68 Riviera - Power Window Relay

[rivdriver]

Hello,

I need to replace the power window relay in a 68 Riviera.
Where is it located and what is the "easiest" way to do it?

Thank you for your support - from Germany.

[Rivman]

The PW relay or Ignition relay (as it's called in the schematic) on a '68 Riviera is located in the centre upper portion of the dash and is secured with a sheet metal screw, and a metal tab on the metal case of the relay, to a metal dash brace.
The relay should be grounded, and has an audible click ON and OFF, when the ignition switch is activated.
The easiest way to reach it is probably by removing the ashtray, radio, front speaker, and possibly the dash pad.
They mounted it in a fairly hard to access spot - (...Buick engineering at it's finest) !
It is powered by a pink and orange/black stripe wire from the fuse block, and feeds the PW master switch through a red/white stripe wire. There is a three wire connector running to the relay.

[rivdriver]

Hello Rivman,

Thank you very much for your help.
Center upper position sounds bad but not that bad. I thought it would be in the upper left (driver side) of the dash. This place would be much more difficult to reach.
Ashray and radio are already removed. Now I gonna remove the front speaker and may be the dash....

Again, thank you very much.

Rivdriver

[nailheadina67]

Make sure it's the relay and not just broken wires in the door hinge area. Like Rivman said, you should be able to hear it click if it's working.

[rivdriver]

Hi Rivman,

no click at all....
So I think it's the relay. I did order a new one yesterday. Now I have to wait until I hold it in my hands. I have to wait a few days because I am located in Germany and I ordered the relay in the USA. Anyway, in the mean time I try to find the old Relay, located where you say.
Wish me good luck.

What do you think: under the front speaker there is a the big vent hose which goes to the upper center dash air outlet. I guess it would be easier to reach the relay by removing this hose.

Thank you.

[Rivman]

It has been some time since I had my dash apart. The entire dash, and dash pad was removed, which gave total access to the front speaker and centre AC duct area. The relay was mounted on the same metal brace that the radio support bracket is mounted to. As mentioned previously, the relay must have a proper ground to operate ! My relay was working, as you could hear it click ON and OFF.
As it turned out, the power window feed wire which runs to the master switch, as well as a few others, were broken inside the rubber sleeve that goes from the front of the driver's door to the door hinge pillar, as Joe has stated.
With age, the wire harness becomes brittle, and will break from the constant flexing of the harness, as the doors are opened and closed.
I replaced all the old wires in the PW harness, and the PW problems were solved. I used a meter with a continuity checker to test each wire in the harness, and tested all the window circuits. The '68 shop manual has the complete window circuit shown on page 120-117.

[rivdriver]

Rivman and Nailheadlina67, Thank you guys!!!

Today I came back home from work, I jumped in the car and took a look at the area right under the front speaker in the center of the dash aaannnndddd BINGO. I found the Power Window Relay exactly where you said Rivman-great job.

I gonna remove the front speaker so I should get almost full access to replace the relay.

Again, thank you very much. You saved me a lot of time and that means less trouble with my wife because of the car

[Rivman]

Your welcome ! . . . they just don't seem to understand do they ?