This is a problem that seems to be common in German vehicles, Audi's are famous for it. My Saab's never had the problem, though they did have their own idiosyncrasies. Nine plus years working for the local Honda/Acura dealer and have never seen it occur.

Mark

I have a 87 Westy with power front windows that have developed an
intermittent problem. Every so often I lose all power to both of the windows and cannot
get them up or down.  I thought the problem was in the wiring harness to the
drivers door controls.  It seems as if opening or closing the door or moving the
harness where it goes into the door solves the problem for a while.

I suppose I can trace all the wiring and figure out the problem but I am
thinking I may want to convert to crank windows instead.  Has anyone done this and
is it a difficult and/or stupid move.

Dave Engstrom
87 Westy
91 Vanagon Carat (parts probably)
96 Beetle
85 Golf
69 Bug
88 Toyota 4x4 pickup (with 220,000 on the odo)