Sorry, but here's another post on this subject (yes, I have searched through relevant posts, but my situation has gone past what I've seen). Here are the bullet points:

1). The driver's side window is in the Up position, but it will not move. It's dedicated in-dash fuse, of course, is fully intact.

2). The driver's side window is the only thing that does not obey the Master Switch -- everything else controlled by that switch works perfectly (even the green lights!).

3). I have completely removed & disassembled the Master Switch, and have even applied rubbing alcohol on the contacts (both on the bottom of the rocker switch, as well as the circuit board itself -- very delicately, of course, with a Q-tip).

4). After reconnecting everything, all other Master Switch functions continue to operate perfectly, but that driver's side window still will not budge.

5). When I try to raise the driver's window, I know power is being sent to the window (ie, its motor), because I can see (and even hear) the obvious drain on the car's electrical system. But when I depress that same button, I neither see nor hear anything.

So, now I'm worried that maybe the problem is not the Master Switch (?). I certainly don't want to pay for a new one if that's not the issue.

Any ideas or suggestions? Does the driver's window motor/regulator also have electronics; and if so, might that be the problem? Thanks for any thoughts!

 

Welcome to the Club.

The motor/regulator is purely electrical/mechanical, respectively. There's no special microchip or anything there unlike on the master control switch.

You can try disconnecting and reconnecting the battery and that may help reset things.

I assume you tried to help the window go up and down with your hand and nothing, correct? If you can get it to do it, it might just need some lithium grease on the glass run (rubber crevice area along which the window slides up and down)

IF not, you have (you've probably seen my DIYs in the DIY thread at the top of the RX300 forum), to take the window out and see independently if the regulator can go up and down without the window there. If that isn't working, then the motor is likely at issue here. Mine went dead on my driver's side and I wound up replacing it with an aftermarket, but it doesn't have auto up down, so I have to use the button to raise and lower it.

 

I remember disassembling my master switch once, but it's been a long time. Can you swap internal components between the driver's side switch and another one to see if it's ok? I wonder if its "down" function doesn't work. Also, if you have a friend with an RX300, I would try swapping switches between vehicles just to see if another switch assembly works. I don't know, but it could be worth a try. LexMex is more knowledgeable than I am, so go with his idea first!!

 

Good questions

I have swapped the front passenger side control switch to the front driver's side, but nothing happened when I tried this. I sort of remember reading this idea from the service manual. My neighbor has an RX300 also, but I ended up handling the window issue myself and came to the conclusion that it was the window motor that was shot, not the master control switch, but I might have considered doing that had it not been.

 

Thanks everyone for your input. Just a quick note in case it might help anyone else in the future:

I took my 2000 RX300 -- with its suddenly inoperative driver's side power window -- to my regular mechanic. This was to try to confirm whether the problem was with the master switch or something physical (for example, the regulator or window motor).

He said the physical devices worked fine. Thus, the master switch (specifically, it's circuit board) now became the top suspect.

But that, of course, brought up the insane fact that Lexus dealers charge $600 and UP for a new replacement switch -- plus labor!!! Utterly unacceptable! Brand new PC's can be bought for less than that! This has really put a damper on my prior "respect" for Toyota (even though we love the car).

So, I went to E-Bay and found several shops around the US who said they had used-but-working master switches, for around $225.00. I bought one, snapped it in place, and immediately the window worked!

Hope others who encounter this problem have the same good luck!

 

Awesome. Thanks for posting the solution and congrats!