hi sages- driver power window switch very intermittent now. had been fine up to this point. sometimes wont work at all. all other window switches work fine. figure this switch is the most used of the window switches and may wear out first. have read about 10 messages here on it in the search section. figure smart money says to take the switch out of the door arm rest, take it apart and clean it and polish the contacts in the switch and the terminal prongs on the outside. or should I just replace the switch if they are available- fcp? need your best advice. don't want to get stuck in a blinding rain storm on tobacco road with the window stuck open or worse yet park it on a dark desert highway with the window open and street punks burglarize it.any hot wire tricks on the plug prongs to confirm switch is guilty? doubt its the motor. works fine when it gets going. 250k miles. bet irv Gordon never has this problem. thanks tons oldduke

Look at the 700/900 FAQ - your switches may be the same. If so, each is keyed in the master switch so that they only go together one way.

If you take the offending switch apart - DON'T LOSE THE SPRING! When I had trouble with my driver's window, I reversed the contact strip as the down contact looked much better than the up contact.

If the contact is not badly burnt, reshape it with emery paper and then fine wet sanding paper, then a burnishing tool - made special to create a hard smooth surface - looks like a worn-out fingernail file. Available at some auto stores or electronics shops.

The shape should be sort of a squashed hemisphere. Look at a good contact.

If the contact is trashed, swap the switch with the switch in the left rear door - you can still open and close this window from the master switch. Cut the plastic key off the corner so that you can install this switch in the master switch. I did this operation on my nephew's 740.

http://www.mikeponte.com/volvo/timing.htm
--
Post Back. That's whats makes this forum work.

if you decide to replace the switch, email/call the guys in Atlanta, for a price on a used one.

http://www.voluparts.com/

hi cb- that may be an alternative ,thanks. what do you think the switch would cost new and from where(fcp, ipd)? dealer would probably take me to the cleaners. thanks tons oldduke

for example: I needed to replace the Ignition Switch a while back. New was $120 and it was and OEM part as Volvo no longer made them.
I emaied Volu and they had a used one for $40 ...and mentioned that new ones from Volvo were no longer avail.

So figure how much a used Window switch Used, would cost/ Email them and you'll get a price sometime tomor.

While any suggestions may be helpful and it's good to know of sources---buying a used window switch on-line may leave you in the same spot a month from now. Just get to it and fix your own. -- Dave

hi heck,kit g and cb- thanks for the info. have the snap in holder , popped out from the arm rest. looked at the underside and pulled off the 5 terminal plug from the left forward switch which I think is shot or needs to be cleaned inside its guts. need to get the switch out of the holder to work on it or replace(rock auto has one for 4.95, want to check autozone here too.dealer would probably clip me $400. ) how do I get the switch out. looks mighty fragile. know Volvo plastic tends to disintegrate when you touch a tool to it. appears the switch would push up from the bottom to the top with tiny snaps on the side. whats the trick my bruthas. please describe precisely. thanks tons oldduke

Hi oldduke,

I agree about the brittle plastic. Admittedly I feel confident about doing this work mainly because I have a pretty well-supplied junk box. Well, I tried the thing you want to do on a junk part, and broke one of the retaining clips on the switch housing. Lucky I would be if this happened on a car, because the switch stays in place with only one retainer.







When you get the switch out, take it apart somewhere where you can find tiny springs and steel balls when they leap out of your project.











When you go to pop it back into the housing, it helps to know the two retainer tangs are differently sized so you won't pop it in upside down.


--
Art Benstein near Baltimore

A woman is like a tea bag. You don't know how strong she is until she's in hot water.

hi arty b- your picture is very good . got the switch to slide out downwards from the bezel(think that's the name ) plate in which the 5 switches sit. had unplugged the wires first. now I'm pondering whether to take the switch apart or just buy a new one. rock auto has it for 4.95. fcp for 8.95. dealer for 1 million. anyway using the small blade in my swiss army knife and being very gentle and gingerly, I slightly bent back both plastic clips. miraculously neither broke. I pushed the switch forward just enough to clear the tang (pushed downward on the switch) and it slid out. if I take it apart clean it and file the contact points and it still doesn't work properly then I would have to do the job over.not sure how many additional take outs and put backs those clips and tangs will withstand. guess I could try it for a while with the switch plugged in but hanging outside the bezel plate. but if my friends and enemies saw it like that they would heckle me for driving a bohemian jalop from woodstock. would be worse than my stoplight launches in first gear where I get cussed. my feelings would then be hurt being a sensitive guy as you know. even kit g might think I'm a bum. what say you my brutha sage. thanks tons oldduke

Hiya Uncle Old Duke,

Do you want me to respond? I posted earlier, as you see, yet you have better, more informative responses to your original, thread-forming post.

Uncle Art's excellent images and instructions, and guidance your other respondents provide you, including james_a_sousa, Dave Volvo From Heck, and Trev29, I can't add anything other than futzing with these occasionally in a decade troublesome power window switches.

Watch them two springs and the little ball bearings the copper contacts pivot on. Carefully prise open the plastic toggle switch hinge 'pin' and the hinge hole these secure into. I also swapped the copper rocker / toggle left to right and back to front after using an emery cloth on the switch body contact.



I also remove the white switch body, to which the pins are secured, to get the thing clean all around. Though the plastic can be brittle. And my hands are clumsy.

Excellent idea to swap the switch from the least used to the most used. Though I'll go ahead and service all four switches and inspect, clean, and lube the passenger door window master switch. In one instance, a prior owner spilled soda / surgary coffee or something on the arm rest power window switch cluster.

