Slow window fix

[Nader]

Originally Posted by maclaren65

Great thread!

The passenger window on my 87 Carrera coupe moves much slower than the driver's side window. Is this most likely a motor issue?

When I roll down the driver's side window an inch or two something rattles inside the door. This only happens after the window has been lowered a few inches. Any thoughts on this mystery?

Thanks.

I bet it's one of the window regulator's support arms malpositioned, not gliding by its wheel in the channel bracket that runs along the bottom of the window glass. I found that to be the case for one of my windows.

[Nader]

Originally Posted by twistoffat

My passenger side window was slow and I cleaned up the felts which helped somewhat. Its still slower than the drivers side though. Is there a reason why the passenger side seems to suffer more than the drivers side?

I suspect it's because the passenger window is used less, so the motor's grease may harden and pivot points in the regulator may stiffen. Or maybe the guy on the assembly line for passenger door/window assembly back in the Eighties was less than stellar .

[Nader]

Peter Z., that "Used 911 Story" was your book? I need to thank you for that. I bought it back in 1999 in preparation for buying my current car. I read it several times and followed your advice, and ended up with a great car (window issues aside), so thanks for the help in making a good decision.

[Mitch Leland]

I completed the new spring post per Nader's original post. Removing the regulator and installing the post was a piece of cake, but attaching the motor to the regulator through the door panel access hole was a giant PITA. The windows work great, however the stop adjustment is no longer centered in the adjustment hole? Fortunately the drive's side open and closed setting is perfect, but the passenger window goes down a tad too far. To get at the adjustment i think I'll take my die grinder to get access to the stop adjustment rail.

I assume I didn't clock the motor with the regulator correctly, however I still don't know how you would make that decision? I felt blessed just getting the motor reattached to the regulator, let alone the relative position to each other.

Maybe someone can add to this so the next guy has it easier. Bentley's is no help! Oh, the 1/4-20 coupling bolt works perfect. I turned off about 1/4"-3/8" off of one end.

[garment]

Is there a trick to getting he motor shaft into the drive part of the motor? I separated the two parts of the motor easily, but getting them back together just isn't happening. The parts hang up on the shaft/drive gear about 1/4 inch short of the two parts being fully together. Do I need to turn the outer portion of the drive gear (the part that meshes with the regulator)?

Originally Posted by Nader

The combination of corroded, chunked up window felts and stiff, malpositioned regulator killed the passenger side window motor. I didn't want to spend nearly $200 for a new stock motor (Sorry Wayne), so I took a chance on another cheaper Bosch window motor I found on eBay. It's listed for some Mercedes sedans from the '90's, but it looks nearly identical to the Porsche motor, including the right number of teeth on the gear. And it's only $65.


Upon closer inspection, the castings are not identical. The mounting holes in the gear case (attaching the assembly to the window regulator) are taller in the replacement motor, and the male plug is on the wrong side of the motor. So I merely switched the actual motor from the newer unit to the old stock gearcase. Perfect fit, and the pinion gear turns smoothly.



The irony fixing the slow, struggling window occurs because the replacement motor is not as fast as the stock unit. Now I'm not even sure that this replacement motor is a genuine Bosch product versus a Chinese knock-off. But it's running smoothly, and at a third the cost of the real deal, I can live with a slightly slower but healthy and smoothly functional power window. I was satisfied enough with the passenger window motor fix that I bought another motor to prophylactically replace the driver's side as well.

[Nader]

Yes, I would twist that pinion gear in either direction as you slide the motor casing into the gear casing. Then connect it to a 12 volt source to make sure it operates smoothly before placing it in the door.

[garment]

Yes, I would twist that pinion gear in either direction as you slide the motor casing into the gear casing. Then connect it to a 12 volt source to make sure it operates smoothly before placing it in the door.

I'll try it. Two other questions:

How the heck did you get the regulator so shiny!?!

What's the trick to getting the spring end rotated around to implement your coupler nut solution? I've tried a couple of clamps, but the end of the spring jumps off of the clamp, and I'm thinking I'm going to damage the regulator, my fingers, or both...

[Nader]

Fasten the coupler nut in place first. Use Loctite. Then bring the spring end around and over the coupler nut by hand. The spring tension shouldn't be so strong that you require tools. One of the earlier pictures shows me holding the spring end in place by hand. You can probably lever it in place with a screwdriver if you had to.

Shiny regulators come by luck.

[atc_marty]

A big thanks to Nader for the great pictures, instructions and this thread. I had my regulator out to re-grease things and I didn't even notice that the spring didn't have any tension until I saw this thread. Fortunately I hadn't reinstalled the door panel yet so I pulled the regulator again and fixed the spring using this thread as a guide. Thanks again!

[cabmandone]

Another thanks to the OP. I am putting my car back together after having it repainted. I rolled the window up today to put my door handles back in and hear a click from a piece of metal hitting the bottom of my door. Guess what it was. I don't know if it was dumb luck that it failed while the door panels were still off but I'm glad it happened now rather than later.

It's funny, I was browsing threads about the window regulator yesterday trying to find out how to adjust the up travel of the window and found this. Then today, the piece drops out.

[WMichelsen]

Slow replacement motor ... maybe not.
TLDR; Be careful if you rotate the motor to reposition the connector.

I recently replaced my driver side window motor with a Dansk replacement. As delivered, the connector is opposite side on the Porsche motor. Like others, I got the idea... just partially pull off the motor and rotate it to match the original motor configuration.
But, before install, I thought I'd test. Well....

Evidently, the motor housing is not perfectly symmetric. The housing itself, or mounting bolt positions, or something.
With the motor in the as-delivered orientation, it spins quickly, just like the Porsche motor.
With the motor rotated 180 deg, to relocate the connector, it is slow. More importantly, the bushing well gets hot. This tells me it does not align correctly and has too much friction.

So, if you modify it, test it. Any slowness might be caused by the modification. As-is, there is plenty of wire to connect to the inside location. There might be more risk of mechanical interference, so be careful routing, but it's OK.

[rabfan]

great resource. Thanks for posting. I need to do the same for both windows

[WMichelsen]

BTW, if you do the 1/4-20 barrel-nut coupler repair, evaluate a 1/2" or 3/4" carriage bolt instead of the button head. Minor filing of the square carriage and it fits the slot nicely.