PDA

View Full Version : Power Window Regulator



Mudderoy
10-17-2009, 01:01 AM
It was such a pretty day today I was driving home with the windows down. A little over 1/2 way home and driving into the setting Sun I was getting a bit warm, so up with the windows and on goes the A/C.

After a few miles down the road I notice the passenger window was down maybe 1/2 of an inch, so I hit the power up switch and it rolled up.

A few more miles and I'm making a turn and the passenger window rolls down! It looked just as it would if I had pressed and held the power down switch.

I messed with it and it wouldn't roll up. So down goes all the windows.

At a stop light and in a much less noisy environment I start working the power window switch, and I hear a pretty ugly noise coming from the passenger side door.

"Ok screw it!", I said, and I left it alone. I figured it must have come off the track or something and I didn't want to scratch the glass, or the tint I installed.

I got home, parked it in the garage and decided to look at it Saturday.

Prior to looking at the issue I thought I'd see what our friend the Internet has to say about the issue. Apparently this is a common issue with the 97+ Jeep Cherokees and a guy even sells a $40 kit to fix the problem. The problem is a worm gear looking cable is turned by a motor and it tracks in a piece of notched plastic. That notched plastic holds the entire weight of the pane of glass. Not surprisingly the dealer stocks the entire power window regulator and what do you know the replacement notched piece is now metal!

Anyway it is also possible that it is the worm gear looking cable that has worn, so if that is the case the website says I can just flip it and it should work for another 11 years.

I'll take some pictures and report my findings tomorrow (later today actually).

I'm just surprised I don't remember reading about this issue on the other Jeep sites.

Curious about what I'm talking about? Here is the guys site where I read this information. :link: (http://www.steigerperformance.com/products/sp12001.html)

I'm taking bets that the next Jeep this happens to will be Melissa's! :rotfl2:

BlueXJ
10-17-2009, 08:36 AM
Hers is a 96 and I think they had metal racks and gears.

Melissa
10-17-2009, 05:54 PM
I'm taking bets that the next Jeep this happens to will be Melissa's! :rotfl2:

Bite your tongue!!:smiley-scared002::rotfl2: My passenger window already makes noise when you roll the window up and down.


Hers is a 96 and I think they had metal racks and gears.

Mine is a 93, with a 92 motor :boohoo:

Mudderoy
10-18-2009, 01:52 AM
Yep teeth are gone on the plastic part. I cut it off and tried fabbing up a replacement. Really hard to get those teeth cut just right with my dremel, and then get the bend correct.

I'm about to order that $40 thing, I think.

Mudderoy
10-23-2009, 12:29 PM
Well I had a closer look Sunday at the problem. After looking at my junk and looking at the instructions I printed from Steiger Performance I could see that it wasn't teeth that was missing it was a blue piece of plastic that had seperated from the other plastic part that was attached to the glass.

Sunday night I ordered the METAL replacement from Steiger Performance.

The part went out on Monday and arrived on Wednesday via the US Postal service. The part is small and may cost .59 cents to manufacture if someone was making them by the thousands. I paid $45 (shipping included). Keep in mind a replacement power window regulator is $120+, of course you could always go to the junk yard and buy a complete door for $50(?).

Here is what the normal part looks like...
http://www.steigerperformance.com/products/PICS/small.sp12001_original.jpg

Here is what mine looked like...
http://www.steigerperformance.com/products/PICS/small.sp12001_broken.jpg

The instructions were very detailed and the pictures were large and in color.

Here is a picture of the kit.
http://www.steigerperformance.com/products/PICS/small.sp12001d_border.jpg

What you can't tell by this image is the "black" part is has a coil at it top most point. That coil is what rides up and down on the spring like rod that the motor turns.

It is a piece of fairly thing metal folded on to it's self.

Replacing the entire assembly would have been easier (savings in time of 30 to 45 minutes0, but cost 3 times as much. I would have been much happier with this solution if it was $20 to $30.

When the driver's side power window regulator fails, what will I do? If it is the same problem I'll buy this kit again. I'll still bitch about the price though.

Nice job by Steiger Performance (http://www.steigerperformance.com/products/sp12001.html), very well done.

4.3LXJ
10-23-2009, 01:23 PM
That weak point is the same in the earlier ones also. How is it working?

Mudderoy
10-23-2009, 01:32 PM
That weak point is the same in the earlier ones also. How is it working?

In the instructions it says to screw the metal bracket on the rod, after removing some of the "fur" from the threads. There was no way in hell that rod would fit in the grooves. I had to take a screw driver and pry the part apart "clam shell" so I could make enough room for it to allow the rod to be inserted.

