Window stuck down

I have a 97 Riv that now has the driver's window in the down position. The switch is bad and I have ordered a new one. I am wanting to know how to get the window up so I can drive the car. It was in the 60s today but will be in the 40s soon.

I had the same thing happen last winter.  Obviously not ideal but... you can take the door panel off and take the switch out, it is designed to be a tamper proof switch.  I broke the plastic off the top of it, reinstalled it and pressed down on the contact manually instead of with the rocker switch.  I just drove around with the door panel off for a couple days until my switch came in.  Not the most ideal or prettiest fix but it was better than having the window down...

3 years ago, approx, the driver’s window on my 95 riv quit in the up position.  
logic implied there was a a bad switch or a bad motor.  Because the riv was in a
very rural area of western Massachusetts, a motor was not readily available so it couldn’t
be diagnosed by throwing parts at the problem.
Also, the cost of ordering a drivers-side switch was astonishing.

So I was reduced to reading the factory service manual.

Whatever the problem, the interior door-panel must be removed.  
(my interior door-panel was broken when I bought the car.
Someone had pried on it and broken the “fingers” that DROP into the metal slots in the door itself)

the diagnostic tree in “the book” directed me to unplug the window-motor connector and probe the cavities.
In my case, at approx step 2-3 we got a “no”.
Checking circuit 505 (black wire to ground), produced the fault, no connection to ground.
The black wire was broken inside the rubber bellows near the door-hinges.

Pulling a new ground wire was no fun, but it was made “do-able” by using the bad wire to pull through
the new wire.  

To answer your question,  after removing the interior panel, you can move the motor by applying
12v to the two motor connections or their wires which are dark-blue & brown.  The motor runs both ways and that is accomplished by reversing the power [positive & negative] which is connected to said dk-blue & brn wires.

There are earlier threads on this forum discussing the matter of loose magnets inside these
window-motors causing them to go intermittent.  Sometimes tapping on the motor can get it to move once, and that might solve your immediate problem.  Earlier threads also describe the matter of correct AC-delco riviera window motors moving faster than some inexpensive aftermarket motors.  When a motor went bad on my 1997 riv, it got the slower motor intentionally because the OEM unit always stopped with too much drama at the bottom of its travel.

The 1997 diagnostic tree and the wiring diagram are here:

https://s279.photobucket.com/user/Lmckinley99/media/riviera_1997_window_motor_wire_diagram.jpeg.html?sort=3&o=1

https://s279.photobucket.com/user/Lmckinley99/media/riviera_1997_window_diagnostic_chart4.jpeg.html?sort=3&o=0


hopefully what follows will not insult.  Removing the door panels is not intuitive, and the plastic breaks easily. Repairs to the door-panel’s plastic “fingers” is most difficult.  discovering correct glue was a long process of trial & error.  If you wish, the relevant page regarding door-panel removal can follow.

As an aside, while working inside the door, the annoying “express down module” was deleted by slightly altering 2 wires.  That modification could have never been figured-out without the factory manual.

Thanks for the replies. The door panel and switch have been removed with no issues. I am going to see if I can get the broken switch to at least work till the new switch arives.

I got the window up. Took my switch apart and the driver side was melted so badly, that the good pass side rocker would not work in the driver side socket. I had to force the connection with a screw driver to get the window up. Again thanks for the replies.

you can also remove the door panel, remove the motor, that allows u to just grab the window and pull it up. then put back the motor.

Ok so this is from last year but what do you guys think about this one. Window won't go up, poured some rubbing alcohol in the switch because I didn't want to break the plastic. Now the window goes up when I press the switch twice. Should I break the Plastic and clean the entire thing before I spend 100 on a new one?

The switch is likely on it's last legs at this point. It's nearly a quarter of a century old. I'd get a new one.

Jack the R wrote:

The switch is likely on it's last legs at this point.  It's nearly a quarter of a century old.  I'd get a new one.

Search ebay for a used one from a wrecker yard (not a puller, you can tell). I have had very good results, so far, with parts from yards that post on ebay.