first nice day and my window breaks....

[nineball]

finally was warm enough (and the salt was washed away from the roads) to take the car out of hibernation today. had a great drive around town and then met the family for a st patty's day dinner. as i was leaving the parking lot i went to put down my power windows and heard a clank from the driver's side but the window didn't move a bit. i hit the up button to get it back to the top thinking it had jumped off track. moved it down a bit, no window movement, so i ever so gently pushed down on the glass. instantly it dropped inside the door completely out of sight.

searches so far on here have yielded some conflicting results. for the most part they all say the window fell out of the channel, but after that i am confused. one thread said to glue the window back into the channel with some quick set urethane. another said the window needs to be glued to a rubber strip and then the window/strip combo goes into the channel. yet another thread talked about replacing the entire window mechanism.

anyone with some experience on this issue want to shed some light on this for me before i take off the panel tomorrow?

[tevake]

There is a rubber U shaped piece that goes in the slot to house the glass in the channel.
You could use silicone adhesive between the rubber and metal and between the glass and rubber.
You might be lucky and find that they just came apart. Or you might find that the channel is rusted and broken. I just had to replace one and found that a new one had to be brought from Germany. I would try a listing on the PP used parts forum. Lots of helpful folks there!

Good luck Richard

[Bob Kontak]

It is pretty self evident what you will need to do once the door panel and plastic moisture barrier is off. You can move the window up and down with the glass out to get it into a good position - then clean and attach. Don't assume you have to pitch it if the channel is corroded. I have been driving for five years with both of my channels on the edge. However, they are gooped up and work just fine.

I would use real silicone or the 3M weather strip adhesive. I think the silicone will repel water better but the 3M adhesive is stronger - my opinion only.

[vulcan300]

The exact same thing happened to me a couple of years ago. I was just lucky that the glass didn't fall to the bottom of the door and shatter. You need to remove the door card and membrane to allow you to access the window track. The first step should be to remove the glass from the door. You can slide it up and out of the opening at the top. You will want to use mineral spirits or some sort of solvent to clean the old adhesive off the bottom of the glass in preparation for reinstalling it. Next step is to remove the window rail from the track so you can reinstall the glass. With no glass in the rail you should be able to slide it forward off the two rollers that support it.

You will find a rubber gasket in the channel and likely a lot of old dried out adhesive that has to be cleaned up. Scrape away as much as you can from the inside of the rail and clean the rubber gasket. Again you should be able to use mineral spirits or something similar to clean up the adhesive. Once clean, and assuming the rail is not falling apart from rust, you can reassemble. I used black adhesive for reinstalling windows, but you can also use silicone or the 3m weather strip adhesive. To put the whole assembly back in the door you will have to remove the quarter window and undo one of the bolts holding the rollers in place. Removing the quarter window gives you the space to lower the window into the door. Removing the bolt allows you to rotate the rollers upwards so you can feed the rollers into the track on the rail.

PM me if you need the appropriate section form the shop manual.

J

[nineball]

Thanks for replies all. I have a bentley and a few other manuals like the sc essential companion to guide me as well. I also have another reason to hit up the zone for another 9 bottles of oil and a $20 credit

[Oh Haha]

Same thing happened here. Once you get the door card off, you'll have no problem seeing what needs to be done. Based on some of your posted projects, this will be a slice of cake for you.

[wgirardot]

Originally Posted by tevake

There is a rubber U shaped piece that goes in the slot to house the glass in the channel.
You could use silicone adhesive between the rubber and metal and between the glass and rubber.
You might be lucky and find that they just came apart. Or you might find that the channel is rusted and broken. I just had to replace one and found that a new one had to be brought from Germany. I would try a listing on the PP used parts forum. Lots of helpful folks there!

Good luck Richard

I hope your channel isn't rusted and distorted/broken like mine was. If it is, glueing your window back in will only be temporary, and you'll find yourself having to get back into the door.

[john walker's workshop]

those new channels are expen$$$ive now. forget the rubber and use sikaflex 292. set the glass in the channel full of this stuff and be sure the glass is positioned properly front to rear, because you won't be able to move it after it sets. Sikaflex®-292 Adhesive / Bedding

[nineball]

how about the 291 version? that is all i have available locally.

SIKA PLASTICS 004_127_002_502 at West Marine

-or-

http://www.westmarine.com/webapp/wcs/stores/servlet/ProductDisplay?productId=19114&catalogId=10001&langId=-1&storeId=11151&storeNum=10104&subdeptNum=10325&classNum=10327

[Bob Kontak]

Originally Posted by john walker's workshop

forget the rubber and use sikaflex 292. ............... you won't be able to move it after it sets. [/url]

Sweet. You like them boat stores, JW.

I can see plenty of other applications - non marine - for this stuff as well.

[Bob Kontak]

nineball - where are you in Ohio?

[Bob Kontak]

I just called a few places around Akron and they pointed me to West Marine - Looks like you are on the right track.