I guess you're driving around with the driver door inner card off? Helps to inspect the door cavity interior. Lube stuff and ensure all the securing hardware is properly torqued. Screws loosen up in there!

I fill the spring with grease like Art shows you in his images so the toggle switch action remains well-lubed for a long time. The grease holds them upstart two little ball bearings atop the springs in place as you reinstall the toggle switch cover. I use that SuperLube synthetic silicon grease. I have the NLGI 2 left over. Before I used a grease that looks like what Art uses in his images. Nice images!

Else, if you are hesitant, someone could service and test a pre-owned (used) switch and post the switch to you for install. I have spare used switches as well as one complete 240 driver door arm rest power window cluster assembly. Though I have to find them in my many boxes marked '240' in the storage unit that contains my empire of junk some 60 miles away. (Though I may have one or two here as I had another 240 sedan taillight roundabout some months ago. The hella six panel lights are so much better than them valeo lights. The red and amber is better, too, on that fabricated by Hella in 1982.)

Volvo part number is 1347045 for our 1992 240s for all doors (all seven of them) so I guess. A little confusing.

The new switches you found on the interwebs should be fine. Not ever encountered aftermarket power window switches. Though part of the old Volvo adventure is servicing the issue as a method to inoculate yourself from th shysters. The Volvo OEM switch is 19$ at Tasca. So may be cheaper, yet unknown the cost to post to you in FL-state.

https://www.tascaparts.com/oem-parts/volvo-window-switch-1347045

I'm sure you can service the switches yourself. And consider a switch swap from the least used to the #1 window driver front door position as so aforementioned.

Found the Rock Auto entry:

https://www.rockauto.com/en/catalog/volvo,1992,240,2.3l+l4,1287075,electrical-switch+&+relay,power+window+switch,4624

The after market all appear the same. Made by URO or MTC? Though the ScanTech switches have black plastic where the wire harness connector pins secure to. (The images may not show the the true appearance.) Autozone has it for 5.99$, though you have to drive to the store and pay first, and return again for pick up:

https://www.autozone.com/electrical-and-lighting/power-window-switch/volvo/240

URO brand at AutoZone. O'Rielly does not list price.


No posting fees from Autozone as it is pick up. Maybe you can call the AutoZone nearest you and use your credit card over the phone? Takes 1 to 3 days to arrive. AutoZone at least seems to help.



....


You're no bum. I'm the bum.

No need to launch your fabulous 1992 Volvo 240 Wagon from 0-60 in 15 seconds or a half-hour. Tell them you're driving considerately to realize improved fuel economy with reduced emissions so your Volvo 240 (or your Saturn?) will last longer with fewer problems. No need to acquiesce to the throw-away economy. (Some of us can't afford it. Though those that can afford it choose not to throwaway, I guess.)

With the endless riot of flannel shirts and the re-wire of my 1990 245 DL rear hatch with the wires on the inside. I had no way to support the rear hatch with tail gate hinge disconnection. So, the cheapie MTC 240 third brake light left and right rear wire harnesses with stranded conductor. Yeah, bohemian, to be sure. I only need window drapes around the cargo area glass with a "Woodstock or Bust" sticker on the rear. Though not a Woodstock fan at all. What vinyl records and a hi-fi system are for.

Please lettuce know.

Hope that halps. Yet you got all the halps you need here already.
--
Give your brickboard.com a big thumbs up! Way up! - Roger Ebert.

hi kit g- thanks for your input. always grateful when a kind soul helps a po bohemian from nj. did exactly what you describe at autozone. should be in tomorrow. in my spare time may take apart the old one and see if it is repairable using arts diagrams. if those tangs are shot , no way to repair them. if ok ill have a spare. thanks tons oldduke

Would you be able to switch the switch for another switch that is working properly but isn't used often?

Or don't even bother moving the switch, just switch the wires and remember which switch operates the driver window?
--
1980 245 Canadian B21A with SU carb, M46 trans, 3:31 dif, in Brampton, Ont.

Hiya Uncle Old Duke,

You could try spraying some DeoxIT-D spray around the perimeter of the driver power window switch and working the toggle switch. Else, some sort of contact cleaner like that you'd use with your Pioneer SX-9000 for the variable resistors (potentiometer) and the compression contact switches like on the Volvo 240 OBD 240 LH-Jet 2.4+ OBD-1 tester.

Or, remove the door inner card, and give the largest wires harness connector and the driver front window connector a wiggle, or a spray and wiggle with some DeoxIT-D spray or grease to treat hhhhhhwhut may be a corrosion problem.

If the switch only, you have the well-documented carbon pitting on the toggle switch contacts. Some may disassemble these and use abrasive and cleaner methods to remove the caronization build-up on the contacts. You price of the switch, remaining mindful of the switches with a ball-bearing and under neath that a spring or two with a lever contact. So, before you remove the rocker switch, use a towel or something to capture spring-loaded things.

Try the connector before futzing with the switch.

Or stoopidly do what I do and treat all things to comprise a Volvo 240 system so you are not left stranded with in the Colorado high county.


Cause I luvs the high.


Questions?

Hope that halps yoooooooo.

Bittermilks
--
Give your brickboard.com a big thumbs up! Way up! - Roger Ebert.

Don't monkey around over cleaning the switch(es) - just do it. It's not difficult. The external connections are rarely the problem - it's the inside contacts that need attention. Remove the two plastic plugs in the armrest and remove the screws underneath. Pull the armrest away from the door a bit--just enough to push the switch assembly sideways out of the armrest - don't try to just pry it upward. Disconnect the the wires and bring the assembly to the bench-or kitchen table. The switches pry apart and then go back together just one way - pay attention to detail (the slots that guide its reassembly). -- Dave