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Hopefully someone out there can assist as I'm using AI and it's kinda making sense but I do not want to go just off that. I had stripped the interior to get metal fab and rust correction performed. That is now completed and I'm currently putting the interior back together. For the past two days I've been stuck on the door panels as they are structurally a mess from the prior owner. This all began because I needed to replace the window buttons as they broke the bracket and it needed new door speakers. I bought replacement Power Switch package from Hawks motorsports to just replace the entire housing for the door panel buttons.
Prior to install the buttons on the driver side door would raise and lower both driver/passenger windows. With the new buttons from Hawks, the driver side goes down but does not go up and the passenger side no longer goes up and down even though it did 2 days ago. On the passenger side the old and new buttons do not work. The driver side mirror and locks work w/both old and new. The passenger door locks work old and new.
Upon further investigation I noticed that the wiring harnesses both driver/passenger and both locks/windows appear to have been hacked up by the prior owner. All the wiring harnesses are wrapped in electrical tape which, according to AI, I'm sure isn't what it was from factory. Can anyone here validate if it should be like this or a suitable replacement? AI is pointing me to ACDelco or Dorman products such as the AC PT546 Driver Side Window Switch Connector and Dorman Door Window Switch Connector 645-942. Image below of the passenger side after I unwrapped the harness for the window buttons for reference.
I'm not entirely sure what has led you to believe that there is an issue with the wiring harness. Sounds like everything was working fine before you changed the switches to the reproduction pieces from Hawks. Hawks makes good stuff, but it's very possible that something is just defective with those new switches if there was a problem right out of the box. I don't see how the wiring could have suddenly become a problem just because you swapped out the switch panel - more likely that it has to do with the most recent change you made (the switches). Have you tried swapping back to the original driver side switches to see if both sides then work as before (I seem to recall that power goes there first, and then off to the passenger side)? If so then you'll know for sure that the issue lies with the new switches.
FWIW, the factory assembly line did, in fact, use electrical tape in many places of the body and engine wiring harness (including in the door).
I'm not entirely sure what has led you to believe that there is an issue with the wiring harness. Sounds like everything was working fine before you changed the switches to the reproduction pieces from Hawks. Hawks makes good stuff, but it's very possible that something is just defective with those new switches if there was a problem right out of the box. I don't see how the wiring could have suddenly become a problem just because you swapped out the switch panel - more likely that it has to do with the most recent change you made (the switches). Have you tried swapping back to the original driver side switches to see if both sides then work as before (I seem to recall that power goes there first, and then off to the passenger side)? If so then you'll know for sure that the issue lies with the new switches.
FWIW, the factory assembly line did, in fact, use electrical tape in many places of the body and engine wiring harness (including in the door).
So, they didn't all work. The driver said piece that holds the window buttons was broken and living inside the door handle so I bought a whole new piece from Hawks, all I had to do was transfer the side mirror actuator. That said the original driver side buttons made the driver side window go up and down but not the passenger side. Then when I swapped them the passenger side still didn't work but the driver side would only go down it wouldn't go back up. The Passenger side old I kind of remember the window button working but that was months ago it took 3 months for all the fabrication from the rust to be completed. Anyways as of right now both the old and new don't work on the passenger side.
To your other point, that's exactly why I'm coming here instead of AI. Everything I'm questioning is from AI. For example, the bit about the electrical tape was very helpful. According to AI, that shouldn't be there that the factory never used electrical tape and that there should be a plastic housing it sits which is why it told me to buy those new wiring harnesses.
So, they didn't all work. The driver said piece that holds the window buttons was broken and living inside the door handle so I bought a whole new piece from Hawks, all I had to do was transfer the side mirror actuator. That said the original driver side buttons made the driver side window go up and down but not the passenger side. Then when I swapped them the passenger side still didn't work but the driver side would only go down it wouldn't go back up. The Passenger side old I kind of remember the window button working but that was months ago it took 3 months for all the fabrication from the rust to be completed. Anyways as of right now both the old and new don't work on the passenger side.
To your other point, that's exactly why I'm coming here instead of AI. Everything I'm questioning is from AI. For example, the bit about the electrical tape was very helpful. According to AI, that shouldn't be there that the factory never used electrical tape and that there should be a plastic housing it sits which is why it told me to buy those new wiring harnesses.
So when you swap back to the old driver's side switch, will it still make the window go up on that side? Or only down like with the new switch? I'm just trying to understand if something has gotten worse overall, or if you can still get back to the previous level of semi-working state with the old switches. If the old switch no longer works any better than the new switch, then perhaps the motor is just going bad (on both sides). This is a common problem on these.
There are several places where the factory used plastic wire loom to better protect the harness, but AI is totally incorrect if it thinks that electrical tape wasn't used anywhere. I bought two of my LS1 F-bodies brand new and I can tell you that there was plenty of electrical tape used on the assembly line (sometimes to hold the wire loom, and sometimes instead of wire loom).
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