Chevamaro

Gah... My driver's side power window rolled up fine... but the front of the window only goes down about 1/2" before it stops and the gears start to grind. The rear of the window does not move at all . To complicate matters (?), I found a little fuzzy rectangle with a metal core (about 1/2" x 2") sitting in the bottom of the door. Two identical fuzzy rectangles are at the top of the door, and protect the glass as the window slides up and down. I suspect there's a third (the one I found), but can't find where it should go.

If it helps, the internals of that door have been prone to clunk around when opening and closing.


I used the search feature, but didn't find a problem quite like this.

While I'm sure most of you are sick of window woes, any help would be appreciated. Thanks.

(this pertains to my '96 Camaro)

jbird

I just had this problem on my '95 formula. I think there are only supposed to be two fuzzy rectangles at the top, but I'm not positive. Changing the window motor fixed the problem. It had been replaced before, and there was a big wear line on the motor housing like it had been moving in relation to the regulator, but all the screws were tight so I dunno. Anyways, I just thought I'd share with you. For 50 bucks and about an hour it was working again.

With mine you could wiggle the window down some more while it was grinding, and then it would go up just fine. Basically what is happening is the gears on the regulator and motor aren't matching up properly, or one or the other is stripped.

Chevamaro

Thanks jbird. I hope you're right that it's the motor.

While I can't see in there very well, it looks like it may be a replacement motor (bolted to the regulator)... though the regulator by the motor is still riveted to the door-frame. Hope those don't have to come out. When I swapped regulators on my '82, the bolts I used to replace the rivets had a nasty habit of coming loose. Maybe the bolts securing the motor need to be tightened up.

Anyway, I'll have to put that off till later this weekend, as guests are coming and the door panel is back on.

transAMdriv3r

do you know if those fuzzy rectangle things have to be made for that car orcan you get them from junkyard

jbird

Yeah, if the motor is bolted to the regulator it's a replacement. The regulator doesn't have to come out to get the motor out. Just make sure you stuff something between the window and the door shell when you take the motor out or it might fall down. If you want to change the motor the easy way, you can just drill a few holes in the door shell to get to the screws that hold the motor on, there should be three of them. Someone already did that on my car when they replaced it before, it does make it much easier. You should be able to see where to drill the holes by looking into the cutouts in the door shell if you want to go that route. The screws in mine seemed to be very tight, so I don't know how the motor moved, but it makes a lot of torque for those three screws to hold, maybe they were just frozen or something.

As for the post about the fuzzy things, yeah, you should be able to get some at a junk yard, but they're not that expensive new. I'd just buy new ones because they wear out over time and will scratch your windows.

TraceZ

Our doors have only 2 bumpers (fuzzy things) at the top. If you found a 3rd in the bottom of the door broken, it is very likely that someone else had to replace one at some point and never bothered looking for the broken one to throw it away.

Shoebox has a video of the inner workings of the door on his website. Seeing it in action might help.
http://shbox.com/1/window_regulator2.wmv

Shoebox also has instructions on how to R&R a window motor:
http://shbox.com/page/windowmotor.html


Also, here is a diagram of the inner door:

Chevamaro

Thanks for the info. Point #3 is stuck. It will not budge. Using a mirror to look around, nothing seems off-track, but who knows. The motor itself seems fine (it appears original too)... and the gears only skip reluctantly after straining to move the piece of glass that is siezed at regulator point #3.

Maybe there's a foreign object wedged in there somewhere (the extra fuzzy thing's metal tab is missing... so that could be it).

I'm going to have another shot at it tomorrow. Here's my plan of attack:

-Poke around in there (try to dislodge whatever may be impeding its movement)
-Unbolt regulator point #3, and see if I can wiggle whatever it is loose.
-Use moderate force to try to push the window down (hopefully nothing will break)

TraceZ

Good plan, you can also remove the track that #3 rides up and down in. It's just held in with a few nuts. Once it is out, you can inspect it.

Good luck.