Power Window lock question

[mjfrank]

Is there any way to change the power window lock on the drivers side door, to not disable the drivers controls?

My Camry had this same wonderful design, and I was hoping they figured it out on my new 4Runner, but unfortunately not.

It presents a lovely standoff with my 4-year-old, he rolls the window down, I roll it back up and try to lock it, but by the time I get the lock button pressed, he's rolled it back down again. (Grrrr) Unfortunately I can't bring myself to get rid of him. :

Every american built car I've owned, the drivers controls are always enabled regardless of the lock setting.

I was just wondering if there was a way to supply power to the switches and bypass the lock.

Thanks,
--Mike

 

[Cleric]

This could be your first "mod"!

I'm sure it could be done pretty easily. I think I have the wiring diagram for the Power Windows. With that, you could take the guess work out of finding the right wires. I'll see what I have and get back to you.

 

[mjfrank]

Thanks Cleric, I'd very much appreciate that.

I'm planning to get the factory manuals, but I have some bills to pay yet, like sales tax,

I might try to see if what wires have power, if that panel comes off fairly easily that is.

Thanks again,
--Mike

 

[DaveS]

Don't forget the rear window control if you do the mod!! I thought there was a serious problem when I couldn't close the rear window until I realised the window lock affects this also!!

 

[Cleric]

My PDF manuals are on my other computer. I have not forgotten about you. Just don't have the materials handy. I will get you the info soon.

 

[Cleric]

OK nevermind. I can't find the PDF for the power windows. I thought I had downloaded it with the others. I would bet that this is a pretty simple fix, but can't be sure without checking.

Taking apart the door panel is easy. Takes less than a minute one you figure out how. Do a search for "removing door panel" or something similar. There are a couple of write-ups on this subject. Once you have a visual frame of reference, post any ?'s and I'm sure that several of us will be glad to help in any way we can.

 

[mjfrank]

Thanks for trying.

I'll search around for the write-ups on the door panel removal, and do a little probing with a DMM.

If I come up with anything, I'll try to do a write-up on it.

Thanks again,

Mike

 

[bryancos]

I deterred the 4yr old from playing with the windows by taking a popcicle stick and explaining to her what could happen if her hand or fingers got caught. I put the stick in the open window and closed the window on it.. the stick broke before the safety feature kicked in and the window went back down. "See what it did to the stick?" (Child nods) "Do you want to that to happen to you? (Child shakes her head) Now put your fingers in there and lets play with the switch again..." The child hasn't touched them since!

 

[Derek]

I deterred the 4yr old from playing with the windows by taking a popcicle stick and explaining to her what could happen if her hand or fingers got caught. I put the stick in the open window and closed the window on it.. the stick broke before the safety feature kicked in and the window went back down. "See what it did to the stick?" (Child nods) "Do you want to that to happen to you? (Child shakes her head) Now put your fingers in there and lets play with the switch again..." The child hasn't touched them since!

nice! :bigok:

...and until now I didn't even know that the window lock disabled the driver's window too, as this is my first non-domestic vehicle. I'll have to test this when I leave work today.

 

[CMiYC]

...and until now I didn't even know that the window lock disabled the driver's window too, as this is my first non-domestic vehicle. I'll have to test this when I leave work today.

It doesn't disable the driver's window. It disables the driver's control of the other windows.

My guess is that its easier (read: cheaper) to just interrupt ALL the switches at the same time instead of just the individual ones on each of the doors.

 

[mjfrank]

Well I guess boys are a little slower than girls, because he's had his fingers pinched twice in the window, once by me, and once by my wife. (by accident of course, I don't want people thinking I abuse my kids.) I even caught my wife's fingers once, so I guess maybe it's genetic. (The kids really gave her a hard time on that one.)

Personally, if the all the auto designers would think this through, they should tie the window lock to the door child lock. One, you shouldn't put kids in the passenger seat, so why lock that window, and two, if I don't want my kids opening the door, then I also don't want them playing with the window. But I guess that would make too much sense. (and probably add 20.00 dollars to the cost of the car.)

--Mike

 

[CMiYC]

One, you shouldn't put kids in the passenger seat, so why lock that window,

I agree with your post. Linking the door handle lock to the window would be a great idea. I've wondered why this isn't done as well. I would still like control of th windows independantly, however. My dog doesn't always understand what that button does...

 

[mjfrank]

Finally got a semi-answer to this issue..

Well, I finally had a spare hour or two, and decent enough weather, to take the door panel off and investigate the possibility of supplying power to the drivers switches with the lock on.

And the answer is, nope, it can't be done in any reasonably simple manner.

Basically, I pulled the whole switch panel apart, and started tracking down voltage on all the contacts.

Here is what I found out:
What the window lock switch does is, instead of interrupting the power to the switches, it actually feeds power to both the "Up" and the "Down" contacts for the other three window controls. (four, I guess if you include the rear window, although I couldn't identify the contact for that) What that does, is make the window motor lock in position, and not accept input from any other switches. It's sort of in a standoff, got power to go up and down, so they cancel each other out.

The switch looks to be connected to ground when it is unlocked, and open when locked.

You could still defeat this for some windows, but enabling it at the drivers console, also enables it at the door. Might still be a worthwhile mod if you wanted to enable the passenger side, but not the rear seat windows.

What you would have to do I believe, is to unsolder the two outside contacts on the switch that you wish to defeat, and cut them off so they no longer make contact with the trace on the board. I was thinking of doing this, but I wanted to check on how much the switch panel cost, in case I screwed it up. Conicelli wanted 262.87 for it, so I quickly decided that it wasn't that much of an inconvenience, and I'd rather yell at my kids than shell out 262.00 bucks for a new switch panel if I screw something up.

Oh well, just thought I would close out this thread with a resolution. (sort of)

I did take some digital pics of the switch panel when I had it disassembled, and I can post them if someone expresses an interest. (and tells me how)

--Mike