2nd Gen Non-Engine/Transmission Help on power door locks & windows

[bmundy]

Anyone have this problem: 1997 2500 Ram, passenger side door lock and power windows are inoperative on one side only, will not lock the door or roll down the window when switching from the passenger door; the door will unlock and the window will roll up. The sticker is when the passenger door is operated from the drivers door switches all works OK. I have a shop manual and have checked the switches and continuity between the left and right switches and can find no problem. Any help would really be appreciated. Thanks in advance. bmundy, Washington State.

 

[drrhoades]

Take the switches completely apart and clean the contacts. This means taking the little black box off of the back of the switch and cleaning the brass moving parts inside. The same thing happened to my truck when I bought and this fixed it.



Doug

 

[bmundy]

Thanks Doug, will give it a try sometime tomorrow and let you know if it works. Bob

 

[wcjp]

Try swapping the working switches to the bad side. It sure sounds like bad switches. I remember Napa selling generic ones. I wasn't sure if they would fit the stock location. I went with Factory pieces.

 

[rnolen]

The door lock on the passenger is doing the same thing although the window is working okay. I am going to clean it as well. The owner befor me had it in southern NM and the sand down there is awful. Whenever I have to get in the dash or anything along those lines I find tones of dust and sand. Mine is a 97 as well. I don't think that has anything to do with the problems we are having.



God Bless

Russ

 

[bmundy]

The problem was the switches. I found the problem by moving the good switch from the drivers door to the passenger door and presto. I tried cleaning the switch and could not make it function properly. It is amazing how a swith will test OK with an ohm meter and fail when it is under load, but I have seen this before. Also amazing is that both the window and lock switch failed at almost the same time; makes for finding the problem real fun. I want to thank drhoades and wcjp very much for the help, hopefully I can do the same sometime.