Tim Ware

71 Coupe. I asked about slow power windows & received good replies. Some said to clean & lube the tracks. Removed the door panel & the only cover I see is the one covering the motor. Apparently (?) Chevy assembled the window, etc. mechanisms before attaching to the fiberglass outer skin. I don't want to remove everything from behind the steel inner panel, but how else do I clean & lube the tracks ?
Thanks, Tim

Shark Racer

Unfortunately to really clean them and properly lube them, you gotta pull them out.

Mooser

That said, if you don't want to pull them out...
Raise the window, lay a couple of old towels in the bottom of the door to catch drippings and with great difficulty and double jointedness you can reach up and get at a lot of the tracks / rollers with a bunch of damp (not dripping wet) rags (choose your degreaser, varsol etc) and wipe the tracks the best you can, if you have access to some brass wire brushes (gun cleaning type) you can snake them into the track a little as well.
Then lower the window and you can get at the top, somewhat, at least.

Spray penetrant/degreaser into the tracks from the top using the straw type can to keep it from going everywhere and let it run down into the towels you put in.

Don't forget the scissor pivot area
Get the towels out without letting them soak the fiberglass

Raise the window and apply grease of your choice to the tracks in a limited amount and run them up and down a few times to spread it around.

If you pull the mechanism, re-aligning the window will make cleaning them in the door seem not so bad
M

Mooser

Here's what you can't see




M

Alan 71

Hi Tim,
Getting all the window parts out of the door to service them isn't difficult... it's just time consuming.
Having all the old dried lubricant cleaned off the parts and new lubricant added does help with the window's operation.
If you do decide to take things apart you do need to be prepared to re-adjust the glass to get a good fit and seal again as you install it.
Regards,
Alan

Not all of these parts are 'window' parts some of them are the door latching parts.

Silver 7T8

A Few Words of Caution:
Be careful, as ALL of the "Curved-Track Steel EDGES" that the plastic rollers run in are
VERY-SHARP! You will temptated to press Your fingers in theses groves to clean them.
Wear Gloves &/OR use a tool to press a cleaning-cloth into the groves.
I learned this lesson the difficult-way.
Take Care / Have Fun

73racevette

This would have been great information last week. I just took both of my doors apart with really no knowledge of what was inside. The first one was tough, just blindly taking it apart. The second one was easier. Still a bit confused as to what I am doing wrong because the window's front roller and plastic guide just does not want to come out easily.


For the op, take the windows apart, clean and relube. It sucks but it will be much better in the end. Just takes LOTS of patience. Walk away if you need to. It will be easier when you come back.

Primoz

I did the same thing with mine! Took everything out! Cleaned that old grease with gaseline, dried it, painted it and when assembling I used some grease on the sliding parts. Works great! Looks great too!

mrvette

Inside liner off, run the windows up/down a few time while spraying brake cleaner on the upside of the tracks....as they free up, run a tad more.........

after it dries out , a bit of WD 40 is all you need.....hit the obvious pivot points also.....

BUT to also consider that the PW switches also drop voltage over the contacts, and so the windoze run SLOW......

Switch replacement/repair is another thread/story.....

DUB

100% and then some.

I clean so many window tracks with the parts in the door. The reason is TIME. They can be successfully cleaned and greased in a fraction of the time that it takes to take it all apart and get the window adjusted again.

I use SOLDER SEAL GUNK electric motor/contact cleaner (Part # NM-1)
The reason being is that it really dissolves/emulsifies the grease and does not leave a residue behind. Not that leaving a residue behind matters in this scenario...but how fast it can get the grease to come off is what that matters to me. It is my degreaser of choice. It REALLY works...FAST...no joke.

Keep in mind I DO NOT spray it in or on the tracks directly when they are in the door. I spray it on a shop towel and wipe it manually. The reason for this is that some of you may know I do body/paint work. So spraying ANYTHING inside the door that can possibly get onto the backside of the outer door skin is a BIG NO-NO in my book. And I know that this contact cleaner dries fast and is not a lubricant...but I am 'old school' and I still just do not do it. I am afraid of the spatter and if it causing the grease that is in the track to dissolve and then spatter onto the backside of the door skin.

