Power windows- work for 2 years- THAT'S ALL FOLKS!

Power window units in the door work great. Unfortunately the electrical contacts in the console switches wear out or burn out in

2-3 years. Of course-taking the console cover off and cleaning or replacing the contacts requires the help of your friendly, high overhead ($$$$$), Saturn dealer.

I wonder if Saturn is compassionate enough or smart enough to coat the contacts with dialectic grease at assy?

This is a 2000s series-but no doubt applies to all years and models.

Reply to
misterfact
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What a crock...! '93 SL2 137K, 11 year old car & nary a problem with the power windows. In fact just totaled the car when some other drunken idiot ignored the rules of right-of-way, attempting a left turn directly in front of me, and the power windows STILL work great post-crash. Seat belts, air bag, and crush zones did their thing, no injuries. SATURN RULES!

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Bill Davis ... beginning to love his new 2005 ION2.

Reply to
Bill Davis

Were your's on the center console? Seems to me that putting contact switches right next to the cup holders were not the brightest move in the world. Electricity and liquid don't mix that well.

Reply to
Art

Yes, they were in the center console. However in the '93 SL2 no cupholders anywhere near.

My new ION has the switches on the driver's door armrest.

Reply to
Bill Davis

To sum things up...

B*tch b*tch b*tch, rant rant rant, b*tch b*tch, rant rant. Rant rant rant, b*tch b*tch b*tching. Rant rant b*tch B*TCH!

See you next month!

Reply to
misterfact

Reply to
John

Hmm, our 94 SL2 w/ 120K miles had perfect working pwr windows, they even worked great after the car got wrecked! And thats after many years of teenagers spilling soft drinks and coffee!

marx404

Reply to
marx404

Dielectric grease is an insulator I'd say Saturn is smart enough NOT to put it on electrical contacts. BTW the switch assembly comes out without disassembling the console.

misterfact = missed the facts

Reply to
D V Brownell

Funny! Plug wires come with the grease on the electric contact ends that attach to the spark plugs and into the distributor. You're right- the grease is an insulator- it insulates an electrical connection from oxygen- so the connection doesn't rust out!

Reply to
misterfact

Another Saturn exec. Turn your sales chart upside down- it'll look better!

Reply to
misterfact

Again you miss the facts. The dielectric grease does NOT go on the electric contact of the spark plug - it goes on the insulator. It keeps oxygen, moisture and dirt out of the boot helping to prevent corrosion of the metal contact and arcing over the insulator. It also has the added advantage of helping the boot not stick to the plug. Dielectric grease on the contact of a good plug wire will have no ill effect as it will be displaced by the pressure of the contact in the wire. A weak or loose wire contact may not displace enough grease to insure a good electrical contact preventing the plug from firing altogether. There are conductive grease compounds used to improve conductivity of contacts and keep moisture and oxygen out however even a small amount on the insulator of the plug would cause the electrons to bypass the spark gap of the plug easier than a little moisture and dirt.

Reply to
D V Brownell

Um, no.

If your sales look like: \

and you turn that upside-down, then they look like: \

But, thanks for playing!

Reply to
Kirk Kohnen

Reply to
DAW

I agree with everything you say. Your point is good- that you have to have a tight metal electric conducting connection so that the grease is displaced. Once you have that- the grease around the metal contacts will keep them from rusting. I know a lot of truckers will put and maintain the grease in their cab electric plug that goes into the pins on the trailer. I did this for years and never had an electric contact problem.

Reply to
misterfact

I've got to admit that I've had my head up my a** a little on this one. After doing some research ( should learn to think before opening my mouth ) dielectric grease is used on all sorts of electrical contacts. It seems that the two main criteria is 1) the consistency has to be matched to the contact force and 2) the contacts must slide against each other to displace the grease at the point of contact to insure good electrical conduction. So it seems that dielectric grease is only bad on contacts that don't slide against each other. I'm going to go Google the word bonehead now and see if my name shows up.

Reply to
D V Brownell

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