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#1 |
Registered User
Join Date: Jul 2017
Location: Texas
Posts: 400
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Better power window and door lock switches?
Well that's it, I give up on these factory style power window and door lock switches. I've made several attempts to use them over the past 8 years. With one attempt even resulting in me getting to use some original GM parts that were NOS.
Suffice to say, those didn't work out either. Didn't even last 2 years. Neither did any of various brands of replacements. They all lasted a year or two and then died or started to malfunction. I've come to the conclusion that like the fuel gauge system and several other things that we don't like, these switches were never very good. So I'll be replacing them with something else. Not going to waste my time trying to use them anymore. So what's a good replacement that will work well? Something that has a much higher durability and longevity? Hopefully something that will fit well enough in the factory door holes, and won't look too awful out of place. Something long lasting and durable. |
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#2 |
Registered User
Join Date: Jul 2005
Location: CT
Posts: 277
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Re: Better power window and door lock switches?
You can rewire the system with relays so that the switches only control the operation of the relays, but it sounds like you have something else going on.
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#3 | |
Registered User
Join Date: Oct 2015
Location: Ottawa, Ontario, Canada
Posts: 752
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Re: Better power window and door lock switches?
I have to agree Sabaka454
Quote:
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![]() Was a 77 454 w/308 gear. Taken out 550 lbs. up front with motor clip change. |
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#4 |
Registered User
Join Date: Jul 2017
Location: Texas
Posts: 400
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Re: Better power window and door lock switches?
No it's the switches. They always somehow come apart from the inside. It's not just me pressing too hard either. I hardly ever use the passenger side door, but my friends do. They've had the same problems, the switches sort of breaking from the inside and not working anymore. Or malfunctioning.
Think about how easy these switches are to sort of press inwards, in a direction they were never meant to be pressed. It's just a poor switch design, there's a reason they don't use it anymore. It goes beyond mere styling. |
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#5 |
Registered User
Join Date: Oct 2015
Location: Ottawa, Ontario, Canada
Posts: 752
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Re: Better power window and door lock switches?
OK then take a look a the 88-93 style in the junk yard. You would have to take the switches and connector and the plates inner and outer off the door panel then you be able set them up on your panel if you like them. If not you could go a little newer style.
side tip: on the old switches move North & South or West & East should not be pressed down. Should only move 1/8" to 1/4" to make the contact more then that contacts wearing out pushed to hard opened up to much hard pressure on them to long.
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![]() Was a 77 454 w/308 gear. Taken out 550 lbs. up front with motor clip change. |
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#6 |
Registered User
Join Date: Oct 2015
Location: Ottawa, Ontario, Canada
Posts: 752
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Re: Better power window and door lock switches?
The 2000-2017 GM are still made very close the same way but smaller as my 2017 Cruze LT RS HB. power window's power locks. If you tear them apart the set so close. They have not change the working of them style switches.
__________________
![]() Was a 77 454 w/308 gear. Taken out 550 lbs. up front with motor clip change. |
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#7 |
Registered User
Join Date: Jul 2017
Location: Texas
Posts: 400
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Re: Better power window and door lock switches?
I found some that wouldn't really look out of place in these old trucks. But for the price, I hope they're bullet proof:
https://www.a1electric.com/Merchant2...Code=SK3-99021 |
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#8 |
Registered User
Join Date: Oct 2013
Location: Maine
Posts: 2,356
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Re: Better power window and door lock switches?
Don't Chevy trucks use the same power window switches as Cadillac? Of all the Chevy trucks I have owned, none have had power windows. The Cadillac switches are pretty heavy duty and I have never had to replace one in all my 70's Caddys. I would be surprised if GM used something different in the trucks but they look the same to me in pics.
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76 Chevy K20 76 GMC K15 77 Chevy C10 77 Chevy K10 |
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#9 | |
Registered User
Join Date: Jul 2017
Location: Texas
Posts: 400
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Re: Better power window and door lock switches?
Quote:
1. The bendy parts inside, bend too far. Now proper contact is no longer made. Tried of taking them apart to bend them back. 2. The copper in there turns green, and proper contact is no longer made. 3. The chrome flakes off. Looks pretty terrible when I've got the rest of the truck looking pretty good, for the most part. 4. This could be related to number one, but it may not be. The part you press, the switch lever itself, somehow manages to get pressed too far into the rest of the switch. It's not supposed to go in there at all, they're just up or down switches. But through normal use, and the way that the switch is shaped, the tendency is for people to slightly press them inwards when they use them. Not intentionally of course, it seems to just happen and I've noticed it over time as I observed these problems in an attempt to fix them. This finally wears them out inside, as it was not meant to be pushed in repeatedly. And then, proper contact is no longer made. Switch flakes out and quits working half the time. |
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#10 |
Registered User
Join Date: Oct 2013
Location: Maine
Posts: 2,356
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Re: Better power window and door lock switches?
They don't sound like 70's Cadillac switches then. I have never seen the chrome peel off them. I haven't rode in an 80's Caddy for a while, maybe the 80's switches got cheaper. Good luck on the search.
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76 Chevy K20 76 GMC K15 77 Chevy C10 77 Chevy K10 |
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#11 | |
Registered User
Join Date: Oct 2015
Location: Ottawa, Ontario, Canada
Posts: 752
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Re: Better power window and door lock switches?
GM Cars / Trucks , Caddys fall in hear
around 81 in the truck switch the plastic chrome switches. around 78 most cars switch to plastic chrome switches. around 87-92 small cars had some plastic black or inner panels colors as said bennylava Quote:
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![]() Was a 77 454 w/308 gear. Taken out 550 lbs. up front with motor clip change. |
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#12 |
Registered User
Join Date: Jul 2017
Location: Texas
Posts: 400
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Re: Better power window and door lock switches?
I'm just gonna find better quality switches. There seems to be a ton of them out there to choose from, and they nearly all look better designed than the factory ones. My buddy put aftermarket switches in his F150 cause it didn't have any. They've been there for 10 years and they still feel very solid.
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