[jimmydaux]

Well my friends, I discovered a bit of information that might be old news. My window regulator would grind at the top and bottom extremes of its travel. Ipulled it all apart and found that there is a spring type piece that is attached to the window that runs through a plastice tube, powered by a metal gear that lifts and raises the window. When the window is at either top or bottom of its travel, the coils of this "spring" have been worn from the added pressure of the top and bottom limits of travel. I tried to simply twist the spring to rotate the worn part 180 degrees and out of contact of the gear but it seemed to reset itself. My fix entails pulling the peice that slides up and down the track to lift the window and the whole spring piece from the track and tube assembly. The spring peice threads into the piece that is infamous for breaking. Be careful and unthread the spring, insert the other end and thread it in slowly to ensure you dont break that plastic peice, now reassemble and the worn parts are no longer at the top or bottom of travel so the window will not grind and will seal up better for quieter highway travel.

[EricsXJ]

Thats a nice suggestion but how often do you have to do it?

I've already replaced both my window regulators due to the plastic breaking. I would think if I was going to take apart the door to fix it, I only want to do it once. New window regulators can be pricey at around $100 give or take but you can do it once and be done with it.

[jimmydaux]

Im asuming ill only have to do it this once. The worn peice seemed to be from the 7+ years of use so it should last at least as long as the plastic peice that breaks. IM also thinking that Im going to use some epoxy to strengthen the peice that breaks easily as some preventative maintenance. I think that will work just dandy and make it more than strong enough to last a long time without having to drop 100 + or in my case from the dealer on a 98 drivers side regulator, $250 something.

[RWB214]

Thats not a bad idea.. wish I would have thought of that before I replaced mine last summer.

Mabye we should add this to the sticky?

[jimmydaux]

Ok, so my fix was only temporary. But I have a permanent fix now. Dont think I cried wolf, inventions take lots of trials. =)

So I told you to take the coil out and flip it around. Thats still a good idea. Now the new problem I ran into, and probably the original reason the gear started slipping in the first place. With a bit of time, the coil traveling up and down the guide driven by the gear seems to wear out a bit of plastic that normally would hold the coil tight to the gear. This allows the coil to push away from the gear allowing it to slip.

All I did to fix that was pull the coil out again, rough up the plastic in the opening where the coil meets the gear and then put some epoxy in there. After it sets, try and put the coil back in. You want it to be really snug to where it cant push away from where the gear would be, but not so tight that it hinders the sliding action through the plastic guide. You may need to file or dremel it down a bit till the coil flows good.

Now put it all back together an voila, it works like new and hasnt given me any guff since. =)

Let me know if you have any questions. I may draft up a picture of all this so you can imagine what you are doing before you tear into yours if someone thinks that would be helpful. Otherwise, good luck to ya. Dont give the stealership all your money, just fix it yourself.

Jeremy

[rstarch345]

How would you like a $20 fix that will be permanent.

My window just went flop on the way home from the airport with a chilly 45 degree temperature outside. After disassembling the door panel and window regulator, I confirmed that the worm gear spring popped loose.

I decided to do some web hunting, 'cause even from a JY the price was $75, I found this guy http://www.steigerperformance.com/

Takes about 1/2 hr of time and I have a permanent fix.

[jimmydaux]

Thats not a bad idea. Im glad someone came out with a way to fix the part that breaks.

The problem Im talking about is before that breaks. Its the gear actually skipping over coils of the "fuzzy coil". Its necessary to keep the coil from being able to separate from the gear because of the free play.

[midfat]

Originally Posted by EricsXJ

Thats a nice suggestion but how often do you have to do it?

I've already replaced both my window regulators due to the plastic breaking. I would think if I was going to take apart the door to fix it, I only want to do it once. New window regulators can be pricey at around $100 give or take but you can do it once and be done with it.

Pricey at $100!??? Have you looked at the cost of these lately? I brought mine for $150 last year. This year, the same part is $280. Prices on the window regulators have taken a substantial jump over the last few months.