The power windows in my 79 are hokey. The passenger window will not go down, the driver's window will go down but will not go up. I will start with the passenger window first. When I push on the passenger switch, you can hear the motor gear spin but the glass does not go down. That leads me to suspect the either the regulator gear or the motor gear is stripped. I won't know until I take it apart. My problem is that since I cannot get the window down far enough to access the horizontal channel bolts that hold the glass to the regulator. What is my best course of action to get the window down far enough to get to the bolts?

Now for the driver's side window. When the window goes down, it will not come up. The last time I rolled the window down, I used a jumper wire to attempt to get the window to go up. I used a jumper wire because the time before that when I was not driving the car, I used a jumper wire and the window went up. However it did not go up this time with the jumper wire. I then pressed the switch up and the window went up. This leads me to think this problem is electrical. I think I will trace the wire to look for any stripped insulation, or breaks in the wire along the circuit (that will prove to be a pita) Should I try to clean the contacts on the switches first? Hmmm..... decisions, decisions.

 

I just did this job on my '79. I just bit the bullet and gutted the entire door, one door at a time so I always had one for a reference in case I forgot how to put it back together. I had so many things going on with my doors I figured I would just go through everything while I was in there.

On your passenger window, I think you only need to lower the window 1-2 inches in order to get at the two horizontal track nuts. Sometimes you can push the glass down by hand if the gear is stripped. On mine, it was the last few teeth of the regulator gear that were worn down. The symptom was the glass would go up except for the last inch or two. The rest of the way I had to pull the glass up by hand. I tore everything down and replaced the regulator gear. I removed all the old caked up grease from the tracks using brake cleaner. I also washed all of the door lock mechanisms while I was there and re-lubed them with white lithium grease. I tested the door lock actuators. I made new boots for them as well. Let me know if you have any specific questions and I'll try to answer them. It wasn't that bad of a job, (compared to some of the other things I've had to do on this car), LOL!

Oh, one other thing, regarding the electrical issues. One of my doors had a ground connection with two black wires going to a ground screw on the door panel. Check that connection and make sure it is clean and tight. Also I heard one other forum member say that sometimes the wires inside the door may have a few strands break under the insulation from the doors constantly opening and closing. I guess it is posssible, not sure how likely. You might want to check that.

 

The clips (plugs) on the back of my switches were loose. I had to tighten them up so they held onto the switch.

May help to start there.

Is the motor spinning or straining?

 

On the passenger side, you should as Tom said be able to apply some pressure to the top of the glass to achieve the clearance you need to get to these bolts.

If the motor is running but not catching my guess is the power window regulator gear is missing teeth. You can purchase a complete gear and weld in place for this repair but you should also look real hard at the gear on the motor as well. Like the old distributors, if one is bad you more then likely need both gears.

You’ll need to get the regulator out of the door and inspect both the teeth and while you have it out you can also check all the rollers to make sure none are frozen.

On the market today, you will find two different power window gears, one is the complete gear and one is just the bolt/weld on teeth. I personally just install the entire gear in my shop. I don’t care much for the bolt on teeth.

Should you decide to go with the regulator there are also two different brands as well. One is imported and one is US made. You’ll notice which is which by the price of the regulator. While the imported is not listed on our site, we keep getting request for it and will have it on there maybe as quick as tomorrow. This will give the customer the choice. However, I have seen both and while there is a pretty good price difference I would only install the US in my shop.

On the driver side! You can check the motor by taking off the large access cover. Go straight to the motor and un-plug it! If you have a battery charger connect the ground to the motor can and then touch the hot side to one side of the motor. This would be up or down. If the motor tries to go up then hit the hot wire on the opposite connector and it should go down. If it fails one of these test then you have a motor issue or you may have over-run the gears. I have a video on the tube on how to test this motor on the bench.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zXBWu...e=channel_page

I don’t know how to post the U tube thing on the forum so I just posted the link above.

We will be adding more and more of these in the next few weeks. They seem easier to do than the old write up sheets.

If you need more assistance please post again or email me direct at WillcoxCustomerService@Willcoxcorvette.c om

Willcox Inc.