[nineball]

about 30 mins southwest of cleveland.

[Bob Kontak]

Cool - We are fairly close.

If you can get the window out without taking the door panel off you can lift the window mechanism and push the glass back in for the short term. When mine fell the last few inches of the glass were sticking up from the top of the door. I have a Targa. I may be easier to do without a window frame on top.

[Boselly]

This happened to me a month or so ago. Pretty easy repair. Here's what I did and you can do if you don't have to replace anything.

Tools: phillips screwdivers, allen wrenches
Consumables: Spray adhesive, Black Silicone RTV, white moly lube
Time: 2 hours

Pre-1: Remove fuse for Window motor.
1. Tape the window in the closed position using packing tape or something that's not going to leave a lot of residue.
2. Remove the door panel
3. Remove the moisture barrier.
4. Remove rubber from U-channel
5. Examine metal U-channel for rust... Be careful not to squeeze on it too much. If there's moderate rust, it probably can be reused. Just be careful in handling and be liberal with the RTV. There shouldn't be any existing silicone or adhesive unless it's been previously repaired.
6. Clean all mating surfaces well. Lube up all moving parts with white moly lube.
7. Reattach U-channel to metal arms... Requires some manipulation of the window mechanism which will require you to temp install window switch.
8. Un-tape window and test fit window into rubber and U-channel. Note alignment.
9. Apply liberal amount of RTV to rubber where it mates to window. Insert rubber onto window at noted alignment location.
10. Apply liberal amount of RTV to metal U-channel. Fit window and rubber down into U-channel.
11. Raise window to highest position and leave for a few days.
12. Reassemble. Use new spray adhesive on moisture barrier. Clean tape residue.
13. Test after a few days. Enjoy.

Regards,
Jeremy

[HarryD]

Could be a track issue but you need to look in the bottom of the door and see if you have one of these lying there:




That is a pivot pin. They come in 4 flavors and you will need to look at your to figure out which one you will need.

You will need to remove the door card and regulator to figure out what you need to do.

It is not hard (I have done both of mine).

This article tells you how to remove the door card:
Pelican Technical Article: 911 door panel remove

This article tells you how to remove your window regulator:
Pelican Technical Article: 911 Window Regulator Replacement

Some Threads on Pivot Pins:

Argh!!! Window Regulator Frustration

Part found inside driver door - What is it?

Window Regulator Pivot Pin

There are lots more as well if you do a search.

[nineball]

turns out the window did just come out of the lower track. after playing with the height a little it was fairly easy to get the lower track out of the door. the rubber was about 80% still firmly attached to the channel but i pulled it out since i had it out of the car. gave it a good scrubbing with some 80grit sandpaper to remove the old residue, same thing to the inside. the track itself did have some very minor rust but nothing that would come close to warranting a new one. if that is as bad as it has gotten in almost 30 years it will last for the rest of my ownership (or death, which ever comes first).

i stopped by west marine but the only things they keep in stock are their own products, everything else has to be ordered. swung by autozone and grabbed a tube of rtv and some spray grease (btw all liquid wrench 11oz spray products are 2 for $5 right now) to lube up the various parts. it was a bit of pain getting the window back down into the rubber inside the door but eventually i got it. moved it up and down a few times to check and then closed the door and moved the window all the way up to let it setup. if all goes well i should be good to go tomorrow.

one last question for you window gurus. where exactly is the height adjustment? am i going to get lucky and have it be a single bolt or will it be a small nightmare? my drivers window has always gone up just a bit too much since i bought the car but i just never fully extended it and all was right in the world. as i have it all apart now i may as well get it 100%.

since the window only took and hour or so total i also installed the chin spoiler i picked up over the winter. pretty easy once i got over the fear of drilling the side holes and removed the ac bar/basket/condenser. i removed 90% of the ac system last year so i only put the bar back on this time. i do have one question though. while installing it i was lining up the back of the spoiler with the bottom of the valance which seemed like the logical thing to do based on how the brackets worked. once installed however i found that the front side was not flush with the valance, it slightly sticks out passed it. if you were to run your hand across the back it would all be flush but if you ran your hand downward from the front top of the valance to the spoiler there was a small lip created where the spoiler begins. is this normal?

[Bob Kontak]

If you are talking about behind the license plate - that plane - yes the spoiler sticks out creating a lip - mine is about 3/16ths or so. As it wraps around the radius towards the wheel it becomes flush with the valence panel.

[nineball]

yep, that's what i meant. good to hear that is normal.

window is back in and all is right with the world. thankfully adjusting the height was the easiest aspect of this little job and once again my window stops at the top instead of an inch above it. thanks for the help all.

[mpetry]

this is one of those "while you are in there" topics. Take the window motor out and disassemble it, lube and clean everything, reassemble, you can test on the bench with a 12v battery.

Do it once, do it right, and keep on smiling.