Window wierdness

OK, last time I posted here I was getting ready to take off the door panel on my '98 GTP and replace the power window motor. The history is something like this: when I got the car, the left rear window did not operate; shortly thereafter the driver's window began to "stick" (usually began working after a good bang on the glass, I thought to separate the glass from the seal but now I'm not so sure). Last week, just before I ordered the new motor, the passenger window stopped working as well (at this point 3 of 4 windows inoperable). At this point, I'm thinking: can this really be a motor? I suppose that if one motor was from a bad batch they all probably are, but hmm. I took out the switch panel to have a look - all the contacts appear clean and good, and I thought I would try to bug out the switches but this thing has a circuit board and a complex set of relays and leaf switches inside, so without a diagram I am shooting blind. I replaced the switch panel, no change in operational status. I decided to wait until a warm day and pull off the door panel and try to see if the motor is getting energized at all.

This morning, I leave for work and a few blocks out I get a warning tone and the whole console blinks a bit -- I have a trunk-open indication. I stop and sure enough, the trunk is ajar. I slam shut the trunk, get back in the car, and, lo and behold, the passenger window works! So does the left rear window (which hasn't worked since I got the car 6 months ago)!. Still no joy on the driver's window though. What the!? Do I have some electrical gremlin? I seem to recall once or twice the radio/CD has blinked off on this car during high-speed cruising.

Does this ring a bell for any other GP owners? The plan is still to open up the door and see what I can see before buying a new motor -- any other things I should be looking for?

Thanks for any help.

JGM

JGM, as strange as this may seem, I had almost the identical problem with my '98 Grand Prix GT. First the driver side rear window stopped working one cold winters day. Fortunately it stopped working when in the "up" position! Then a month or so later, it started working again, although I didn't know at the time why it started to work again! Next it was the driver's window, which stopped working for about 2 months, also in the "up" position and also during the same winter. I was finally gonna take it in to the dealer, when all of a sudden it started to work again - immediately after I washed the car one day. I can only suspect that it started to work again after I washed it because water running down the window cleaned something off inside the door panel. Then it occurred to me that I had also washed the car just before the rear window started to work again. I know this sounds dumb, but that's exactly the way it happened. And the windows have now operated trouble-free for 2 years!!!

So my advice is simple, I'd suggest that you wash the car and direct lots of spray at the driver side window and see if it starts working again. If it does, I wouldn't tear into the door panel unless it happens again and the "water solution" doesn't work. Crazy solution that worked for me. - Sting