Broken driver side window...a story with a touch of ghetto.
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MECP Certified Installer
Joined: Feb 2009
Posts: 3,176
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From: Mesquite, TX-DFW
Broken driver side window...a story with a touch of ghetto.
So since the day i bought my RX7, I have not had an operational driver side window. On the day I bought the car, the seller rolled the driver side window down and half way down there was a bang. The whole "oh ****, make sure it goes back up" thing happened and we forced the window back up.
So since january, I have been driving a car with only the passeneger side window able to roll down and no A/C. I have never driven with a working A/C, and I live in Dallas....crazy eh? A/C is not a big deal but the driver window not going down is a HUGE one.
Fast forward to last night. I decide to remove the driver door panel and start jacking with the regulator. It looked as if part of the pulley system up top had broken, and a piece of that was stuck in the track. I managed to fish this piece out and tried to move the window. It went down but it would not come up. I then notice that the steel cable that pulls the glass up is fraying out all over the place. I decide to suck it up for a bit longer and go find a regulator and just get the window back up.
Well, I try to force the window up the usually pull on glass/push power window button method and it snags 4mm from the top. I sat there for 2 hours pulling, and cursing, and trying to find a way to fill that last 4mm with glass, but to no avail.
Here's where it gets ghetto...
Deciding that the window absolutely has to go all the way up, I formulate a plan. I drive a 1990 Vert....it's a vert and verts leak. Last thing I need is 4mm of open window to ruin my perfect leather. By the way, I have no idea how my leather stayed so good after 20yrs but I have soft supple leather with no wrinkles at all. Anyway, I decide the best method of action is to just cut the cables on the motor so i can freely move the glass. It was not going to move on its own attached to the motor.
So after cutting the cables I obviously need to find a way to keep the window from falling in the door and shattering. I decide to take the remaining cut cable hanging from the glass and securing it in the door by drilling a small hole and putting a screw/washer on there, then wrapping the remaining cable slack around it and tightening it. This worked sorta. The glass would slide down slightly because I could get all of the slack out of the cable. I then start looking for way to totally immobilize the glass.
Tada! The bump stop on the door that keeps the glass from going too far up! I took a hose clamp and put it around the bump stop on the door and the bump stop on the glass, then tightened it down. So to help you picture it, basically there is a worm clamp tightened around the bump stop assembly. The glass cannot move up or down at all.
I forgot to take pics, I was frustrated and in a hurry, but it worked. The glass will not and can not move now and hopefully I can find a cheap driver side convertible regulator....which seems freakishly difficult to find. There is a moral to this story too. If your window starts acting up mechanically, jsut buy a new regulator and be done with it. If you screw with it, be prepeared to cuss and scream.
So since january, I have been driving a car with only the passeneger side window able to roll down and no A/C. I have never driven with a working A/C, and I live in Dallas....crazy eh? A/C is not a big deal but the driver window not going down is a HUGE one.
Fast forward to last night. I decide to remove the driver door panel and start jacking with the regulator. It looked as if part of the pulley system up top had broken, and a piece of that was stuck in the track. I managed to fish this piece out and tried to move the window. It went down but it would not come up. I then notice that the steel cable that pulls the glass up is fraying out all over the place. I decide to suck it up for a bit longer and go find a regulator and just get the window back up.
Well, I try to force the window up the usually pull on glass/push power window button method and it snags 4mm from the top. I sat there for 2 hours pulling, and cursing, and trying to find a way to fill that last 4mm with glass, but to no avail.
Here's where it gets ghetto...
Deciding that the window absolutely has to go all the way up, I formulate a plan. I drive a 1990 Vert....it's a vert and verts leak. Last thing I need is 4mm of open window to ruin my perfect leather. By the way, I have no idea how my leather stayed so good after 20yrs but I have soft supple leather with no wrinkles at all. Anyway, I decide the best method of action is to just cut the cables on the motor so i can freely move the glass. It was not going to move on its own attached to the motor.
So after cutting the cables I obviously need to find a way to keep the window from falling in the door and shattering. I decide to take the remaining cut cable hanging from the glass and securing it in the door by drilling a small hole and putting a screw/washer on there, then wrapping the remaining cable slack around it and tightening it. This worked sorta. The glass would slide down slightly because I could get all of the slack out of the cable. I then start looking for way to totally immobilize the glass.
Tada! The bump stop on the door that keeps the glass from going too far up! I took a hose clamp and put it around the bump stop on the door and the bump stop on the glass, then tightened it down. So to help you picture it, basically there is a worm clamp tightened around the bump stop assembly. The glass cannot move up or down at all.
I forgot to take pics, I was frustrated and in a hurry, but it worked. The glass will not and can not move now and hopefully I can find a cheap driver side convertible regulator....which seems freakishly difficult to find. There is a moral to this story too. If your window starts acting up mechanically, jsut buy a new regulator and be done with it. If you screw with it, be prepeared to cuss and scream.
