smlporsche

Does anyone know what the problem might be? Interestingly enough this is on the passenger door, not the one that gets used more frequently.

Is this a DIY project or is a trip to the dealer necessary?

Thanks.

Macster

My 02 exhibited this symptom some months back. Upon opening the passenger door either the window would not dip or worse dip then after the door was open raise again. Upon closing the top edge of the glass smacks the top rail with the sound that well I expected the side glass to shatter.

Along with the above symptom for a long time before occasionally the car's security system would act up. Upon locking the car the horn would sound like a door or the center console was open. I checked but never found either to be the case. But I would open the door and perhaps open then close the center console lid and close the door and locking the car would not reproduce the horn alarm.

Or after I would get in the car and take off the door lock button's lock LED would come on. I'd press the unlock side and the door locks would unlock and the LED would go off only to sometimes do this again as I drove the car.

But the window failing to drop or rising after the door opened was the clincher.

I took the car to the dealer and the tech checked the car's security system for errors (there were some) and with a bit of diagnostics work eliminated the other possible sources of the symptom and pinpointed the cause: The passenger side door lock assembly. Quite a complex piece of hardware. It has several switches/sensors and is rather expensive: $400 IIRC. This is one reason the tech eliminated other possible causes cause all other causes much cheaper to address.

Anyhow, while gaining access to inside the door and to the door lock assembly is not hard, there can be complications. I didn't watch this process so I don't the steps but at one did manage to watch a tech tear into a GT3 door and he complained that it is obvious these items are not made with disassembly in mind and the older the car, the more times the door's been, at the more complications one can run into which makes the job a bit harder.

But even though you can with the proper tools and mind set and patience gain access to the door knowing which of the assemblies to replace is the next difficulty.

You could replace all the hardware only to find the real source of the problem is the door lock assembly so you've added to the cost of the repair by replacing hardware that didn't need replacing.

OTOH, generally the hardware's cost is less than the labor's cost so if you do your own labor as you replace each candidate hardware until you replace the right one all you're out is your time and the cost of the hardware you replaced that didn't need replacing.

What to do? Unless you have a way to identify the specific piece of hardware that is causing the problem you might be better off taking the car in and having having the tech query the car's security system and with the errors read he might have a good idea of what's going on.

Hard call to make. I attempted to gain access to the door but I just don't have the touch or patience or time or place to work on the car and if I can't do somthing in a few minutes (like changing the engine's air filter, or cabin filter or replacing a burned out taillight bulb) I elect to have the work done at the dealer. So I snapped the items I had removed back into place and dropped the car off at the dealer service department.

Sincerely,

Macster.

nosnow

I did have this happen to me once when a shop removed my door panel an didn't reset the system after reconnecting the battery. Basically I had to take the master key and lock/unlock the car with the key lock. That solved the problem.... not sure if you had the panel off but it might be worth a try.

Other wise I was told that this is caused by a bad window regulator before it goes completely. First it stops dropping when you open the door next it stops going up after you roll the window down. I certainly hope this is the problem as the lock mechanism sounds expensive.

101 Projects for your Boxster has window regulators covered. You can also check the tech articles on Pelican or Renntech.

Mr Michael B

+1 = I have seen that as well.

smlporsche

Thanks for the replies.
I was suppose to get the 101 projects for Christmas but it is still on Santa's sleigh...should be here by Tuesday.

I have torn into 2 different doors in the race cars I've built so I am somewhat familiar with them but neither were convertibles so the lowering switch mechanism would be a new challenge. I'm also not the best with electrical gremlins so I'll have to chew on this a while...

Cincy_Ron

My passenger side window did the same thing and it was the window regulator. Open the door and see if you can push the window down by hand the 1/4" or so it usually drops. Shouldn't take too much effort. If it goes down, and then goes back up when you close the door I'd guess it's the window regulator going bad, at least that's what happened with mine.

81911

I'd check the micro switch before a regulator.

curt_928

Does the when you pull at the handle from the outside trying to enter the car does the window drop? No?
When you are in the car and the passenger? door handle is pulled from the inside.. does the door drop? Yes no?
If the window drops when you try to open the passenger side door from the inside but not outside then its the switch in the door striker plate.

If both door handles do not cause the window to drop.. then the window regulator wire is stretched and needs to be replaced. -> goto dcauto.com

BTDT on my 02

Dendrobium

Yep having this happen on my driverside door. I believe it was the same switch that Macster referenced. But on mine the window will drop fine and close correctly when I enter the car. Its when I get out that the window wont lower and smack the top rail. My mechanic switched out the bad switch from another car instead of ordering a new one. It worked for awhile but went back to doing the same thing. So until i bring it back before I shut the door I pull the handle up to make the window move down to close correctly.

Jsonorous

Probably the microswtich or regulator, but it could possibly be the relay. It might be worth a try to take the relay out and reseat the relay.

mlv_250

^ Thanks will check.