Definitely the stuff of nightmares, especially if the rain starts to come down really hard! Lucky for you, your power windows are generally one of the most reliable of all the features in your car, so you don’t have to drive around in fear that your windows are going to fail you anytime soon but it is possible and sometimes it does happen. So here’s a quick guide on how you can fix it.

The first step is to figure out how serious your problem is, do you just need a fuse or will you have to pull down your doors and start pulling up your carpeting? To answer that question, the first thing you will have to do is check to see if it is just one window that has a problem or all of them. If none of them work, then chances are it’s just a fuse that is blown and you’ll only have to open your fuse box, pull out the bad fuse and put in a new one.

If your fuse box is not labeled then the easiest way to find the fuse that needs changing would be to check your car’s manual; otherwise a tester may come in handy. It’s not a good idea to start randomly pulling fuses because it is possible to damage your car’s computer. If it’s not the fuse that is bad, then you’re probably going to have to start pulling down the doors.

If you find that you can move the window up or down by using the switch in the door itself but it won’t budge if you use the switch in the driver door, then you probably have a bad switch or something has gone wrong with the wiring. You will have to get a 12 volt tester and test the switch and the wires connected to it, to see if it’s the switch that is bad or if you have a corroded wire somewhere along the way.

If you tap the window switch and you don’t hear the window motor running, then your problem is a faulty switch, faulty wiring or a bad regulator. If you do hear the motor but it makes strange grinding sounds, then the regulator is probably the problem and you’ll still have to get inside the door.

If the switch is the problem, you can pry it out of the door, unplug it and get it changed, if wiring is the issue, then you may have to pull down a door or two to trace the wire and find the trouble spot. If the motor is at fault, you’ll have to remove the door panel, unplug the motor and wiggle it out of its place so it can be replaced.