I agree with Farina. The culprit is probably the electric window switches. You can test by bypassing the switches and routing 12VDC power directly to the window motor wiring harness. Just remember that these are high-current, so use appropriately-sized wire (and I would recommend a 20A inline fuse in your positive jumper wire).
The problem with the switches is they must carry the full current to/from the motor and thus the contacts tend to have a short lifespan. Not a good design. Better to add relays to switch the motor power and then the dash switches are just to control the relays. Michael Liu San Rafael, CA '90 Alfa Spider Veloce -----Original Message----- From: [email protected] [mailto:[email protected]] On Behalf Of Dan Lewis Sent: Saturday, 23 October 2010 14:12 To: [email protected] Subject: [alfa] '88 Spider Power Windows Slow - Fix or Replace? Hey, I know this has been discussed sometime before, but I can't seem to find the answers. My 1988 Spider Quad's power windows are reeeeeeeally slow, especially the passenger side - near 90 seconds to go up! - but they still do work, full-up to full-down. I have yet to tear the doors apart to "examine" the situation and would really, really like some advice before doing anything. I am fairly well mechanically inclined and do the majority of my own work (from electrical to brakes to engines), but haven't torn into any power window systems very deeply. I have no problem dismantling and re-building things, so if there is a "fix" for the window motors or associated mechanicals, I'd love to hear about it! Or, is this only an exercise in futility or a time-wasting trip to insanity, where replacement-with-new-or-known-working-parts is the only viable option? Inquiring minds want to know... Dan Lewis Bellevue, NE 1988 Alfa Romeo Spider Quadrifoglio - Red (of course) 2005 Cadillac Deville DTS - Big Black & Beautiful -- to be removed from alfa, see http://www.digest.net/bin/digest-subs.cgi or email "unsubscribe alfa" to [email protected] -- to be removed from alfa, see http://www.digest.net/bin/digest-subs.cgi or email "unsubscribe alfa" to [email protected]