Then it wouldn't fit in the slot of the track, because the metal replacement part was too wide. I messed with it for a good 10 minutes and finally got it on the rail. I used a rubber mallet to move it down the rail!

I didn't think there would be a snowballs chance in hell that the motor would move it up and down. I worked it around a few times, then decided to see what the motor could and couldn't do.

It moved it, a little. I was helping it with my hand working it up and down. I didn't have any graphite available but I had some heavy grease. I put some greasy into the channels of the rail guide and move the glass with the motor up and down.

Finally I was able to move the window full up and full down with only the switch. I buttoned it up. I tested it this morning and the speed, noise, etc all seem to be as it was before the mechanical failure.

The grease helped the most. ;)

Oh, I forgot to mention. I don't have a vice on my bench yet. A vice would have been great, as I would have just pressed the part back fully together and there wouldn't have been a clearance issue.

4.3LXJ
10-23-2009, 09:11 PM
:thumbsup:You are going to have to take some of that communications money and get some shop toys.

YellowSub2000
11-11-2009, 07:30 AM
Hey, I'm going to have all four Power window regulators and motors some time soon. If you need them let me know. So far they all work, it's out of an 89 XJ. Should be similiar enough to use.

4.3LXJ
11-11-2009, 12:33 PM
The current months 4WD and Sport Utility mag has an article on repairing the power window regulator.

Prior months issues have articles on hardware upgrades.

cantab27
11-28-2010, 10:17 PM
old post but a goodie ,,, my drivers side dosnt work ,,, i can swap the wires over and can leave it up or down ,,, broken wire some were ,,, purple one ,, i have traced it as far as i can but cant find it ,,,any ideas anyone ,,, sorry if this a hijack tony ....

steph74
11-29-2010, 09:16 AM
this one is interesting too
http://www.lunghd.com/Tech_Articles/Body/XJ_Power_Window_Regulator_Fix.htm

first chance I get I want manual windows.... because mine are so messed up right now one is down (I think the motor is dead because it gets power but won;t move) and the others are so slow..... probably needs a good cleaning

Mudderoy
08-28-2011, 04:21 PM
I'll know for sure here in the next few minutes, but I believe the driver's window same piece broke today.

Mudderoy
08-28-2011, 11:22 PM
Here's an interesting solution for those that don't want to spend $40

:link: (http://www.lunghd.com/Tech_Articles/Body/XJ_Power_Window_Regulator_Fix.htm)

Cotter pins!!!!

http://www.lunghd.com/Tech_Articles/Body/XJ_Power_Window_Regulator_Fix/DV00021.jpg http://www.lunghd.com/Tech_Articles/Body/XJ_Power_Window_Regulator_Fix/DV00013.jpg

jeepxj95
08-29-2011, 12:08 AM
lol thats the same link steph had lol

Mudderoy
08-29-2011, 02:00 PM
lol thats the same link steph had lol

I must have missed his post.

update: Ok I found it. Yeah that's the problem (as I see it) with posting links without pictures. A link is only good if you take the time to click on it. I seldom do. If you guys notice pictures mysteriously appearing after you have posted a link, that's me doing it. I missed Stephs post, otherwise I would have gone there then edited a picture in. :D

jeepxj95
08-30-2011, 01:06 AM
its all good just gotta pick on ya

ralphy
08-30-2011, 05:43 PM
Have the same issue but the cable housing broke, some tie wire and backyard engineering just barely helped, so I'll be replacing both regulators on mine.

Paddletrucker
08-31-2011, 12:14 PM
this one is interesting too
http://www.lunghd.com/Tech_Articles/Body/XJ_Power_Window_Regulator_Fix.htm

first chance I get I want manual windows.... because mine are so messed up right now one is down (I think the motor is dead because it gets power but won;t move) and the others are so slow..... probably needs a good cleaning

This is the fix I did to one of my rear windows and it works just fine now.

Mudderoy
08-31-2011, 01:15 PM
This is the fix I did to one of my rear windows and it works just fine now.

Hmmm I may try it then since someone on here has done it. Better than spending $43 for a $1 part.

Paddletrucker
08-31-2011, 01:42 PM
Hmmm I may try it then since someone on here has done it. Better than spending $43 for a $1 part.

My thinking was that even if I ruined it totally, it would just leave me where I was...needing to buy a regulator. It wasn't too bad to do, and I did it in my yard in the middle of the night, with only an el-cheapo head lamp from Wally-World on my hat. I think I was into about my fourth bourbon, too.:D

I wish I had done it in the daylight (and sober) so that I could have taken pictures.:rolleye0012::o