My 98 civic's power windows wont work unless the drivers door is wide open. I Thought the hot wire to the switch must be broken at the door hinge point so I checked the switch plug for power with a test light with the door fully open. 4 of the 14 terminals had power(all windows work)good. Closed the door, checked for power again. The same 4 terminals still had power( no windows work)bad.

I dont get it.

Can anyone enlighten me?

Thank you,
Jeff

 

It's definitely a broken wire. The wire will look OK on the outside but the copper is broken inside. I think on the 98 you can buy the little harness that goes to the door separately.

 

Also a test light will only tell you that power is going to it, if there is a break or corrosion in the wire the light will come on but you may have less power than required to make said part function correctly. In my opinion I would also check how much power is going to the switch with a multimeter