Heard a LOUD "pop" when lowering driver's window. Window still works

[sugarwood]

Pulled up to an ATM, and began to lower my window. When there was about 1 inch left to go, I heard a loud POP. It actually startled me, it was that loud.

For a second, I thought maybe some kids threw something at my car. I rolled up a few inches, then back down a bit, and then just closed all the way, not wanting to end up stuck open.

Has anyone ever heard of this happening?
I did some searching but came up empty.
Any idea what I should do?

A new window regulator (cross arm) 91154293528 is $225.
Does the regulator break often?

[HarryD]

Is is possible the Pivot Pin sheared off. You will need to remove the regulator and inspect it to be sure. Do a search here for "pivot pin" to see what you are missing and what parts you need to repair.

I did both of mine. Not hard.

[D911SC]

Sounds more severe than a noise I had in mine, although I did have a popping sound. For me it was the door release cable getting caught up in the mechanism as the window lowered.

You could remove the door trim and watch what happens as you carefully lower and raise the window. Removing the plastic barrier will help.

[Bill Douglas]

Originally Posted by sugarwood

Pulled up to an ATM,

Did it sound like a 9mm by any chance?


Sometimes the windows stick then move down. Mine does anyway. And it's doe stuck down but I opened the door and used hands from each side to shove it back up.

[sugarwood]

I guess the pivot pin is the thing holding the spring in place?
What is the point of that spring?
Will the window stop working with a broken pivot pin spring?
Just trying to ascertain how critical this repair is, since garage time is in limited supply as winter approaches

[cabmandone]

There are several threads on how to fix that.

Here's how I did mine. My window regulator spring retainer, slow power window fix.

The spring helps the window up. If you have power windows, that's big because it will take some of the pressure off the motor. The window will work ok with the little bit of spring pressure that is there but it's a really easy fix to get it right.

[dipso]

Mine rolled down once and caught the speaker crossover I had mounted in there. Made a loud pop as it wedged itself past it, put a little pimple on my door skin but after relocating the crossover it hasn't happened since.

[cabmandone]

Just in case you don't know, that hole above the spring is where a retainer pin should be. That noise you heard was probably your spring coming forward and catching on that lip where it is in the picture.

[sugarwood]

Originally Posted by cabmando

Just in case you don't know, that hole above the spring is where a retainer pin should be. That noise you heard was probably your spring coming forward and catching on that lip where it is in the picture.

Are there directions posted on how to remove the door panel and regulator?
Is this a complex job or one that is reasonable?

So, the photo is of a broken regulator with missing retainer pin?
The spring should be clipped to a 2nd slotted pin in the empty hole in the photo, but when that 2nd pin is missing or broken, the spring then rests on that notch, as pictured?

So, either of those spring retainers might be broken.
Are both of them available as aftermarket parts?

Ok, I now see the photo in your other thread.

[HarryD]

If I recolllect correctly the tech articles section of the BBS has the necessary articles. It is not hard to do with simple hand tools. The hardest part is determining which of the four styles of pivot pin you need.

[Evans, Marv]

Unless there is something wrong with the side of the pivot pin we can't see, the slotted side looks fine. The original pins were aluminum and the slotted side would fatigue after years and start to spread. New replacement pins are steel, so if you take the regulator out, then would be a good time to replace the aluminum one with a steel pin. That is unless the one in there now is steel. The pop you heard was probably the pin that anchors the end of the spring vertically in the photo you show. By the way, the spring coils up as the window goes down and makes it easy for you to roll it back up.

[Jp-oh]

My driver's window was making some loud pops on the way up over the last few days and I was just about to search for thissymptom when today I was trying to put it down. it was slow and then made a very very loud noise and something very obviously let go and now it is stuck about an inch open. I can raise the glass with my hands but it will fallback down to the inch open position if the door is moved or jarred. Have I suffered a failure as above in this thread? I guess it is a bit tough to compile some needed parts until the door is opened?

[Jp-oh]

Aaanndd now it's stuck 1/2 the way down.

EDIT. It's actually at what ever level I set it to "manually" i.e. raise with my hands. Though as soon as I jar the door down she goes. The motor can be heard moving something and if I pull the window up and actuate the switch to up I can feel something contact the window but it wont support the weight. Oh well, apart it goes.

[HarryD]

You will need to disassemble it to find out what failed (most likely the pivot pin). Once you have it out, you will know what you need.

[Jp-oh]

So I'm glad I did not button the door up just yet even though I had "fixed" the window. I have quotes around fixed as it broke again tonight. What happened was that, after a car wash, I tried to put the window down, the glass stayed up, the window actuator crap went down and the deally the the glass wedges into fell off the regulator and into the bottom of the door. Now I may not have had the glass seated well enough into the rubber groove but the window was actually encountering a fair bit of resistance at the very top when trying to go down. And really only at the very top of the travel. Like I said it was after a car wash so the felts etc were wet. I was working perfectly yesterday and all of today (fixed it yesterday).

Any suggestions? I really seated the glass much more securely into the rubber groove this time (even whacked it with some wood to force it into place). I dont really want to put the door back together untill I'm sure I've got this corrected.

[benztrader]

So when the pin lets go the spring unwinds about an inch and a half and stops on the regulator mount stud. How critical is the difference between the pin and where it stops at the mount? Or I guess the question is can it get by resting at the mount stud?