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1998 Power Windows Corolla Le Completely Stopped Working

By reneerose, July 7, 2015



1998 Corolla has power windows that recently stopped working....I had just bought another car and parked the Corolla in the garage for a few weeks....it must have known it had been replaced because after parking it in the garage, all the power windows stopped working....

I tried to lock the doors with the remote key as I used to do and none of the doors locked....I tried to lock the doors manually on inside and all the locks kept clicking, like a cigarette lighter that doesn't produce any flame...

Since I have a replacement Honda car to drive I'm thinking of just donating this one...it only has 131,000 miles but I'm sure there are at least 20,000 more miles to be run with it...but I'm not sure I have money to fix all of the door locking system...

Plus I can't have it repainted to sell because I don't have a lot of dough right now.. .... Does anyone think that someone would buy a broken car off of Craigslist so they could fix it? How much would I price a broken car for?

The car has 2 new front struts and tires that are only 6 months old....I didn't think about this before that I should not have put the new struts or the new tires in...

How much would it cost to fix the doors? I'm in Northern California, so labor might be pretty high...

Thoughts? Suggestions?

might need to be a little more specific.

remote aside, you manually hit lock I assume from the drivers side, which should lock all the doors in the car. so when you hit lock, did the doors all click once but not actually lock? did they click continuously for a period of time, still not locking? how about when you manually push down on the actual lock, does it stay down or does it pop back up? does turning the key in the actual lock activate all four lock/unlock like it should?

did ALL power windows stop working prior to parking for a few weeks?

also, have you tried starting the car and checking the locks? ie, could this be a battery related problem?

I've had issues with door locks whenever there was a battery problem. don't really use the windows so anytime I've had a battery issue I wasn't checking the windows ever, just the doors since you need the locks to get in and out of the car.

This is possibly a very simple diy fix. assuming it is a fuse of some sort, you will get some good suggestions from other people here on the forums that are more experienced with auto electronics.

If this is a window motor issue, which I doubt because you said all door locks are not working and "windows" meaning more than one, and it's unlikely all window motors would go out at the same time, plus all the door locks. But IF that is the problem, I've changed window motors myself. There are some OKAY youtube vids of corolla window motor swaps. If you are fairly mechanically inclined and familiar with basic tools, window motor swaps are pretty simple. Just remember to WATCH YOUR FINGERS!!! because the window regulator (it's basically a bunch of hinges) needs to be removed to take the motor off. I bought a remanufactured motor from checkers/kragen/shucks/oreilley that came with a crimp/splicer so there was no soldering involved. Works just fine. Also there are two vids that were easiest to find on youtube but they give different instructions. You DO NOT need to take the window out. Just duct tape it to the top of the door frame. As simple as this was for me in hindsight, if you choose to do this (if it is your problem which I really doubt it is) I do recommend watching all the videos that you can about this, more than once, until you THINK they make sense, before you attempt this. Make some time, preferably 2-3 hours for the first window, an hour or less for each additional one. The hardest part for me was getting the motor on to the regulator because of how the gears line up. Didn't really take long. I wore really thick gloves but I never put my hand into the door while anything was moving. I think I paid 30 or 40 for the motor.

I wouldn't pay a shop to do anything related to door electronics. You really save a ton of money doing them yourself and it's pretty simple stuff. I've taken apart so many doors to do speaker swaps, really the hardest part is getting the door panel off in my opinion, because unless you see a vid or have a manual, you kinda gotta guess how it's attached, what kind of clips it has, what you do and don't need to unclip, (where are the screws!!???!?? LOL) etc.

I'm thinking though, this is a battery or fuse issue for you. I'm sure all the seniors here will quickly respond with something like "door locks clicking but not locking? look for the ___A fuse in the relay box located _____." or... charge your battery. I guess the drivers side switch could be the problem too since that controls pretty much all the doors.



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