Tailgate Window Stuck Down

[Beetap]

So heres the situation. The tailgate window on my 1988 is stuck down. The dead mans switch isn't the culprit as it is by passed. It will draw power if I try to roll it down further. Amp gauge dips, and dome light fades. Try to activate the upside swith/key and no power draw. Motor was replaced about 6 months ago... Can't pull the window up... Panel off, hands on bottom of window. Can't access anything (i.e. cable to turn with drill) because window is down and blocking. How dow I get past the window so I can diagnose and repair the problem? Without breaking the window... Someone please tell me I'm just being retarded and all I need to do is _______!

 

[HarryH3]

Can you get to the 4 screws that hold the glass to the regulator? If so, remove them and slide the glass up out of your way. Then you can access the rest of the internals.

 

[hawkeye649]

Can you get to the 4 screws that hold the glass to the regulator? If so, remove them and slide the glass up out of your way. Then you can access the rest of the internals.

"Screw" that... when it happened to me I unplugged the motor, swapped the 2 wires that go to the motor. IE neg pos/pos neg, and rolled my window "down" thus sealing my truck up. Then it will be out of the way and you can fix it properly.

 

[spearchucker]

Screw that... when it happened to me I unplugged the motor, swapped the 2 wires that go to the motor. IE neg pos/pos neg, and rolled my window down thus sealing my truck up.

That's funny, when I had the rear window motor out I tried hooking pos/neg to the 2 wires and got nothing but a motor that started to get hot. Then I hooked neg to the case and pos to one of the wires and it worked. Then hooked the pos to the other wire and it spun in the opposite direction. So with that in mind, what I would try is locating the connector for the rear window underneath the bumper and disconnecting it. Sorry, but I forget what colors the wires are. When you do that the hook a 12V source to it, neg to frame and pos to one of the wires in the plug. Disclaimer: not to be used to break into someones truck! Hopefully, it's just one of the wires going up to the connector that's bad and not past that point. I was thinking you could unbolt the window guides on the sides of the gate, but that'd be useless.

 

[Beetap]

Got it!

I couldn't get to the four screws because they were too close to the metal on the gate, so I dropped the four screws from the side of the gate that holds the window tracks in place then wedged a piece of wood between the glass and the inside of the gate thus holding the regulator and the 4 screws with about 2 inches of open space that I could work in and got the four screws out. Turned out the old dead mans switch bypass failed due to laziness on the part of whoever bypassed it. So I'll bypass it with a good connection, and I believe the technical term is lube the crap out of everything else that moves just to make sure it works for awhile. Thanks for the advice!

 

[Beetap]

I didn't play with the plug on the motor because it was behind glass and I couldn't get any results from playing with the wires behind the dash switch. Probably a failure on my part to connect properly and I didn't think about the connection behind the bumper... Good info in case it happens again. Unbolting the 8 bolts I had to do though was really an easy method too.