First post/window issue

Hey all, I'm trying to help my father-in-law fix his front, driver side window that's currently stuck in the full-down position. Electronic windows, as you might guess.

When power is on, without touching anything, there's a periodic clicking noise that comes from the motor/regulator area. Sometimes the switch is clearly transmitting a signal to the regulator, creating a click whenever the switch is actuated. Then, when the uncommanded sound comes from the regulator, the switch stops having an effect on it. It switches back and forth with each click sound coming from the regulator.

My guess is that the motor is bad, but I have yet to try the "door slam" or hammer method to loosen things up. Any suggestions would be appreciated, thank you!

 

If issue occurs when untouched, I would suspect the switch

take off and clean
Lots of vids out there
Remember a switch is a switch
To clean….
Manufacturer doesn’t matter much

 

I can almost assure you the switch is physically broken on the lower half. It's basically a spring & a plastic-on-plastic hinge(?) (my own words; I have no idea whether it would actually be considered a hinge or even be in the hinge family, just making shit up in effort to describe). However it's described, it consists of moving plastic parts, is very often used, & has 23 yrs of brittle on it.

It's probably more like cracked in several places and not completely broken/in pieces, which can allow it to work at times & sometimes not, as well as do things on its own (the noise you were hearing). When I looked at mine & understood how it worked I figured out how to press it in a way where it would work most of the time, & just dealt w/it for ~ a year, but it's incredibly easy to replace & can be cheap or not but you can choose. I'd highly recommend not "dealing with it" & can share why later.

Idk whether you'd want any help or direction on how to check it out or confirm whether that's the culprit? I'll try a brief step-by-step just in case it might help & I have time/may not be back here for a bit, no offense intended if unnecessary.

You need to pop out that whole section/piece containing all the window & door switches.

The front edge (towards front bumper) needs to come straight up first (towards roof).

You can try using small pry tool, screwdriver, etc to help, whatever you can use w/out gouging up the plastic? I'm betting you'll think something surely broke by the sound of it when it pops out, but you didn't.

Now just slide the back edge forward a bit & you'll be able to pull it out as far as the wiring will allow (which is plenty).

You should be able to see the outside lower half of that switch from here, & may or may not see breakage. You might also feel weird loseness or movement if it's broken and still not visible. Idk if you can see the back or not, my ext. cab only has 2. To further investigate a couple few screws takes the switches off, but I think you'll see or feel it now. Or I'm wrong & an idiot.
¯\_(ツ)_/¯
Well, you may have fixed this issue already, maybe even a while ago, but I typed this the other day, or possibly 4-5 days ago now other than the last couple sentences, sorry. I don't even have time to check, so posting and bouncing :/ Crazy week.

 

Remove the switch, disconnect the speaker, get the panel out of the way, carefully peel back the plastic a little, then re-connect the switch and turn on the key, operate the window. It will give you a better idea what's wrong if you can see it.

Aside, if it turns out to be a switch, get the P/N and find one on eBay. It may not be a "tacoma" but a corolla, Rav4 or something. My switch was burnt and I found them, the ones for "Corolla" were about half the price of the ones for the Taco. Exact same switch.