Several months ago my 1980's driver power window stopped working, I confirmed I had power to the motor, and assumed it was a bad motor; I bought a new motor, regulator and rollers. After disassembling everything I figured Id test the old motor, and it worked fine, but I had all the new parts, so I would go ahead and replace everything. I After disassembling everything I figured Id test the old motor, and it worked fine. I cleaned and lubricated everything, reassembled and adjusted the window and stops.

The window worked fine for a while then stopped working in the up position, I loosened the up stops and the window (and mechanism) visibly "released", the window again went up and down fine, I checked the adjustments and retightened the up stops where they needed to be. A little while later the window stopped working in the down position, I tried again to loosten the down stops, this didn't help, I loosened the motor mounting bolts, and again I observed and heard a "release", the window worked fine.
Tired of taking the door panel off, I spent several hours going through the adjustment procedure per the factory manual, got everything adjusted, and the window is actually fitting and lining up better than it ever did...going up and down fine.
The window is currently again stuck in the up position!!
So Im certain what I originally thought was a bad motor was actually this "binding up issue".
I replaced the motor, regulator assembly and rollers, the adjustment procedure has been done several times.
As Im sure most of you know, its difficult to see all the parts of the window mechanism / assembly, I can't see anything that explains this binding up issue...Any help would be greatly appreciated!
Dana

 

When you say you disassembled and replaced 'everything' I'm trying to get an idea of what all you did (everything means different things to different car owners). Did you remove the glass, all the window tracks and window regulator ...degrease it all, then re-install all new plastic rollers and re-grease it all prior to assembly? If so, just curious how the rollers looked when you took it all apart ...in terms of wear? How did the teeth on the regulator arm look (they can wear). Did the regulator arms appear to be bent at all? They have a little metal jog in them from the factory, but shouldn't be really bent.

Sometimes brand new rollers are kind of stiff and need some oil in their center pivot section. Sometimes they have molding burrs or flashing on them that needs to be trimmed with a razor. Then there's that round plastic nub at the front of the glass which contacts the door metal as the glass reaches the top. A light application of grease can help it slide into place better.

Also, was this coil spring (pictured below) still mounted in the center of your car's window regulator (right where it pivots) ..or did you replace it with new? That spring is kind of important, it takes a lot of the weight (strain) off the window motor. It needs to be tensioned too (not just instaled). They are coiled pretty tight and commonly break and sit at the bottom of the door. That causes the window to barely go up. Esp with gummed-up window tracks.

 

I have one of those in my parts bin. I'll have to see if it is installed. That would explain the symptoms I'm seeing in MY 80...

Thanks!

 

Hi Mark,
Thanks for the reply. I removed the old regulator & rollers with spring, motor, & tracks, everything was gleaned and greased.
I replaced the motor and regulator with new as well as rollers (the new regulator assembly includes a loaded spring); the window goes up and down briskly, and keep in mind it has gotten bound up in both the up position and down position, which I wouldn't think would be spring related.

Im also convinced the first time I had a problem wasn't motor related (the old motor tested fine once removed) it was the same binding problem with the old / original components.

Thanks again for your input
Dana