rear window not working...
 

i have an 87 runner, last year my rear window worked just fine, went up and down with the switch in the truck, and up with the key... now for some reason its no longer working... and i do know that it aint the window motor, only becuz i took off the panel and used some jumper wires on a motorcycle battery, and the window will go up and down... i thought id try goin to my local junkyard to see if i could find a 1st gen runner, which luckily i did, i took the switch and the relay box and swapped them into my truck, but still nothing... any one have any suggestions on where i should start??

Does your 4runner have the "window lock button" like the 3rd gens? Just saying because I thought my rear window was broken and found I accidently pressed the window lock button. Thought it was worth mentioning.

I see this was mentioned in the link posted above as well.

Do you have all of the bolts that hold the top on in place ?, there is a saftey switch on the drivers side that one of the top bolts needs to have a bolt in it for the window to operate.

looked at the site, everything seems to be in place, i got another safety switch, seein as how mine was eatin by the bolt... and as for the window lock, that was the first thing i tried...

did you lose any other rear functions like the defrost and the wiper? or just the window up and down?

are you saying it will not work from either the inside switch or the rear keyswitch or both?

the defroster never worked, the wires for it corroded off, the wiper dont work, the inside switch and the key dont either, but the key only works to bring the window up, it doesnt work to bring it down, but right now all functions to the back dont work, i hear a click when i press the switch tho, so something is happening

okay I have to believe they are all inter-related, but note my truck is very different than your own.

A common issue on the 2nd and 3rd gens and even 4th gens is the window does not think it is all the way up, thus it will not allow the defrost or the wiper to work. If you are 100% sure the window if fully up then my suspect is a relay-that may be what you hear clicking. You say you got a new one but perhaps there is another relay, I have to think so...you never mention fuses-swap in a new good fuse for the related circuit don't just eyeball it sometimes they can look just fine but are not.

My attitude would be to fix the corroded wiring for the defroster and follow that wiring path to it's relay and see if anything changes but a quicker fix would be to bypass the interior switch and any (both?) relays. So get a schematic for the wiring involved and you will have to follow the wiring accordingly.

I am no mechanic and not pretending to be...but narrow down and eliminate the wiring involved to get to the core issue of what is not functional. You know the motor does work -you said you could jump it and make it go up and down. so it has to be something before the motor and the click description screams "relay" to my unskilled mind.

You sure you're reading 4Crawler's-Mr. Roger Brown's tips and tricks very carefully?-that dude is a genius honestly- I am guessing he has this very possibility covered with a jumper of some type between ports of a relay.

Keep talking this out, this frustration is only temporary and we'll have this Joker solved in no time and then we'll quaff a couple of cold Batbrews to celebrate my friend.

the clicking also screams relay to me, the window worked before, the defrost has nothing to do with the window rolling up and down, ive jumped the top switch but still nothing, theres only one fuse for the wipers and the front wipers work, ive read the article on 4crawlers site, ive tried all i can it mentions, theres only one box relay leading to the back, i have all the interior panels off on the driver side so i can see and follow the wire harness, ive looked on my manual and i didnt see any kind of fuses in there, ive looked at both my fuse boxes, but nothing that mentions the power windows or anything like that... and as for fixing the rear defrost, ive never worked on one, so i dont know where the wires go...

did you check the fuses???

ive checked both boxes...

Theres a lock-switch in the drivers side of the tailgate. If its not working then the window will not. Have you check this? Theres a white connector clipped into the tailgate assembly prob on the under side unless its been moved. Jump the first and thrid terminals with a piece of any wire and try the window. Make sure you jump the side of the connecter going to the motor not from. These are an extremely common prob for the older tailgates.

we're getting there...thanks guys for jumping in

i second that thanks!!! i did not jump the white connector, i jumped the connector that comes directly off the motor itself using a motorcycle battery just to help narrow my search and the window works that way, ill try jumping the white connector tomorrow

ok... well one of my buddies from out of town was in town and helped me out, he knows more about electrical issues than i do, and he found that power is getting to the window, and he stuck a a small flat head into the female side of the window connector, and closed the gap on the connectors and now the window works like it did... thanks for your help everyone!!

Nice work guys. And THANK YOU for posting up the solution to the problem. Now this will be very good reference for someone with the same problem. It gets frustrating to search threads with your same problem then coming to a dead end bc the OP never added what the solution ended up being.

Sounds like its time to get after the defrost and wiper! :great:

i feel the same way about ppl not posting up their solution, and actually the wiper also works... they must be tied in or something, as for the defrost, all i have to do is attach a black wire somewhere, but i dont know where it goes...

I went through my whole defrost system, checking relays, switches, I rewired it from the relay all the way back. Come to find out it was the actual grid on the rear window.

My rig was from Arizona, so they never used it. I did the test in the FSM with a multimeter and a couple pieces of tin foil.

If you are getting vlotage to your wires all the way to the window, but no resistance across the wondow itself, the grid is bad. Swapped in a new window from the wrecker, everything works.

That was my problem and solution, hope that helps you a little.

If you can't find a pic of the wiring, let me know, I will open up my tailgate and get one for you. But I am pretty sure there is a pic on here though. Just can't tell you which thread I saw it in offhand.

sweet!

im not havin luck finding one, living in southeastern wisconsin, i found out the back window gets abit foggy on the colder nights and be nice to be able to see behind me, i just hope my window grid is still good.