88 Camry - Dead Power Window

[mr2boi]

the main side of driver is dead... no power is coming through the main controls... all others on doors are not functioning... all power locks are dead. tried to find fuses and couldnt find any... where else does the wires run to?

[ariman]

One check point could be between door and body where wires have to bend... could be broken wire? Just a wild guess...

[srd]

your best bet might be to take it to an auto electrian and let him or her take a look at it,at least you'll know then for sure what the problem is

[88 & 92 Camry]

One check point could be between door and body where wires have to bend... could be broken wire? Just a wild guess...

Good guess, ariman! I had identical symptoms on my '88 Camry -- found 11 broken or nearly broken wires in the bundle of about 20 between the door and body. The location of the problem was easy to determine ... sometimes things worked, sometimes not, and often with door partially open.

Fixing it was no fun. Remove door panel, completely disconnect/unclamp/unsnap wire harness, fight with the rubber boot, pulling boot/wires/connectors out of body hole and boot/wires out of door hole. Pull wires out of boot (I had to slit body end of boot to do this, so connectors could go inside). Splice about 2" of new wire into all bad ones (must use crimp-type connectors). Pull HARD on spliced wires, make sure they don't come apart. Push boot back over wires. Pull on wires again, individually. Poke connectors/wires/boot thru body hole -- use pliers under dash to pull boot into place. Plug in connectors. Wrestle with boot, get it back into door hole -- screwdriver on the outside, fingers on the inside required. Reconnect wire harness inside door, but don't clamp/snap it into place just yet. Temporarily connect door-panel control box, make sure everything works -- with door open, closed and in-between. Open/close door many times, then test again. Fasten all clamps/snaps on door wire harness. Replace door panel, test again. Hold slit in rubber boot together with electrical tape, seal it with "Liquid Tape", let dry overnight.

However ... a solid, non-intermittent failure could be caused by a bad circuit breaker or relay on the fuse block behind driver's kick panel. Or a bad connector. Or maybe a bad driver's door-panel control box. If you have schematics and a multimeter, and know how to troubleshoot with them, do that first.

Good luck, mr2boi !!