1965 Sedan Deville ignition question

[olson187]

Every other morning i have a dead battery on my caddy, and ive noticed that when the vehicle is off and keys removed i can still roll down my windows. they have power constantly. Im assuming this is why my battery is dead but not really sure why they have power.

[Dave Shepherd]

A wiring diagram will show you what and how that circuit is powered.

[savemy67]

Hello Kevin,

There could be a few reasons why the windows have power.  How long have you had your car?

It is not unusual for the power window switch in the driver's door to have been rewired at some point in the past.  Regardless, the battery will only run down if there is a load on the circuit.  All else being equal, if the window motors are not operating, the battery should not be discharged.

If the window circuit has been rewired, it is possible that somewhere a parasitic load has been introduced.  A quick way to determine if there is a load on a circuit that should not be there, is to pull the fuse for that circuit, and see if the battery maintains its charge.  If so, you need to check every wire, connection, and load on that circuit.  If not, the load is on another circuit, and you need to do the same thing for the other circuit(s).

At the least, a wiring diagram for your car is a must.  For '65 I don't recall if you need just the shop manual, or if you need the Fisher Body Manual as well.  Good luck.

Respectfully submitted,

Christopher Winter

[Scot Minesinger]

I have seen this before on the 65and 66 Cadillacs - check your rubber conduit from body to door.  Often it has failed and the sharp body or door sheet metal has cut through the wire insulation.  Also, when this happens as Christopher wrote people then rewire the switch. 

The rubber conduits are reproduced by steel rubber.  If you have power vent windows and vacuum power locks that conduit is going to be super difficult to get everything thru - very tedious job.  I fixed a 1966 Eldorado with all options once with this issue - probably never again - huge pain.

[Dave Shepherd]

Good point, boy did we fix a lot of those back in the day, until the harness ran out of room. Lol

[olson187]

Thank you everyone for your responses, i will look at it this weekend and let you know what i find.

[cadillactim]

Make sure the window lockout switch connector is not turned around. When it is the windows will work with the key off.

Tim