77 Trans Am power window motors
 

The power windows no longer work on my 1977 Trans Am. I suspect I need to replace the power window motors. If anyone has replaced them, can you tell me where I can get replacement motors and if there are any tricks I should know before replacing them. Thanks.

The power window motors of this era are pretty durable units & I'd suggest you do some troubleshooting/circuit testing BEFORE condeming them.

It's really unlikely that both are dead.

I'd suspect a burnt/unplugged wire or bad switch/relay first.

If you pull your door panels you can put power & ground directly to the motors to test them.

Agreed. It wasn't until the mid 1980's that power window motors were downsized enough to burn out. I've had many power window cars and only ever changed 1 motor due to a motor failure.

The switch is the most likely place. I would check there first -> use a multimeter to determine power and then jump the wires at the switch to see if they go up and down. I've never seen a relay go bad, but it's not unheard of either and it's a bit more work to get to and test.

My 78's passenger side burned out 1 month after it's warranty.

I do doubt both went out. Look at the switch too they are pretty bad design and routinely go out.

Especially if you've dumped your soda or coffee in it!

Or if some knuckleheaded previous owner only liked to push the switch button halfway down. Causes arcs since it is a high current connection (never did understand that design decision) and leads to carbon buildup over time which causes the motors to go up and down slower and eventually stop working. Contact cleaner is your friend.

The contact design does look bad to me also.

Sometimes a good cleanup and new grease of the mechanism will work wonders, also backing up the felt blocks in the door will get it going again. Ofcourse if you dont hear anything, the suspect is mostly the console switch.

IF you decide to remove the motors - remove the glass and mechanism completely and BEFORE you unbolt the motor put vise grips on the mechanism or mark the positions thorougly. This has to do with the pre-tension of the spring in the mechanism.
The vise-grip-trick makes replacement of the motor easy.

Thanks to everyone that responded with your trouble shooting suggestions. It was the center console switch after all...

Agreed, Those switches are pretty crapy. Had a couple bad ones over the years.

I often wonder how much they would improve by taking the motors apart, cleaning & re-greasing the gears, &
the window tracks. Seems the grease gets much thicker over time.