Driver's Window Goes Up, but NOT Down?

[georgew123]

The driver's side window on my 1985 was having some problems with being misaligned and would close unevenly, then it would occasionally fall into the right place. Today, the window was half open and I went to lower it and it wouldn't go down. So, I pushed the button to raise the window and it went up, but again would not go down. In the end, I have the window all the way up and it won't go down (and it is misaligned).

Any ideas if it is motor, switch or mechanical? I haven't taken it apart, but I am hoping to disassemble the door this evening. Any suggestions for troubleshooting?

The weather is quite nice and it kinda ruins the fun if I try to drive with my window shut. Thanks!

[86 911 Targa]

Originally Posted by georgew123

The driver's side window on my 1985 was having some problems with being misaligned and would close unevenly, then it would occasionally fall into the right place. Today, the window was half open and I went to lower it and it wouldn't go down. So, I pushed the button to raise the window and it went up, but again would not go down. In the end, I have the window all the way up and it won't go down (and it is misaligned).

Any ideas if it is motor, switch or mechanical? I haven't taken it apart, but I am hoping to disassemble the door this evening. Any suggestions for troubleshooting?

The weather is quite nice and it kinda ruins the fun if I try to drive with my window shut. Thanks!

Your Bentley manual will get you through this.

Removing the panel will be a must...

Good luck,

Gerry

[georgew123]

I know about correcting the track problem, but any reason the window would raise and not lower? I am going to pull the panel in a couple of hours, but it just seems odd that it would go up and not down. I presume it could be switch related or track related, but unlikely to be the motor.

Thanks and I will check Bentley when I get home.

[sailchef]

The glass probably came out of the bottom chanel. Its glued into this chanel/frame and sits on top of the scissors mecanism that is attached to it to push up/pull down. The glass probably came loose and could be pushed up by the mechanism but was not attached to this frame so it could not be pulled down. The glass is probably just floating inside the door. If you run the motor to the bottom and wiggle the glass it will probably just drop down into the door. Once you get in there you will see what I mean.

[javadog]

Got an aftermarket switch? They tend to not last long.

JR

[georgew123]

JR - I don't know if the switches are OEM or aftermarket, but after fully disassembling the door and fiddling with the switches, it started to work again. I presume it is an intermittent switch problem, but I guess that will be better answered next time it stops working.

Despite the switch problem, it also has the door window no longer glued to the rail... so between that and having to replace the door plastic insulation, I feel like I got a little work to do. Now I need to search to figure out how to re-glue the window.

[kidrock]

try liberally spraying the switch with electrical contact spray. Do this with the electrical system OFF and working the switch back and forth while dousing the switch.

[javadog]

The glass fits into a rubber U channel, which in turn fit's into a metal U channel that is atached to the regulator. It's tight, so glue isn't really necessary. It doesn't really hurt anything either, until you have to remove one from the channel...

The metal channels usually rust. It's a bit of a pain but the way I'd do it is to remove the glass and the channel, clean everything up and reassemble. Make sure you verify the distance between the front edge of the glass and the front edge of the metal channel when you reassemble it, as there are two different dimensions used, depending upon which regulator is installed in the car. Yours should be the later design, called a cross arm design, but you never know.

JR

[sailchef]

I found that once the original rubber and glass have seperated from the channel the bond isn't tight enough to insure that the glass won't come loose once again after you have put everything back together. I had this problem in the past.....

the first time I just reassembled everything and put it back together, glass inside rubber seal, inside metal channel. Two days later.....when it all came loose again I took it apart and glued it using a flexible type of marine goop I purchased at Lowes. 5 years later its still holding.

[georgew123]

I am noticing that the glass is hanging up in the felt channel because the channel seems to angle to far outward and creates friction. Guessing I need to work on fully adjusting that to allow smooth operation and also glue the window back to the mechanism.

Thanks sooo much everybody.

[don911]

Same thing happened to me a few years ago. The felt gets old and the window sticks. I had to glue my window back in as it wouldn't stay in the channel without glue. I'd just change the felt. The window will slide so much easier with new felt. While you're in there's I'd also change blade seal and horizontal felt piece.