Lurked on this forum for a long time and its been helpful so first a shout out to all the knowledge and friendly help in here. Now I have run into something I cannot for the life of me figure out.

I have been fixing up things on my mom’s 2001 4dr Camry LE. The last thing I cant resolve is something in the power window controls. The problem screams PWMS replacement but I have replaced it with 2 other units and the behaviors are 100% unchanged.

Here are symptoms and troubleshooting I have done:

• PWMS at driver door cannot control any of the 4 windows. Nothing happens
• Power locks from the PWMS work with the caveat that the drivers door itself will not respond to the power lock but the other 3 doors work correctly when that is toggled
• Swapped in 3 other PWMS with no change in behavior
• Direct application of 12V at drivers door window motor will make window move up and down as expected

• All passenger windows work correctly at from their own switches

• Rear driver side window control at that door will only roll up and not down
• Direct application of 12V at rear driver side window motor will make window move up and down correctly
• Swapping window switch in rear (side to side) shows that switch is good. Behavior does not change with passenger rear switch in its place. And this switch on the passenger side functions normally

• Fuses are all good that i can find, main focus on the 30A under the dash
• Inspection of the kick panel block where wire harnesses come together is good. No change in behavior with someone wiggling them to see if something is intermittent.
• Cleaned all wire harness connections with DeoxIT-D5.
• Clean all corrosion off the battery. Its all shiny now! 😊

At this point I am thinking I would put in a new wire harness in the driver’s door. Seems like a bear of a task.

But hoping to get some other ideas prior to going that route. Not sure I can conclude the harness by process of elimination based on the above but its starting to feel like it.

Appreciate the advice!!!

 

The power window operation and wiring is not obvious.

The driver’s window is wired directly to the PWMS with two wires. The 12v polarity of these wires alternates with switch direction to change motor direction.

The other windows have three wires to their individual switch. One wire to each switch is +12v that is tapped off the same power going to the PWMS (hot wire). The other two wires to each individual switch go the PWMS. This combination of wiring allows each passenger window to be controlled by both the PWMS and individual switch.

When the PWMS is used for a passenger window its operation and wiring are the same as that of the driver’s window motor.

When an individual switch is used, +12v from the hot wire is routed via that switch to one of the motor wires. The return wire is then one of the two other wires going to the PWMS. If the switch is moved to the opposite position, the +12v will be routed via the individual switch to the other wire going to the motor. The return wire will then shift to the other one of the two wires.

When a drivers switch is used, the two wires from the PWMS can serve as 12v +/- and thus operate the same as the drivers window. When an individual switch is used these two wires can serve as return wires with the +12v to the individual switch coming from the hot wire.

Often what happens is the wiring to the passengers windows breaks typically where it goes from the chassis to the drivers door.

If any of the power windows work then +12v power is getting to the PWMS. One issue is if this power is getting to is getting to both +12v terminals of the PWMS. The same with the ground to chassis wiring where here the switch has two ground to chassis terminals.

With ign switch on check for +12v at the two +12v wires that go the PWMS (might be blue wires).

Check that all white/black wires coming off the PWMS are grounded to chassis (might be white/black).

Check for voltage between the red and green wires going to the driver’s window motor when the driver’s window switch is moved up/down. There should be 12v with alternating polarity as the switch position is changed from up/down/down/up, etc.

The drivers door lock switch is internal to the master switch. Check for chassis ground at the white/black wire of the drivers door lock actuator.

 

Thanks Joey
I will check this tomorrow or this weekend. Some double checking is but I feel like I know already there is not 12V on the blue wires coming in. I'll add some pics too. One point I realize I left out is I have a test light that also emits sound. In the harness when looking for continuity to chassis, I get a very weak/sad beep sound and weak light up of light. I say weak comparing to simple sanity check elsewhere in the vehicle.

Thinking back to something else I know at that rear drivers door, I do know for sure in that 5 pin harness, pin3/center is a blue wire and and its got 12V. I have a voltage injection tool and I can inject 12V/0V or 0V/12V on pin 1 and 5 which are solid red and solid green and that makes the motor function correctly. Did not try pins 2 and 4.

 

Lots of progress here. Found both blue wires to PWMS didnt have any voltage. Good grounds on white/black. Blue wire at harness in kickpanel was 12V and couldnt get any continuity across that blue wire. Spliced in a new wire and fished through boot and viola! Nearly all issues resolved.

The issues that are left are livable but curious for feedback.

• PWMS does control 3 of the windows and likely partially on the 4th. The 4th being the rear driver side continues to only function in one direction (rolls up, not down). This is unchanged behavior.
• At rear drivers window, direct injection of 12V on pin1/5 or 5/1 operates the window correctly. Swapping rear switches doesnt change the behavior. I see 12V on blue wire at rear drivers harness (pin3). This is unchanged behavior.
• Power locks operate all doors except for drivers door. Saw two sets of wires going to that, a small white header (3pin) and a large black one (4pin). Nothing obvious from inspection. I am able to double trigger the lock from the key on the outside to unlock all 4 doors from the driver outside lock
• New one I noticed (unlikely related) is that headlights are on all time once ign is on. The control arm off wheel doesnt change them at all except for high-beams.