And as always....people can do to their cars as they see fit.

DUB

maj75

DUB, how do you clean the tracks when they are in the door without spraying degreaser? I can’t see getting a rag inside the tracks while they are in the door. How is that possible?

Fredtoo

I have an issue where the power window "jammed".
I had to pull it up by hand, while having the wife work the switch.
(not earning points on the new to me 1972 car)


Is there a particular problem in there to look for?

DUB

I know I am not super human so all I can say is that it is possible. I would not write how something is done it if I can not back it up.

If you do not believe me..I do not know what else I can say.

I spray the electric motor /contact clearer on a shop rag and THEN reach inside the door. I can reach in and touch the inside greased channel portion of the front and rear vertical track all day long with my finger tips. I apply common sense and if I feel the tracks and they are really gummed up with hard thick grease that has been there for decades...I would naturally scrape off what I can first then wipe it with my cleaner. I have made tools to do this to make it easy for me but use what you can find that works for you if needed. Or you might have stubborn area that teh grease is coming off but takes a bit of elbow grease.

Naturally I have the porthole access plate removed and the window is all the way up.

The horizontal track takes a bit of imagination/problem solving..(I cannot give out all my tricks)....and I often times will remove the 'leveling' track from the door that is used to adjust the door glass being level due to it is so small and take no time to remove it and clean it.

We all know that this is not rocket science...and if a person is going to use a spray grease of some type...which I DO use...I am careful and very controlled with its application and take precautions to make sure I am NOT getting any of it where I do not want it.

Just because the spray grease has a nozzle on it that has to be pressed down...does not mean it has to be pressed down all the way all the time causing the grease to come out under high pressure.

DUB

DUB

YES...it is more than likely a dirty armature in the motor.

YES...the tracks can also possibly need to be greased. And if you look down into the door and see the large spring attached to the regulator..

This large spring (under tension) is there to help provide force to help the motor pick up the window.

Does the window go down normally??? Reason I ask is that often times I run into regulators that have a missing spring on it and the window will fly down but take a month to go back up.

You can also possibly have a dirty power window switch/connections ...thus not allowing the needed amps to get to the motor to make it work effectively.

I am betting it is in your motor...but that is only a guess from the countless ones I have had to deal with.


LOOK AT POST #145 in the link to the thread below and it shows how bad the armature can get in a pwoer window motor. ( Second and third photo)

https://www.corvetteforum.com/forums...y-frame-8.html

DUB

Fredtoo

My guess is that the motor is OK.
This seemed like a physical issue where something would get stuck.
Backing up the motor, then pulling on the window and then using the motor would allow the window to incrementally move up from the lowest position. Once it was about 1/2 way up, it would go on it's own, albeit, begrudgingly.

My suspicion is that something got knocked out of kilter on it's trip from CaA to NJ

But which widget where is the issue.

mjmike

Hi Alan,

I could not help but notes the way you painted the door with the black edge. Is this how all 71-72 coups came from the factory?

lvmyvt76

not only those years but, also my 76 came that way.

lvmyvt76

could be the spring in the window regulator is broken. Have you done any research ,yet, on the problem?? could be bad & old grease on the tracks. could be a weak ground for the motor. could be adjustments on the window alignment. could be a couple of these or not at any of these.

2mnyvets

Just finished my driver side last week and took out the passenger side. I chose to remove it and i'm glad I did. The regulator was bent and the wheels were all very loose. The grease was tenacious and dried out. I cleaned it with a nylon brush and gas. Used a paint stirrer with a rag to get into the track channels. I installed a new American made regulator and new rollers.
Removing the first window was difficult due to lack of experience. The second one took 35 minutes. It took me about 1-1/2 hours to install the driver's side. I'll probably be faster on the passenger side. I used white lithium grease. Pretty much put the bolts back in the same scratches on the door and the window required only minor tweaks.
I probably could have cleaned the tracks well enough to get the window working without removing it but it likely would have been loose and I 'm not sure how long it would have worked. The window comes down fast and smooth, but going up it starts fast but slows down near the top. I am going to see if I can tighten the spring up so it has more foce near the top.

lvmyvt76

will probably have to replace the spring, it is worn out(if electric).