My driver side power window failed to move one day but immediately started to work again…., never had an issue with the passenger side one.

After some weeks, it just got stuck fully closed, no movement at all. Did all typical procedure of check fuse, relay, switch, and all worker perfectly, so I decided to disassemble the door panel and go and check into the mechanism and motor.

Took out the motor and the regulator, and found that the window was not moving freely, so I cleaned and lubed everything, check the motor (which moves in both directions) and the regulator (which seems fine).

Put back all together and it worked, but only for a while: I left the window fully closed, came back in a few hours, and it was stuck again!!!

A few days later, I had the chance to disassemble it one more time, only to find that as soon as I disassemble it, it will start working again.

Once more, time, checked everything, but this time I took apart the motor to clean the brushes/rotor and lube the gears.

After reassembly, it all worked again, but one more time, it got stuck when fully open after a few hours on been left without moving it.

I have nothing to which compare to, so I really don’t know if the motor is “tired”, if the window doesn’t move as freely as it should (it will not fall by itself when the regulator is out, you need to help it), or else. There is no sign of rust that may produce friction on any rail or on the regulator.

Any ideas or test that I can do to resolve the situation and confirm what is wrong before buying parts will be greatly appreciated.

Thanks so much!!!

 

To the letter, I had the same with my '89 C4. Never found out why. Changed switches, motors, felts, whole mechanism, still would do that.

My solution was either elegant: remove the tweeter and use the allen wrench to move the motor a bit.
Or brutal: Whack the door panel where the motor is, would free it 8/10ths of the time.

Quite frustrating.

 

Sounds like a cold solder joint or similar to a bad starter motor when you have to give it a good wrap to get it to spin.

Pete

 

Pete, I would agree, but changing motors for known good ones did not help. Still a mystery to me.

 

Simply incredible!!!

I just tried the brutal way and it worked, that’s a relief for the moment. As for the elegant method, it’s not available for me as the motor on the car does not have the allen feature (simply a round hole instead).

One question: does your window get stuck in any position or just when it’s all the way up like mine? Mi thoughts at the moment is that the window has got some how misadjusted and goes up too much, so I am thinking about adjusting it a bit lower and see how it goes.

 

Always got stuck in the closed position.
Try a loooong allen wrench. The hex part is qute deep in these. Although I had a motor without allen take-up.

 

Thanks George,

I will check the allen once more, just to check.

And will keep you posted on my ongoing investigations, maybe I can be of any help.

 

Check your toolset. The two with the red arrows should be in there and are exactly for this purpose

 

Oh I solved my issue.






Sold the car.

 

Quick update: did not roll the window all the way up, just a few mm down, and no more blocks for the moment.

No idea way, but this is how it goes.

I am going to adjust the regulator for a lower top limit and see how it goes.