So after reading this thread here

I decided to give it a try. My drivers side window was absolutly messed. It decided to bone me over real bad last year. On the last day I had the car out, it started raining, and that's when the motor really decided to pack it in. It would take me a couple minutes to get the window up before, but for some reason that night, it would go up perhaps half an inch. It took quite a while for it to get up, and my interior got soaked.

So, I let it sit for the winter, and decided to get at it yesterday.

I took the motor out as per shoeboxes website, and cleaned the tracks up good. The grease that was on them was very sticky. I put on a new coat of white lithium grease.

Then I got to cleaning the motor. I sprayed it down with WD-40 while having it run straight from my battery. After soaking it for awhile, it would eventually spin for awhile longer. I got it all out, then packed it with grease. The motor would spin for about 1.5 revs before stalling up on me.

That won't quite do it, as it seems you need about 3 full revs of the motor. So, I removed that darn fangled heat resistor sorta thingy. Now, when I tried the motor out on the car batt, it would spin, and spin, and spin.

Got it all reinstalled last night (after about an hour of pain and agony *trying* to get it to bolt up to the door) And it works VERY well. The motor now flys up. I took it all the way down, then all the way back up 5 times in a row, and it didn't slow down at all.

These motors are very strong units. We had my friend push with all his force down on it, and while the motor sounded a little strained, he couldn't hold it back. There's such a strong mechanical advantage, that the weight of the window/tracks shouldn't really matter to terribly much.

These will definatly strangle a child if you remove the heat strip.

However, this fix cost me under 2 dollars.

Since removing the motor was a pain, we are going to try a different method on the passanger door. If you remove the speaker, you can feel the 'white' cap which contains the thermal overload.

We're going to try to use a dremal to cut out a little square where that white cap is. Then try to somehow pry the little clips that hold it in. If we can get them undone pretty easily, it should make this fix very easy. As far as structure, the steel we put back in, should be stronger then the fiberglass, so we won't be risking any structural stability.

I'll report back with results tommorow!

(Or, any tips for getting the motors reinstalled easier? We had a heck of a time getting 4 bolts through..)

 

Question for everyone... how is everyone re-attaching the window regulator to the door shell?

Are you using nuts & bolts, or those big 'ol pop-rivets? Any advantages or disadvantages, either way?

And, is there any cure for the habitual "rattling" door glass, that can be implemented while I'm in there?

Thanks.

 

I used a 4 nuts and bolts with washers. Had to trip a couple of the bolts down so they'd still fit.

As to the windor rattling, I'm not to sure. Can't recall it happening to my car. There are 2 'guides' that hold the window when it's up, perhaps those are worn out?

 

OK I am a little confused, you say there is a white cap that holds the overload (making it external, not in the motor), and the other thread is all about pulling the motor apart because the overload is internal??? More info please...

 

Sorry, the white cap 'fits' into the end of the motor casing. The cap holds the brushes. When the motor is in your door, the white cap and motor housing's are held together with 3 tabs.

The thermal overload is in the white cap.

 

So you are going to try to take the motor apart, pulling that copper wire, and soldiering it with it still attached to the door? That sounds like a harder job then pulling the motor out and doing all of that..

Good luck and if you can do it without unbolting the motor definitly let us know...

 

Sort of.

I'll cut a little hatch about 4"x4" above the white cap. If I'm able to undo the retainers that hold the white cap on, it will be very easy, as it should just pop right out. Then you can do all the sauldering inside where it's nice a cozy.
It's just pulling the little metal retainers that might be difficult.

Oh well, if I can get it done, it should only take about an hour from start to finish. That includes bonding that part of the door back up.

I should be trying it later on tonight, I'll report back with news of how it went.

 

Same problem here - and it figures just 3 thousand miles after my extended warrenty ran out . My questions are:
1. Would you recommend this for someone with middle of the road mechanic skills?
2. Exactly what all equipment/tools will I need? (ex. bolts/screws to re-attach door panel, soldering gun, what type of solder?
3. How big of a PITA is re-attaching the door panel?
4. Are the methods typed in here any different for a convertible?

Thanks,
Rob

 

I'd think twice about cutting a 4x4 hole in that smc door skin, it seems weak enough without adding a hole of that size to it. Couldn't you just leave the 4, 1/4 inch regulator rivets alone and use the shoebox method of removing the window motor by drilling out the 3, 1/8 inch rivets that hold the motor to the regulator. Seems like alot easier to take apart and solder the window motor outside the door on a work bench.

 

cutting the door up to do this is about the stupidest thing I have ever heard of. Removing the motors following shoebox's guide took me about 10 mins per side once the door panel was removed, putting them back on was about 20 mins per side. MUCH MUCH MUCH easier then what you're talking about

 

Yeh, we thought a little more about the hole cutting method, and decided not to do it.

We removed the entire assembly for the first door, as we wanted to clean out the rollers, and get the tracks nice and lubbed up. For the second guy, we wouldn't have bothered, and just drilled out the 3 little rivets, but we knew the tricks for removing the entire assembly, and it only took us about 45 minutes to remove it, get it all cleaned up, then to reinstall.

Now, the passanger window works awesome as well. Got everything back together tonight, and am going to insure the car tommorow.

For whoever was asking about the difficulty of this, it's not to bad at all.

You'll need a drill, some screwdrivers, wrenches/ratchets, soldering iron, and just your plain jane solder. Also, a couple screws to replace whatever rivets you choose to drill out.

I think it'd be pretty much the same for a convertible.

It's also pretty easy putting the door panel back on. There's 4 or 5 bolts holding it on, takes a couple minutes to screw em back on.

 

Does anyone know if ALL GM window motors have this 'fuse'?
I have a 93 van that the window stopped working some time ago..
Be good to know this before taking the door apart..
Thanks!
Charlie

 

In response to the question about how to reattach the motor, I used good ol' pop rivets. It was easy and haven't had any problems. I just bought a new motor when I did mine, I should try this heat fuse thing with my old motor and see if it fixes it. My windows (even the one with the new motor) roll up and down fairly slow. Would this heat fuse fix this?

 

Ive been planning to do this for a long time but didnt know how hard it would be, how much time would you say this takes in all?

 

Hey your welcome! It was me that originally posted the fix over a year ago.

Please send donations to me at www.brokewindowmotorsmademerich.com


I'm glad it has saved some people some money.



qwerty95z: Depends on your mechanical skills. It took me about 3 hours to pull the motor fix it and put everything back together.