1994 325is window problem

[whitee36coupe]

First off, I am the new guy here. I am a Toyota Master Technician by trade, and I live in Lubbock Texas.

I just purchased a 1994 325is Coupe from our used car department. This is the first BMW I have ever had. I love the car, and I have had no trouble except for this window.

The driver window goes down fine, and ocassionally goes up fine. But, the majority of the time, it will go up a few inches and then back down a few inches. It will repeat this action until you get it all the way up.

The window goes up straight, and I have had the panel off and the regulator clips are fine also.

Is there a fix for this besides replacing the window motor? I thought that maybe you could take the motor apart and clean it? I thought that mabe it was dirty creating to much resistance?

Thanks for any help, and I am glad I found your site!

Kyle

[GeoPappas]

I am not positive, but I believe that this happens when there is too much resistance on the window. As the window is going up, if it detects too much pressure, then it backs it down. It is a safety feature that is supposed to protect against rolling the window up when someone's head (or other body part are in the window).

Two things can cause this:

- A misaligned window
- A bent part of the window assembly

If you have a misaligned window, I believe that there is a screw that you can adjust that will help relieve the pressure.

If there is a bent part, then you can try bending it back. If that doesn't work, then you will need to replace the part.

One thing that I found, is that the bolt (or bolts) under the door handle need to be tight. This will help ensure that the window system is aligned properly.

[Jared at Pelican Parts]

There is also a guide that seems to pop out on these cars as well. i have an article on how to fix the problem.

[whitee36coupe]

Thank you for the input. I will check these items and let you know. The window goes up nice and straight, so I do not believe this is an alignment problem. I will check the bolts and the regulator for bent pieces.

Thans again,
Kyle

[whitee36coupe]

Jared, where would I find your article?

Thanks again, for the help guys!

Kyle

[Jared at Pelican Parts]

send me your email address and I'll email it to you.

[SteveSteinhauer]

I'm having similar problems - my mechanic says that its a problem with the motor's windings aging and increasing in resistance - and he says the only way to fix is to replace the motor. I suppose you could try shorting some of the windings to reduce the resistance, but that's probably not so great for the actual window operation. I have noticed that the windows almost always work when the car's not running, which may indicate that a steadier system voltage would benefit as well. Perhaps a beefier alternator would help?

In the meantime, I plan to put on new slides and grease the hell out of the tracks/mechanisms in hopes of not having to spend the $160 or so for each motor!

[whitee36coupe]

Steve, did the same thing. I took everything apart, and greased up the slides and the regulator. This fixed the problem for 3 days, and now back to the same thing. I called our BMW store and they told me the same bad news, replace the window motor. Oh well, at least that will give us something to do over the weekend. ;-) You have to find that silver lining in the thundercloud.

Thanks for the help guys!

Kyle

[Jared at Pelican Parts]

How did the article work for you?

[whitee36coupe]

I am sorry Jared, I forgot to thank you. The aricle was great, and very helpful. The only bad thing was, after I got the door apart I found that everything looked great. That is when I gave up and called the calvary.

Thanks again, for the article I appreciate it!

Kyle

[Jared at Pelican Parts]

no problem. I was sure that was the problem. How bad is the motor? can you clean the contacts on the windings?

[SteveSteinhauer]

Does anyone know if the NEW motors are designed to eliminate this problem? I probably won't have the car in another 8 years, but... seems that it'd be a good product improvement!

[Jared at Pelican Parts]

Do you know what killed the motor?

[whitee36coupe]

Jared, I will probably try that first. I just didn't want to remove everything and clean it only to have the same problem. Do you know if it is possible to take the motor apart without removing the regulator and motor assymbly? I think I can take just the top off of the motor with the motor and regulator still in place, but I wasn't sure.

[Jared at Pelican Parts]

IF you are planning to clean out the motor, remove the whole assembly.

[whitee36coupe]

Thats what I figured. We are slow in the shop today, I may just bring in my own car and tear it down. Cross your fingers!