 

Need to bump this as it turns out my fix has run into a problem. After sitting for a few days, the battery is pretty dead! Its been very solid battery wise in the work I have done without a hiccup

My suspect is the blue wire I fed in from the kick panel to the PWMS harness. There was 1 blue wire in the square harness and 2 blue wires at the PWMS. Prior the attempted fix, these 2 blue wires had continuity at the PWMS harness so I figured putting them together wouldnt hurt. Thinking about that now, perhaps that wasn't correct?

Or could this be some sort of clue about the rear passenger window only working in one direction? Any thoughts @toyomoho ?

 

At the rear drivers switch. Solid red and solid green wires go to the motor.

The blue wire only has power when the ign switch is in a position that allows the power windows to work. The blue wire gets its power from the same source (relay) as the power windows.

When the ign key is turned off AND the power windows stop working (check this), determine if this new blue wire for the windows still has power. It should not have power.

Pins 2 and 4 go to the PWMS.

Does the individual rear driver’s side window switch work for both up and down?

The headlights are on a different circuit. Does this car have auto off lights?

Any aftermarket power locks systems, alarms, etc on the car.

 

At the rear drivers switch. Solid red and solid green wires go to the motor. --> Yes, and if I force 12/0V and 0/12V to these wires at the disconnected rear harness, I get the window to go up and down correctly.

The blue wire only has power when the ign switch is in a position that allows the power windows to work. The blue wire gets its power from the same source (relay) as the power windows. When the ign key is turned off AND the power windows stop working (check this), determine if this new blue wire for the windows still has power. It should not have power. --> I will check this. Need to jump it to get it in the garage. Was it ok to tie the two blue wires together at the harness end?
This is my main concern since I cant let this "fix" run the battery down. All other problems are livable but sharing those in the event is a clue.

Pins 2 and 4 go to the PWMS. ---> I have not checked them to see what they do voltage wise when the PWMS toggles.

Does the individual rear driver’s side window switch work for both up and down? --> Only rolls up, and if I swap the switch from the passenger side, there is no change (pass side continues to work normally with driver side switch)

The headlights are on a different circuit. Does this car have auto off lights? --> I believe so in the general sense that if I kill the ign, the headlights go off automatically.

Any aftermarket power locks systems, alarms, etc on the car. --> I believe everything is stock.

 

@toyomoho - Well this vehicle certainly has some personality, lets say

With ign off and after windows stop working, I get nothing at the blue wires in the PWMS. I only see 12V in two green wires which I know are part of the power locks.

Strangely, most of the time, the extra power to windows after turn ign off doesnt seem to engage, meaning I have no window access after the ign off. Cant seem to figure out what the magic sequence is to give me power. When it does give me some power to operate the windows after ign is off, it does cut off after the door is open and there is no power at the blue wires. So I cant see how this is draining the battery. It's possible I left something on but the last one was a slow bleed of the batter so it will be a few days to find out. Makes no sense to me at this moment

Is there something to train these windows after power fail? The drivers window rolls down easily but only goes up a couple inches at a time, almost acting like the anti-pinch mechanism is kicking in for about 3/4ths of the way up. I have seen some notes on later models with a retraining but that doesnt seem to work here.

On the rear passenger, no activity on pins 2/4 when PWMS operates. Guessing those wires are broken somewhere. I see 12/0v & 0/12V on pins1/5 when I run the local switch. Need to see what the motor actually gets in that case. I know that pushing 12/0 into motor connector directly does work.

Didnt even mess with the power locks this run....

 

If you can force 12v to the window motor and it works then the motor seems OK.

The power windows receive 12v from the power relay. The car has something called an integration relay, a solid state electric unit, which controls this relay. The unit keeps power to the power windows for a short time after the key is turned to off.

If an individual window switch doesn’t roll the window down there is a problem with the green wire continuity which goes to the switch.

Get an amp meter that can measure down to 0ma. Install this between the negative terminal of the battery and the negative battery cable. Measure the battery drain after the car has sat with everything off for say 10 minutes. The drain should be nil.

Try lubing the window track with silicone spray. The window regulator could also be failing.

The windows have no computer that needs training. Power to the windows allows is either on or off. There may be a cut off switch on the PWMS for the rear windows to keep children from operating them.

 

Update after much frozen delays.... The personality of the car continues. No battery drain and started up first try after all that cold to boot. Being a firm believer in Occam's Razor, I must conclude that I left something on or didnt have a door shut solid. Going to mess with some body dings and scratch work next. More for my education than anything.