how to disassemble it to see what the problem is but it's not obvious how they come apart. Anyone out there managed to work out how to take the switches apart?

Thanks

[VicCrownVic]

The top half and bottom half snap together.

Snap it apart and you can clean up the contacts inside and I think the contacts can also be bent to make better contact.
When you take it apart make sure the switches are facing up since some of the internal contacts I believe will fall out if you try to take it apart while it is oriented sideways. Take a picture of the inside before you mess with it so you know where and how the little contact pieces fit in.

[sly]

Also, be careful when you take it apart. There's lots of little bits that can go flying, and then you have to figure out how all that went in there. It's pretty easy to figure out, but can be a pain in the ass getting things to sit right again.

[Maj]

That's great, thanks guys. Let's hope I can get it apart with out losing or breaking anything

[gadget73]

I've passed pieces of paper between the contacts to polish them up before. Usually does the trick as long as the contact isn't melted or heavily corroded. You can't get them completely apart, but the rocker lever comes out and that will get you into the contacts. Those parts all rivet in, so you're sort of limited unless you want to re-rivet the things.

[sly]

I may be thinking of the seat switches then. One of them has a bunch of little bits that can go everywhere.

[gadget73]

There is a small plastic plunger and a spring in there under the rocker. The contacts won't come out though as far as I remember. Been a bit since I was into one honestly. I do seem to remember there being two contacts at each end of the switch, an NC and an NO, and both had to be clean or it wouldn't go. The NO one I recall being a real bastard to get to since its under the moving part of the switch where you can't really get at it.

[VicCrownVic]

If you haven't gotten into your switch yet, I had a chance to take apart a spare I had.

Just yesterday all my window switches became locked out regardless of the position of the window lock switch on the driver door. All windows work from the driver door so I know it's the lockout switch.
This jogged my memory and I finally remembered why I had taken the switch apart a few years ago. When I got the blue '91 it had the same problem with the window lock switch and at some point I decided to take apart the switch.

Today I decided to take apart a spare switch (I didn't feel like getting into my door... maybe tomorrow) to see what was in there. I remembered there being removable parts but couldn't remember specifics.

The window switches themselves are simple. The removable copper pieces need to be in opposing orientation for each switch, and taking note of the orientation of each before getting it all mixed up will help to get it all back together.




The lockout switch is actually a bit tricky to put back together. In fact this spare switch I had laying around had the stainless steel piece just rattling around since I couldn't figure out how to put it back together when I had it apart last time. I did finally figure it out today though.
If you look at the stainless piece, it has two tabs. The smaller one goes into the bottom of the switch chassis while the longer one will be grabbed by the switch when you snap it back together.
In order to get the stainless piece lined up right it needs to be oriented more like an A (or maybe a tilted A, second pic) rather than a < (first pic), and the easiest way to get that piece to stay properly oriented is to tilt the assembly to the side during re-assembly. I have the assembly propped with a small screw driver in the second pic to show the "A" orientation.