Back Window Not Working: Check these wires

[TheSaturnV]

Installed a new backup camera this weekend and accidentally stumbled upon the reason my back window quit rolling up/down. At first it started failing intermittently, then finally quit altogether.

In the main wiring harness from the roof into the tailgate I found not only the power wire for the rear window (heavier white with black stripe), but also TWO others that were broken.

Both green wires, one with a white stripe and one with a reddish brown stripe. Anybody know what those two wires do?

Anyway, if your back window quits check these wires out. Just pull the boot up where it comes out of the roof. Looks like the motion of the tailgate opening finally broke a few.

Updated: I had added this photo, no idea where it went.

 

[jgue467]

Thanks for posting this - mine is fine, so far. I'll keep this in mind when it isn't....


Luck and enjoy those Toyotas. : ^ )))

 

[brillo_76]

Very typical of older vehicles. I been warning people for years if windows and locks are not working properly to check the wire boots for broken wires. If I remember tonight. I will post the Electrical wiring diagram for the tailgate.

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[Joelzy]

Very typical of older vehicles. I been warning people for years if windows and locks are not working properly to check the wire boots for broken wires. If I remember tonight. I will post the Electrical wiring diagram for the tailgate.

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please do!

Im having the same issue and opened up all of the looms/boots yesterday to check them. All intact so i started testing and can get the motor to move if i skip the control unit so i supsect its the culprit.

 

[TheSaturnV]

Thanks brillo, that would be very helpful. I did look through the service manual PDF, but Im not all that good at finding the right schematics. I was just about to start looking for a new window motor because I could hear the relay clicking, but turned out to be practically free to fix instead.

:surfer:

 

[brillo_76]

Well the EWD is busted into circuits mostly. I looked through all 1996 thru 2002 years quickly and found that the 1996-1998 look identical and the 1999 thru 2002 look identical which is fairly common as 1999 was the hybrid year.

So here is a 1998 EWD for the rear power windows and rear wiper
and here is a 1999 EWD for therear power window and rear wiper

 

[brillo_76]

Both green wires, one with a white stripe and one with a reddish brown stripe. Anybody know what those two wires do?

looking like the Green White GW is your 3rd High stop light on your tailgate.
Rear defroster in the tailgate possibly brown.

I didnt locate the Green reddish brown strip wire.

 

[TheSaturnV]

Fantastic. I haven't driven this truck very much in the past few years so my "3rd" brake light may very well have been out and I just thought it was the bulb. I'm thinking that one of those greens was Green-Red, which says it belongs to Tailgate Control Switch "UP" which makes sense because when it started to fail I noticed I could roll it down with ease, but sometimes getting it to go back up was a challenge. Also turns out the White-Black is a ground.

Thanks a million for the PDFs and here's the T4R in question: 2000 4WD w/DL

 

[Joelzy]

So here is a 1998 EWD for the rear power windows and rear wiper
and here is a 1999 EWD for therear power window and rear wiper

Much appreciated!

 

[brillo_76]

Fantastic. I haven't driven this truck very much in the past few years so my "3rd" brake light may very well have been out and I just thought it was the bulb. I'm thinking that one of those greens was Green-Red, which says it belongs to Tailgate Control Switch "UP" which makes sense because when it started to fail I noticed I could roll it down with ease, but sometimes getting it to go back up was a challenge. Also turns out the White-Black is a ground.

Thanks a million for the PDFs and here's the T4R in question: 2000 4WD w/DL

Ah a later model one. :]

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[brillo_76]

Much appreciated!

Hope it helps.

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[brillo_76]

W/B is always ground. I was tired of staring at screens all day so I gave up looking for the Green red. I would say you are correct. The other green wire I found in the stop light circuit. I just didn't include the diagram.


If you ever see cracked insulation in these joints that section of wire is done. It may not be broken now but in 6 months to a year it will be.

I could never figure out way they didn't put in replaceable wire joints in all these boots. So you could just unplug the wire in both sides and plug new section in but that would cost more.

I had my share or broken wires or shorts in the jams over the years.

Mostly it's the drivers door and your tailgate boots that get you.

