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Cadillac Repair/93 CADILAC DEVILLE

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Expert: - 1/12/2011


Question
my back windows arent working what # fuse is the windows i dont have a owners manual.

Answer
Hello,

The windows do not use a fuse. They use a circuit breaker.

GM has always been notorious for broken wires at the driver's door, which feed all the windows, locks, power mirrors.

I am not stating this is your problem, but the absolute most common problem in an older GM vehicle.
Over times, the wires in the driver's door boot become brittle and break. If the door is opened all the way, if you look inside the door at the front, you will see a black boot. The wires are located inside that boot. Probably 50 of them. It can be very challenging attempting to find these broken wires due to the sheer quantity and the very close working area. You cannot split open the boot with a razor blade because you will just damage more wires.

The correct way of doing this process is to remove the trim panel and disconnect all the wiring in the driver's door. Then pull the harness out of the door in which you can slip the boot off. Once the boot is remove, you start looking through the wires for broken wires and repair the broken wires and put everything back opposite the way you removed.

This is not a one hour project and can be time consuming!

More common than not, people would come into the shop complaining they just changed a motor or two and the windows still did not work. We would pull the boot out and every time, broken wires!

If you are keeping the car for a long time, you really need to have information on it. You could spend hundreds and hundreds of dollars on manuals if you can even find them, or you could do what I do for my cars and I recommend to everyone, do what I do. Full disclosure: I don't get any type of compensation whatsoever-http://www.alldata.com

It cost $30 to become a member. Use the scroll down list for your exact car and download all the mechanical repair manuals for your specific car which also gives you electrical diagnoses flow charts, wiring diagrams etc. Unlike Chilton, Motors, Haynes, this is all FACTORY information that the techs at Cadillac used.

Otherwise you are working totally in the dark! GM had bad window motors and the wiring as I explained.

Circuit Breakers CBs were used on windows, read defoggers, headlights, power moon roofs and many other circuits instead of fuses.

Good luck!

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Rob Painter

Expertise

Alarm system questions cannot be answered on this forum. These systems are not what I can answer. Without being physically at the vehicle and not knowing what kind of electrical service has been done on the vehicle, there is no possible way to give an accurate answer over the internet. My expertise is in Ignition/key based anti-theft systems. These issues include GM VATS (resistor chip in key blade) PASSLOCK (MRD)-ignition lock rotation based, no special ignition key and the PKIII Transponder (computer chip in key) systems. These systems are not alarm based and are integral with the starting of the engine. This is why I cannot diagnose alarm problems without physically looking at the vehicle: Alarm systems are a completely different annimal than ignition key/lock based anti-theft system. Many alarm questions come from vehicles 10 years old, and since older, many hands that had been involved over the years.I am an expert in all GM factory (ignition/key based)systems. Alarm system questions pose to many situations beyond my knowledge as to what has been done to the vehicle over the years. Some guy may have actually wired the stereo into the alarm system. Who knows? Over my past 30 years in vehicle wiring repair, I have seen unbelievable wiring disaters done by guys that consider themselves "mechanics." I have seen stereos and alarms intalled using surgical tape. I have seen modules burn up, un-fused circuits, wiring jambed between the doors and even lamp cord used for a starter kill. To answer alarm questions over the internet without examining the vehicle is like asking; What does it take to remove a dent?

Experience

Education/Credentials-ASE certified. 11 years with a GM dealer and 17 years with a repair facility dealing with only the repair of theft recovered vehicles.

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