Power windows- work for 2 years- THAT'S ALL FOLKS!

Power window units in the door work great. Unfortunately the
electrical contacts in the console switches wear out or burn out in
2-3 years. Of course-taking the console cover off and cleaning or
replacing the contacts requires the help of your friendly, high
overhead ($$$$$), Saturn dealer.

I wonder if Saturn is compassionate enough or smart enough to coat
the contacts with dialectic grease at assy?

This is a 2000s series-but no doubt applies to all years and models.

 

What a crock...! '93 SL2 137K, 11 year old car & nary a problem with
the power windows. In fact just totaled the car when some other
drunken idiot ignored the rules of right-of-way, attempting a left
turn directly in front of me, and the power windows STILL work great
post-crash. Seat belts, air bag, and crush zones did their thing, no
injuries. SATURN RULES!

http://daviswj.home.comcast.net/misc/saturnCrunch.jpg

Bill Davis
.... beginning to love his new 2005 ION2.

 

Were your's on the center console? Seems to me that putting contact
switches right next to the cup holders were not the brightest move in the
world. Electricity and liquid don't mix that well.

 

Yes, they were in the center console. However in the '93 SL2 no
cupholders anywhere near.

My new ION has the switches on the driver's door armrest.

 

To sum things up...

B*tch b*tch b*tch, rant rant rant, b*tch b*tch, rant rant.
Rant rant rant, b*tch b*tch b*tching.
Rant rant b*tch B*TCH!

See you next month!

 

I have a 99 sl2 so far no problems with the switchs however due to
frequent spills the shift interlock had to be disabled. If only the wife
could hold a cup instead of spilling it

 

Hmm, our 94 SL2 w/ 120K miles had perfect working pwr windows, they even
worked great after the car got wrecked! And thats after many years of
teenagers spilling soft drinks and coffee!

marx404

 

Dielectric grease is an insulator I'd say Saturn is smart enough NOT to put
it on electrical contacts.
BTW the switch assembly comes out without disassembling the console.

misterfact = missed the facts

 

Funny! Plug wires come with the grease on the electric contact ends
that attach to the spark plugs and into the distributor. You're right-
the grease is an insulator- it insulates an electrical connection from
oxygen- so the connection doesn't rust out!

 

Another Saturn exec. Turn your sales chart upside down- it'll look better!

 

Again you miss the facts. The dielectric grease does NOT go on the electric
contact of the spark plug - it goes on the insulator. It keeps oxygen,
moisture and dirt out of the boot helping to prevent corrosion of the metal
contact and arcing over the insulator. It also has the added advantage of
helping the boot not stick to the plug. Dielectric grease on the contact of
a good plug wire will have no ill effect as it will be displaced by the
pressure of the contact in the wire. A weak or loose wire contact may not
displace enough grease to insure a good electrical contact preventing the
plug from firing altogether. There are conductive grease compounds used to
improve conductivity of contacts and keep moisture and oxygen out however
even a small amount on the insulator of the plug would cause the electrons
to bypass the spark gap of the plug easier than a little moisture and dirt.

 

Um, no.

If your sales look like: \

and you turn that upside-down, then they look like: \

But, thanks for playing!

 

Yes dielectric grease will reduce arcing and pitting on switches carrying
high current.

 

I agree with everything you say. Your point is good- that you have to
have a tight metal electric conducting connection so that the grease
is displaced. Once you have that- the grease around the metal contacts
will keep them from rusting. I know a lot of truckers will put and
maintain the grease in their cab electric plug that goes into the pins
on the trailer. I did this for years and never had an electric contact
problem.

 

I've got to admit that I've had my head up my a** a little on this one.
After doing some research ( should learn to think before opening my mouth )
dielectric grease is used on all sorts of electrical contacts. It seems that
the two main criteria is 1) the consistency has to be matched to the contact
force and 2) the contacts must slide against each other to displace the
grease at the point of contact to insure good electrical conduction. So it
seems that dielectric grease is only bad on contacts that don't slide
against each other. I'm going to go Google the word bonehead now and see if
my name shows up.