Another car related question for you home repair experts. I plan to fix this at home so it's semi-on topic.
2004 Toyota Camry. The driver window recently got replaced after being smashed while we were out of state. There was damage to the track as well so I thought that was causing the problem, but the track has been repaired recently and it's still doing it.
This window has auto up and auto down switch. Auto down takes the window all the way down. Auto up takes the window all the way up, but when it gets to the top of it's travel it automatically reverses and comes back down halfway. This is some sort of safety and jam protection feature.
The mirror had been pushed back toward the window and the bracket holding the mirror was bent and impinging on the track. I straightened it out as much as I could and the local body shop fixed the rest. I thought that would fix the window problem but it hasn't.
I have tried resetting the motor limits according to some instructions I found on the internet by holding the switch down a few seconds after it reaches the bottom and a few seconds after it reaches the top. That hasn't fixed the problem. I can carefully make the window close by moving the switch incrementally until it reaches the top.
Obviously this isn't going to work long term. Does anyone have a suggestion on how to fix this? No, I can't take it back to the window people because they are 700 miles away.
If the track is still (slightly) "out of kilter" (hmm... I've never heard anyone say something is *in* kilter!), there will be added drag on the window which is, ultimately, reflected as an increased load to the motor....
I suspect the drive electronics sense the load on the motor by measuring the current through the windings (though there are other ways of detecting a stall). So, when the window encounters an "obstacle" (e.g., someone's arm/hand left in the window as it closes), it stops before inflicting harm. It wouldn't make much sense to *simply* stop as that would leave the window clamping down on the object. So, it backs off, "open loop" (i.e., probably just runs the motor for N seconds and then stops it).
If the track is effectively damaged (though not visibly) and the load reflected to the motor during normal operation is increased, it may be that the smarts don't have enough "dynamic range" left in the measurement to differentiate normal "closed" vs. "obstacle encountered" vs. out of kilter track.
If you could remove an interior door panel and tweek the track a bit to observe the results (i.e., the track can be repositioned as if the window was a tiny bit larger and, thus, a looser fit) it would be helpful to diagnosing the actual problem.
Note that you typically have to follow these procedures to the letter! In order not to have a special "calibrate button" or special test equipment, the procedures are designed to utilize the existing controls but in ways that won't typically be "tickled" in normal use. The thinking is that you can inconvenience a dealer/shop a little for an *infrequent* adjustment activity but don't want to risk confusing the user by having the car start behaving differently as a consequence of some "normal" usage pattern.
[Like pressing a SHIFT key 5 times in windows to activate an accessibility feature -- the assumption is that a user will press and hold shift while typing some other key... not just press and release SHIFT all by itself!]
I.e., hold the button "down" while the window is opening and continue to hold it down after it hits bottom. Then, hold the button *up* while it is closing and continue to hold it up after it has fully closed.
Does it close completely *while* you are holding it thusly? Or, does it sense an obstruction and reopen? I.e., if it does NOT reopen, then at least for this time, it operated properly! So, if it fails to continue to operate properly afterwards, then you've not successfully completed the "retraining".
Press the button down momentarily (long enough to start the "please open my window all the way" action). After it has opened, do the same to close the window ("please CLOSE my window all the way").
*Then*, see if it behaves properly. If not, you may have to repeat the process for *all* windows (and, possibly, in a specific sequence).
[Note that I have no idea what Toyota's specific "reset procedure" is. Rather, I'm commenting on a "power window controller" that a friend was contracted to design for "another" Toyota brand :> many years ago.]
You can typically hear the motor sound change as it hits resistance. I'd listen to the motor as it moves along the track. Then listen to the working windows. With the door off, he could also disconnect the window from the mechanism and raise/lower it by hand to see where and if it's binding.
Okay, I got it fixed today. I followed the instructions from this video:
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Basically I had to take out the regulator and motor. Then I had to remove the motor from the regulator and run the motor in the up position for five seconds and remove power abruptly by pulling the connector off. Then I put everything in the door back together and ran the window up and down manually to the physical limits three times without using the auto function. Then I used the auto function and everything worked properly!
The instructions in the video are very good and they gave me the confidence to attempt this on my own. I guess the motor was out of sync with the regulator somehow and by running it while removed from the regulator that took it past the remembered limits. Moving it up and down three times set the limits again.
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