Window Motor Replacement

[Guest reattasnohio]

Is there a post that explains the door window motor replacement on our cars? The search function did not

help !!

Chris in Ohio

[padgett]

It is in the downloadable service manual at www.reatta.net You need to be careful because the regulator is spring loaded, it and the motor come out of the door in one piece.

[Roadster90]

Padgett....can you explain the "spring loaded" thingie...I seriously doubt the manual will comment on the condition - or at least not clearly.

[padgett]

The manual does talk about the spring on the regulator and provides a procedure for locking the unit before removing the motor.

[Guest imported_barra]

May I ask where you purchased the motor and what it cost? I ended up going to a GM dealer and spent $200 for the motor and $180 for installation. I think my other power window motor is going to need replacing soon as well. I'd like to be smarter this time.

[Richard S]

I have not replaced one, though I have a couple that need work. There are countless motors on ebay, though I can't vouch for quality. When I was at the wrecking yard, I noticed that the many auto glass shops there also installed motors. I thought I heard one small shop offer to do it for $45. The thing about our cars is that one would want them to be careful about removing the door panel to keep the plastic holders from breaking. Also, I doubt these guys would be into replacing the plastic moisture barrier. Finally, on many of our cars, window motor woes are either mistaken for, or the result of tracks that are out of adjustment and bind. I have not checked the manual to see if it tells how to align the track.

[Guest DTerry]

I think I posted this before, but it may have been in a PM to someone repairing a window. For whatever reason, I can't get the PM to work now; so here is what I did:

Start by fixing the window in place so it won’t fall when the regulator is removed. I used a strip of duct tape on the outside at the bottom of the window. Worked fine.

Remove door panel – obviously. Not having the proper tool, I used a flat pry bar. Locate the pins that plug into the door and get the bar under the pins at these locations. There are two at the top that are reversed. The two pins at the top are attached to the door and plug into the panel.

Remove the moisture barrier – the plastic sheet glued to the door. I pulled it loose at the sides and bottom and rolled it up to the top and held it in place with clothes pins. The foam sound damper I removed.

Remove the speakers.

Disconnect the electrical connector on the front of the motor; pulls straight out.

To remove the motor/sector assembly, punch out the steel rivet centers, then a ¼” drill bit carves the aluminum rivets right out. There are 4 in a square pattern and one up to the left at the end of the motor, about a foot away. You’ll see when you get there.

Remove the lower roller track. One screw on the left and two on the right.

Lift the motor/sector and remove the rollers from the upper track. This is the track on the bottom of the window itself, and takes a little finesse. Then the entire assembly can be worked out through the hole where the lower track was removed.

I drilled a ¼” hole through the regulator and housing and secured it with a bolt through both. THIS IS THE MOST IMPORTANT STEP IN THE PROCESS. THERE IS A BIG SPRING ON THE REGULATOR GEAR THAT WILL REMOVE BODY PARTS (YOURS), AND IT ABSOLUTELY MUST BE FASTENED.

Drill out the three rivets and the motor falls off. Attach the new motor with 1/8” (I think) rivets. Easy enough, so far. Now comes the hard part:

Work the motor/regulator assembly into place with the rollers on the window track. Now it gets a little dicey, and you’ll need a helper. The window must be moved down until the motor holes line up with the door shell holes. Or the motor must be actuated until the same occurs. I chose to have a helper position the window. Not having ¼” rivet capability, I used ¼” bolts, ½” long with lock washers. These are easy enough except for the one in the lower left of the main 4. It was darn near impossible to get to the back side. I finally had to grind about 1/8” off the end to get it into the hole from the rear. It seemed even more impossible (degrees of impossibility?) to get the nut into position on the inside. It may be easier to fit it to the hole before putting the assembly back in – I don’t know – at that point I wasn’t about to take everything apart and start over. Anyway it was a real pain. I spent almost as much time getting that one bolt in as I did on the entire remainder of the job. Be forewarned.

White lithium grease in a spray can lubes everything – including the window glass. Avoid this if you can, it’s really tough to clean off. Had to use mineral spirits.

The rest is just a matter of reassembly of moisture barrier and door panel. Rubber cement works well to reattach both the moisture barrier and the sound damper. Duct tape on the holes and the places where it doesn’t fit right. The tape won’t show with the panel back in place.

Be careful that the pins are properly aligned when re-installing the door panel…they will break…and they aren’t readily available. (Next time you’re at your local junk yard, find a Riviera – more available than Reattas – and collect all you can pick up.) If any of the plastic holders on the panel are broken – and I suspect that there will be – you can fabricate a replacement from sheet metal and epoxy them in place. Works well. Four of mine had previously been broken when I bought the car (both doors), and the panels weren’t real secure. They fit fine now.

But I ramble…sorry. It’s not as simple as I thought it would be, but it’s not too difficult. And a heckuva lot cheaper than having a dealer do a shoddy job of it, and probably break something else in the process.

BE DAMN SURE NOT TO REMOVE THE MOTOR FROM THE ASSEMBLY UNTIL THE REGULATOR GEAR IS SECURED TO THE HOUSING! IT IS PRE-TENSIONED BY A LARGE, TIGHTLY WOUND SPRING, AND HONESTLY COULD POSSIBLY REMOVE A FINGER.

Post script: I took the old motor apart to see what the problem was. Sure ‘nuff, two teeth off the drive gear. Internally there is a worm gear coming off the motor driving a direction change gear which drives a reduction gear which drives the external gear. All of the internal gears are plastic, of course. A recent post said that the pins for the door panels are available at Lowe’s. I couldn’t find them.

[Ronnie]

Dave, that is a great write-up! I added it to the repair section of my website for easy reference in the future. It can be found here.

[padgett]

Just a note: if you use a battery to move the new motor/regulator it is possible to insert the one 1/4" bolt from the back (actually I put all of the 1/4" bolts in from the back, nuts and lock washers from the front - easier if you do it again). Never needed to grind a bolt.

Having a number of GM cars with power windows, I keep a supply of 1/4" bolts, nuts, and lockwashers around

I also prefer to drill the motor holes out a bit and use 1/4" bolts there also. Some kits come with #8 bolts but I have seen those come loose.

ps I have seen a number of regulators without springs, makes the window a bit slow to go up and do not know what happens if there is a lot of snow/ice. Suspect the cheap/quick fix is to just pop it off - one reason I prefer to do my own work.

[Roadster90]

Dave,

Thanks so much for taking the time to present such a great tutoral. And thanks to Ronnie for adding the tutoral to the Journal. Due to the fact that our "Forum Search Function" is not all that user friendly I had been in the practice of copying tutorals and certain posts, and kept them in a folding document file. The file was fine and dandy until I would take a copy out for reading or reference, and never put it back - or re filed it out of order. It is Great being able to readily access this type as well as other important information in one place, The Reatta Journal. The Journal is fast becoming a vital and essential asset to our hobby.