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Rear window not working - where to start with the fix?

Matt Wright

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May 26, 2010
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south_africa
Hi guys

My rear window doesn't budge when I try lower it so I want to "take it all apart and find out what the problem is". I'm guessing it's either stuck firmly in place, the motor has died or other.. Does anyone have any high level ideas as to how to approach this without the window falling out or something difficutl to fix happening. My plan is :

Remove door paneling
Press lower window button and listen to the motor to see if it is working
If it is then try help it more / maybe the glass is firmly in place against the hardened rubbers
If it isn't then maybe a new motor needed

Anything to look out for (like the way you get the seatbelts rolled back up!)

Thanks
Matt
 
Hi Matt. When you take the door panel off get the wires that come straight from the motor. Put pos and negative feed straight to it and it should go up or down. If it does it will prob be the four way switch on drivers door as they are quite common. If nothing happens I personally think motor will be gone. Karl
 
If it is the switch it can be dismantled and cleaned but be very careful taking it to bits as there are loads of loose bits in there.

Did mine a couple of months back and the auto works properly now on the front drivers window :clap:

Sad to say the 80s suffer from this and it usually involves a complete strip down, clean, regrease and in some cases a new window rubber.
 
Thanks a lot guys, will give that a try tonight :)
 
Thanks from me too. i was just going to post a thread asking exactly those questions as my rear passenger window is not working :thumbup:
 
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Interestingly, I just successfully resurrected two of the windows and helped the other two to turn faster. The reason for not operating (or slowly operating) was the same (!!!) on all four windows and it is an interesting thing because I haven't read about this cause so far ... I'm awfully sorry I haven't taken any pictures, but I will try to explain the solution.

I cleaned the contacts first. It's not a difficult task, you just have to be careful not to brake the old plastic. While I was of course surprised that they worked in a condition they were (a lot of black deposit on contact surface) I was also surprised that cleaning didn't noticeably improved the (i)mobility of windows. Two still not responding and two still (equally as before?) slow.

So I opened the door panels and listened to the problematic motors that should drive the two nonworking windows. One didn't response at all while the other clicked a little but also didn't turn at all. I made sure the switches were delivering the current to all the motors.

I disassembled the window lifting arms. I found it useful to fix the windows with some strong tape before disassembling. The arms come out as whole units, then you unscrew the motors.

Disassembled the motors. Here is the picture borrowed from IH8mud forum with an arrow showing where the problem lied (on all 4 motors!):
windowMotor.jpg


I found out you don't need to open the electrical motor part (as it is showed opened in the picture above). The problem lies in the shaft that drives the windows arms (red arrow pointing there). I opened the steel plate (bend the fixing points a little). Inside there are the two plastic gears that connect the electromotor rotor with the end shaft that drives the windows arms. This little shaft was corroded and sticked to the plastic housing. Two of them really badly. So I exercised these shafts (big pliers and a hammer needed on two of them), generously greased them and assembled everything back.

Now all the windows are working, and I mean not just working, they open faaaast! Down in 3-4 seconds, up in 6-7 seconds. And the total cost of the repair was around 4 hours of my precious time, no new rubbers (I have to admit I was always sceptical of them being the main reason for slow windows), no new motors!

Hope it will help someone. Again, sorry for the lack of the pictures. I hope the explanation above can be understood.
 
Vrecha

That is awesome and easily understandable.
I know what I will be doing this weekend :D
 
Went the Vrecha route today on my drivers window.
Inside the gearbox was rust free but all the 14 year old grease had to be chipped out as it had almost set solid.
A thorough clean and grease up later it seems to move far more freely. It is quite warm today so doesn't seem a great deal different. Winter will tell if it has solved anything. :think:
 
I'm hoping Matt will be along later to share the insight & wisdom he gained during his labours on this very subject today... :whistle:
 
Well. After a long day fiddling with 50 different things on the truck, I know exactly why my read window does not work. It is because :

THE MOTOR HAS BEEN REMOVED!!! :roll:

See the big gaping hole where they used to be - and the cable hanging...
windows2.JPG

windows1.JPG

So, soon as I get one back in I'll give it a go - but with Vrecha's advice, I'll be seeing if I can make the other 3 work better tomorrow..
 
DOH!!! :angry-banghead: Previous owners... :violence-rapidfire: Kill 'em again!!!

You never know dude, it might be a simple fix :lol:
 
Matt
If there's no motor in there, how the hell is the window held up in place :?:

Hope it's not araldite :naughty:
 
Ecky Thump said:
Matt
If there's no motor in there, how the hell is the window held up in place :?:

Hope it's not araldite :naughty:
If its anything like my old disco then the whole lot will be held in place with a block of 2x2 :lol:
 
Ecoman said:
If its anything like my old disco then the whole lot will be held in place with a block of 2x2 :lol:

Many, many years ago I bought a two-year-old Humber Sceptre Estate (the 1725cc Rootes rust box :roll: ).

I wondered why there was a constant draught and whistle from the driver's window and on investigation found two small lengths of wood jammed into the top slot.

I removed them, wound the window up . . and the lifting arm fell out of the track, letting the glass fall down :o .

I had to strip the door and re-glue the track to the window glass - in the correct position.

You live and learn :lol: (I wasn't laughing at the time).

I could write a book about that "Top of the range" car. No wonder the British Car Industry went to the wall.

Bob.
 
Gulp. After eating humble pie all afternoon, I have located the motor, gearing arm and piece that holds the window in place. I decided to man up and tell all cause I know it's going to get out somehow!

I decided the best time to try and get the motor out was in the dark at 10pm just before I took her back to the place I leave her parked so then spent 20mins figuring out how it all fitted together and getting the window locked back in place! It's safe to say that the gearing / flat silver disk are all firmly locked in place so will go fetch her tomorrow, take the whole thing out and do the rebuild and grease. Hold thumbs and thanks again Vrecha for the tip..

Any idea what that hard dull yellow wax is!?

PS : Here it is (in the dark, photos taken with a torch shining on it?!)
windows3.JPG

windows4.JPG
 
Its like the age old joke:

Waiter - How did you find the steak sir?
Man - I just moved a couple of carrots and there it was.

Glad you found it in the end :thumbup:
 
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