The driver's window regulator took a crapola. I've done more than a few regulators in my day. The steps are always to remove the door panel, lower the window enough to detach it from the regulator, swap regulator (and keep all your fingers if it's the old guillotine style regulator with the spring and linkage.
Problem is the motor is locked up, or possible jammed with plastic pieces of the internals. I have cut the cable in two places, yet the window doesn't budge. Has anyone had success with replacing a regulator where the window doesn't move? I cannot get to, see, or even feel the fasteners that attach the window to the regulator.
My next step, barring some wisdom from the hive is to use a body saw to cut the two metal uprights of the regulator so I can physically get the window low enough MAYBE get to the fasteners? One issue I have is that I think the motor is going to block one of the fasteners.
Following because I have a 2nd R53 in the garage with the window stuck in the up position.
In reply to DeadSkunk (Warren) :
I'm back at it bright and early. I'll update when I'm done.
The window glass is attached to the mechanism by those two star washers things. They're on the outside of the glass, next the door skin.
So my issue was that I wasn't able to lower the window at all, so I couldn't get to those huge star nuts.
I assumed the motor physically failed inside of the motor so I cut the cables. All four of them lol. It wouldn't budge.
After fighting with it I realized I could get the leading edge to lower enough to get a tool in there and remove that nut.
since I cut the cables I could get the front 1/2 of the regulator out. Now I could drop the rear of the glass enough, and at an angle so I could see the rear 1/2 of the regulator.
then I cut that upright in half,
allowing the window (still attached to the upper 1/2 of the rear 1/2 of the regulator) to drop even more, finally allowing me to get the star nut off.
Turns out my issue was that a piece of the cable sheath came off and jammed in the rear pulley.
what a pain!!
Hmmm....this isn't encouraging. Mine is stuck in the up position, just before the last quarter inch to lock into the weather seal. The lock actuator isn't working either, but to dismantle the door you need the window down. Catch-22 in real life.
Would this be any easier with the door removed from the car and laid on a workbench?
DeadSkunk (Warren) said:
Would this be any easier with the door removed from the car and laid on a workbench?
Technically speaking yes, because you won't have to sit on the garage floor and stick 1/2 your head in that oval hole to see what you're doing, but that might be offset by the effort to remove the door.
You might get lucky. If you cut your cables the window might come down, allowing you to remove it. In my case, the green plastic you see in the second pic prevented even that from happening.
Don't be surprised if an aftermarket regulator leaves you with a ~1/8" gap to the rear edge of the weatherstripping.
I have tried three different manufacturers and they were all made wrong this way. Because of the way the regulator mounts you can't shim it, either, although if one is good with fabrication skills one could probably make it work.
We ended up getting a regulator from the dealer and lost money on the job.
I have a spare pair of doors that I can steal parts from, or replace entirely. If I were to replace the door I would still need to get in there to remove the door handle and lock from the current door. The spare doors would have to be painted too. I may regret buying this one before I'm done.
In reply to Pete. (l33t FS) :
I went with one from Pelican Parts. It fits very well and adjusted correctly on the first try. I credit that quick and proper adjustment to the quality of the part, not the ability of the installer lol.
In reply to DrBoost :
Did you have to replace all the cables with new parts, too?
In reply to DeadSkunk (Warren) :
Yeah, it all came as an assembly, the regulator (both 'uprights' and all cables) and motor attached and ready to go. I lined everything up by eye, did the simple learn procedure and surprise, surprise, it works perfectly.
In reply to DrBoost :
Since I have a complete spare door, would you suggest I just hack all the existing stuff out and replace it as a unit? I still have to get the parts out of the spare door, too. It's window is fully down, so I'll need to rig some power to get it part way up, right?
In reply to DeadSkunk (Warren) :
Yeah, that's a good idea.
