I have had this Volvo for going on two years now. When I bought it, only the driver's side front and passenger's rear windows worked, the driver's rear was intermittent at best, eventually becoming unusable. So, two years with just two windows working with little problem getting them to go up or down.
Yesterday, both windows refused to work...and of course they are stuck down. This is where the weirdness starts. The wires running through the door to the switches seems to be in good shape. I check the fuses and replace the two associated with the windows even thought they seem to be fine...this does nothing. I take the driver side door panel off and get at the goodies; I unplug all of the connections to the window switches and clean the connections as best I can. I plug things back together and they work...for like two minutes tops: up and down once and they are stuck down again.
I do some research and find that the switch itself can be taken apart, cleaned and put back with good results. I decide to do this. I clean one, reassemble and go to the car for a "proof of concept" trial. Sure enough it works, for a tiny amount of time to raise the driver's window maybe and inch. I clean another one and try the same thing, similar result...maybe half and inch this time. I clean the other two and try all switches on the driver side with no result what-so-ever. I plug everything back in and try it in multiple combinations with no movement on any window.
I have since dug the window relay out from behind my dash and I hope it's bad because I fear that it may be a bigger problem. Is it true that all the power for all the windows runs through the driver's door? What equipment would I need to test the window motors individually?
I have read here extensively but never posted, I would love to not have to take this into a dealer or repair shop. I have the will to fix it myself (in other words I am fairly broke), any help would be greatly appreciated.
Drew Jones