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I have a 95 SE that is having electrical power issues and stranding me. It began last fall. I had just driven the car and returned to it to continue on with my trip. When I tried to start it though, it just cranked and cranked. I returned to it about 4 hours later and it fired right up. Then a few months later as I was leaving a business, my daughter lowered the rear passenger window and when she went to put it back up the car died. I pushed it into a parking space and the same symptoms...crank and crank without firing. The next morning, it fired right up. Not that it does it everytime, but it has happened several times where the car dies when the rear passenger power window is being operated. I've checked/cleaned the battery terminals, the maxifuses, the relays beneath the maxifuses, the main power connection to the maxifuse bus, the IP fuses located below the steering column, and even replaced the body control module located under the passenger side kickplate. Still no luck. Does anyone have any ideas?

Did you peel back the insulation on the battery cables? The corrosion is usually up under the first inch or so. Have you checked the ground buses in the front door sills?

I'd go after the driver's side ground buss. The fuel pump & power windows share that ground. There's a metal bar in the bus that corrodes.

Thanks for the suggestions...but unfortunately still no luck. The ground strips in both doors were OK. It is now sitting in a garage with a mechanic who is bound and determined to solve this. I just stopped to discuss it with him and he has a big portion of the car's electrical system disassembled. He is looking for a module that controls this, but has not been successful...the body control module located under the dash on the passenger's side was replaced and the problem remained. He discovered today that when he uses the light switch on the dash to turn on the interior lights, that the windows function, the locks work, and the car runs. When the driver's side door is closed, all devices turn off. If the door is left open and the interior lights are turned off, all devices turn off. Are there any other printed circuit board based/computer modules in this car that could be culprit?

The ground isn't in the door. Here's some pictures that'll help you find it. 99.99% chance this is the problem.





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I sure hope he saw the above post or his mechanic could be racking up the hours trying to solve this.

I did see the post and immediately relayed the info. to the mechanic...I even stopped by his shop on my way home that evening to review it with him. I incorrectly stated that we checked the ground bus in the door. I should have said that we checked the ground bus near the door that you referred to in your post. Based on my earlier phone call to his shop, he had both ground busses, i.e. drivers and passengers, taken apart. As I stated in my post, this bus looked OK.

Now the rest of the story...the mechanic called me the next morning and said that shortly after I left his garage, he found a ground wire going to this bus on the driver's side that was corroded. He stated that it was a little further back near the seat. He went ahead and removed the bus, soldered the wires together, and applied heat shrink to it.

All is now well...albeit $460 later. I wished I would have looked for the solution before the car left me sit for the second time and it was towed to the shop. I'm certain I could have repaired this on my own. Oh well, lesson learned.

Thank you Mechanical Mike for your assistance.

Glad you got it going. To bad you had to have it towed & ended up with a rather large bill.

Was having this very problem with a 95 SE I recently purchased. So glad I found you guys and this thread! Thanks!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!