April 16, 2010
My friend who owns a 1994 Corvette asked me if I could repair the power window in the passenger door of his vehicle. I have never worked on a Corvette and so I hesitated a little because I was not familiar with its design.
Even though I was not sure if I can handle the repair, I agreed to work on his car because his wife lost her job recently. He was thinking of selling his Corvette because the best season to sell a car here in California is during the spring and summer seasons. Buyers are plentiful and vehicles for sale seemed to flood the market making it a very competitive market driving the prices of vehicles down to the benefit of the buyers.
It is a good thing that I have experience in working on the power windows on Toyotas and Hondas and so I was hoping that the Corvette design would be similar to the Japanese car brands. The door panel of the Corvette is made out of a high quality material that matches the expensive leather seats inside the car. After carefully taking the panels out, I was confronted with a design that seemed to be different to the Japanese cars. My friend asked me if he could take his car to a local tire repair store while I am working on his Corvette. After he left, I felt the need to check a Corvette repair manual before I proceed in taking out the parts inside the power window mechanism. I used a voltage meter to check for current on the wires traveling to and from the power window motor. I discovered that there is a 12 volt current flowing to the power window motor. The ohms meter detected a connection on the positive and negative points when I turn on the switch.
My friend came back from the store and I told him what I discovered. I also said that I need to first check a Corvette repair manual before I proceed. He pointed to a bookshelf inside his garage and told me that the 2 ½ -inch thick red book sitting on the shelf is a Corvette mechanic’s manual. Had I known that my friend had a mechanic’s manual, I could have saved a lot of time with the disassembly.
After viewing the “exploded model” drawings in the manual, I felt a little confident in working on the car instead of just blindly doing the work. I turned on the power window switch and heard the power window motor click but the motor did not spin. This could be that the motor is possibly jammed. I will have to check if there is a jam in the frames.
My friend told me that he will call the Corvette dealership to buy the motor but I instead suggested that we check a local parts store for reconditioned Corvette parts. I found a nearby store selling brand new off-market Corvette power window motor for $65 and also a reconditioned original Corvette part for $55. I decided to hold off purchasing the motor because I wanted to make sure that the motor inside my friend’s Corvette really does not work.
It was late in the afternoon and clouds started to roll above us making it look like it is going to rain. I decided to continue work tomorrow or Wednesday. I borrowed the mechanic’s manual to review its instructions so that I could plan what to do next.
May 24, 2010
Yesterday, I continued my task of replacing the power window motor of the Corvette. After studying the design of the power window, I realized that I need to take out the frames and other moving parts inside the door for me to fully replace the power motor. I know that there is a better way to uninstall the motor. But until I take it all out, I won’t be able to discover the other hidden short cuts that exist in uninstalling the power motor.
I tested the current that ran through the wires that connects to the motor and it registered a 10 Volt current. I wondered at first why it did not registered 12V. I am guessing that the battery is running low because the lights on the dashboard seemed deem.
While slowing taking out the parts, I noticed that the whole mechanism is held by a combination of knots, bolts, hex and rivets. It puzzled me why they would use rivets instead of regular knots and bolts. The only thing that I could think of is it takes less time to attach the motor when using rivets.
After removing the motor, I took two electrical wires then attached one to the positive and attached the other on the negative posts of the battery. I then took the window motor that I just removed from the Corvette and connected the negative wire to the motor. I tapped the positive wires to the motor and the motor span. I felt bad a little because it took a lot of time uninstalling the motor. It made me wonder why did not work when I turned on the switch while the motor was still in it. I decided to attach the motor to the original connection in the door and turned on the switch. The motor ran but I noticed that it did not have enough power. I then concluded that the motor is now worn out.
I had to stop working on the Corvette because my friend had to watch the Lakers play game three against the Phoenix Suns for the Western conference championship. I will continue my work tonight or tomorrow morning.
Yesterday, I continued my task of replacing the power window motor of the Corvette. After studying the design of the power window, I realized that I need to take out the frames and other moving parts inside the door for me to fully replace the power motor. I know that there is a better way to uninstall the motor. But until I take it all out, I won’t be able to discover the other hidden short cuts that exist in uninstalling the power motor.
I tested the current that ran through the wires that connects to the motor and it registered a 10 Volt current. I wondered at first why it did not registered 12V. I am guessing that the battery is running low because the lights on the dashboard seemed deem.
While slowing taking out the parts, I noticed that the whole mechanism is held by a combination of knots, bolts, hex and rivets. It puzzled me why they would use rivets instead of regular knots and bolts. The only thing that I could think of is it takes less time to attach the motor when using rivets.
After removing the motor, I took two electrical wires then attached one to the positive and attached the other on the negative posts of the battery. I then took the window motor that I just removed from the Corvette and connected the negative wire to the motor. I tapped the positive wires to the motor and the motor span. I felt bad a little because it took a lot of time uninstalling the motor. It made me wonder why did not work when I turned on the switch while the motor was still in it. I decided to attach the motor to the original connection in the door and turned on the switch. The motor ran but I noticed that it did not have enough power. I then concluded that the motor is now worn out.
I had to stop working on the Corvette because my friend had to watch the Lakers play game three against the Phoenix Suns for the Western conference championship. I will continue my work tonight or tomorrow morning.
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