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[Jlentz32]

What is the best way to fix any broken wires here? How far back can you get to allow a good splice? And how much is usually bad? Do you just have to replace an inch or two or do you need to do a few feet?



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[TheSaturnV]

Just get a foot or so of automotive wire in the same gauge and splice in. (Westlake/Ace Hardware sells it by the foot) The wire really isn't bad, although the insulation does get a bit tired and brittle. The problem is that it's been bent back and forth many 1,000s of times and finally breaks apart. You don't need to splice in much, just a couple of inches. Remember, you've got to be able to tuck it all away and pull the boot back over.

What you cannot do is try to pull the broken ends of the wire together and solder that. Excessive pulling on the wires will just cause another break somewhere else in the harness. In this particular area the space is very constricted and you won't have very much wire at all to work with. Pull the boot back as far as you can and if at all possible get some heat shrink over all the joints.

 

[brillo_76]

[MENTION=485285]TheSaturnV[/MENTION] is correct. The only issue when you have to splice in the same area as were it broke is it will break again where the soldered it together at either end that can flex. Matching the gauge of wire is very important.

However, it's a very long time before it will break again.

I mostly splice the wire on both sides of the flexing area. By doing it this way. I shouldn't have to replace it again. As I tend to hang on to vehicles a very long time.

Granted, at times it's not easy to do and to get to both sides of the wires. So you can just do the best you can to fix and and resinsulate that wire.

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[Joelzy]

Little update here if anyone still cares, got mine fixed but had no actual broken wires. I do however have a bad rear wiper motor and, surprisingly, the window down function grounds on the wiper motor. Once i figured that out, i removed the bad wiper motor and just replaced the ground. works great now and i would not have expected that at all.

thanks again [MENTION=164664]brillo_76[/MENTION] for the wiring diagram

 

[Ser1clymb]

Little update here if anyone still cares, got mine fixed but had no actual broken wires. I do however have a bad rear wiper motor and, surprisingly, the window down function grounds on the wiper motor. Once i figured that out, i removed the bad wiper motor and just replaced the ground. works great now and i would not have expected that at all.

thanks again [MENTION=164664]brillo_76[/MENTION] for the wiring diagram

Do you have any pics for reference? My wiper and window started giving me issues after trying to remove the super frozen/stripped nut on the wiper stud and now neither work. I can hear the relay clicking and I'm thinking a wire issue, but I ripped into the bundle going from the tailgate to the body and have no broken wires. So I'm thinking it might be similar to your issue.

 

[phattyduck]

Do you have any pics for reference? My wiper and window started giving me issues after trying to remove the super frozen/stripped nut on the wiper stud and now neither work. I can hear the relay clicking and I'm thinking a wire issue, but I ripped into the bundle going from the tailgate to the body and have no broken wires. So I'm thinking it might be similar to your issue.

The wiper and window are interlocked - you can't operate the wiper with the window down and you can operate the window with the wiper on. There are limit detection switches, etc. that make sure this happens. You may have a problem in that part of the system instead of the boot wiring at the top.

-Charlie

 

[Joelzy]

The wiper and window are interlocked - you can't operate the wiper with the window down and you can operate the window with the wiper on. There are limit detection switches, etc. that make sure this happens. You may have a problem in that part of the system instead of the boot wiring at the top.

-Charlie

^this explained my issue, sorry i dont have pics.

I didnt care about the wiper so i just removed the busted one and left it out.
I tested the wires going into the wiper motor and found that if i grounded the bottom left(while looking at the connector, blue w/black or blue w/white) the window worked again in both directions so my issue is either the wiper dock sensor? or the wiper motor itself. Regardless, it works fine now with that wire grounded and no wiper.

 

[Ser1clymb]

^this explained my issue, sorry i dont have pics.

I didnt care about the wiper so i just removed the busted one and left it out.
I tested the wires going into the wiper motor and found that if i grounded the bottom left(while looking at the connector, blue w/black or blue w/white) the window worked again in both directions so my issue is either the wiper dock sensor? or the wiper motor itself. Regardless, it works fine now with that wire grounded and no wiper.

Interesting, good to know. Thanks for the info. I'll try and play around with it some more while I'm throwing parts at the problem.