I own a CL67 2001 Park Ave Ultra w 63,000 miles. Car is
garaged and has been well maintained. Car never
has had fast window operation. Lately, the driver
side front has drove me nuts. I used wd40 on the
Rubber seal on the right facing the car. This helped
for * short while. I then ordered a new ac delco
regulator motor assuming motor was weak. I then
discovered GM parts have the listings reversed for
My vehicle. You order the right side part # for the
Left door. My regulator look ok. The new part had its
Internal breaker trip several times. I found a dealership
Mechanic who said the issue was rust in the window
Channel. He took out the part and did the entire
channel. Then replaced the gasket. I've seen all
Kind of slow window complaints saying solution is
Spraying the gasket forget it. Bite the bullet, go into
The door and take out the rust. What'* sad is
Why GM can't zinc coat internal door mech parts?
I'd pay more for that. The labor I paid to de-rust
Bare metal parts is a joke. New parts are not available.
Anyone with slow Park Ave Windows probably
Suffer from the rust pushing the rubber closer
To the glass. Face facts - a dollar is saved by
GM that cost me over 2 hrs labor. And, fix your
Parts catalog. Park Ave regulators are backward
In motor mounting

Lately, the driver
side front has drove me nuts. I used wd40 on the
Rubber seal on the right facing the car.

They are not reversed, you are......If you ordered the part, based on "facing the car", you are wrong......left and right on the car is determined by sitting in the driver'* seat.....so sitting in the driver'* seat, the driver'* door parts are the LEFT side, not the RIGHT...

As far as slow window movement, that happens on all vehicles.....using WD-40 only provides transitory relief,. because it tends to evaporate.....

If you went to a GM mechanic, the first thing he should have done, was send the window to the down position.....and then, using a can of SILICONE SPRAY, soak the front and rear guides(using the red tube extension).......then, run the window up/down, several times, and then soak the guides again......and repeat the up/down with the windows.......

If that didn't work, it works almost 90% of the time, then you take the door apart......that door skin is so freakin' easy to take off, just have to know how to do it....can have it off in less than one minute......disconnect the electrical harness.....peal back the water barrier.....get in there and lube the guides from the inside(no one removes rust from the guides), and also lube the regulator with grease......unless the bolts on the guides became loose, they shouldn't need adjustment, which takes about 10 seconds......

If no parts were replaced, the total time for this is 30 minutes to 45 minutes......2 hours? Too much, for no parts replaced......and like I said, should have been less than 10 minutes with the silicone spray....

For a GM tech, two hours is way too much.....

Thank you for your reply. My understanding was the rust
was under the rubber seal molding also. This supposedly
Pushed the gasket too tightly to the glass. As to the
AcDelco motor, if you look up 2000-2005 C body
PAve, the specified driver frt LEFT part # fits correctly
On some other makes including Bonneville. On PA
The motor is attached to regulator requiring the
PASS frt RIGHT motor is used on the driver window.
I understand LEFT means side where driver sits. I'm 64
and own GM 45 Yrs. I have trade acct with GM dealer
Up to 2006 this motor had been in use from the 80'*
on. GM parts used US made motors with # 16xxxxx
They had correct listings. Somewhere along the
way, their catalog left out the info you need to
Physically match units. Put in info on PA and you
Will see that nos are backwards. When Delco China
Began packaging, part nos were consolidated and
Errors began. I had ordered the correct listing
But when I walked it into dealer and door was off,
I then was told part was reversed. Their part guy rang
The info and said I had right part no and they checked
Locator for replacement part. Other dealer had one
That was reversed,
I ended up with Dorman which offers reverse warning
On their web site. They show CORRECT side. Replacement
Kept tripping internal breaker and I went back to
Dealer. 2nd time around they cleaned entire guide.
Total labor was. 3.5 including motor and track cleaning
I know it was high. Most repair places won't touch
15 yr old gm. My vehicle is very well maintained used lightly
W 63,000 and I still have factory Chev dealer tell
Me "we don't work on older cars" Right now I have
A complaint with Buick NAT zone about chev dealer
So, I know I got stuffed. As to the various YouTube
Videos saying just shoot window gasket e WD40
The silicone lasts briefly then makes the problem
Worse. I had parts coated * Valvoline SXNTHETIC
chassis grease. That is better priotection. Point is
There'* a lot of Park A out there with stuck windows.
Is it so costly for GM to corrosion treat metal. THIS
ISNT 1970 when floor pans rotted away. Use of
Windows could be a safety issue in my mind. Dealerdhip
attitudes saying they don't want to bother w gm
Cars 10 yrs old is not only nuts but violation of
My owner rights. I bought the car new.

I agree with you....if the vehicle is a GM vehicle, it should be able to be repaired by a GM shop, or they are incompetent...

[QUOTE=Tech II;1622275]Lately, the driver
side front has drove me nuts. I used wd40 on the
Rubber seal on the right facing the car.

They are not reversed, you are......If you ordered the part, based on "facing the car", you are wrong......left and right on the car is determined by sitting in the driver'* seat.....so sitting in the driver'* seat, the driver'* door parts are the LEFT side, not the RIGHT...

As far as slow window movement, that happens on all vehicles.....using WD-40 only provides transitory relief,. because it tends to evaporate.....

If you went to a GM mechanic, the first thing he should have done, was send the window to the down position.....and then, using a can of SILICONE SPRAY, soak the front and rear guides(using the red tube extension).......then, run the window up/down, several times, and then soak the guides again......and repeat the up/down with the windows.......

If that didn't work, it works almost 90% of the time, then you take the door apart......that door skin is so freakin' easy to take off, just have to know how to do it....can have it off in less than one minute......disconnect the electrical harness.....peal back the water barrier.....get in there and lube the guides from the inside(no one removes rust from the guides), and also lube the regulator with grease......unless the bolts on the guides became loose, they shouldn't need adjustment, which takes about 10 seconds......

If no parts were replaced, the total time for this is 30 minutes to 45 minutes......2 hours? Too much, for no parts replaced......and like I said, should have been less than 10 minutes with the silicone spray....

For a GM tech, two hours is way too much.....[/QU
I usually take Gm parts ordered thru a dealership'* parts dept I have been buying from for 30 yrs and buying at trade price into the gm dealer doing the repair. There is terrible markup on a part like a fuel pump sender I just installed on my Park Ave w 63,000. Reason was the sender was failing when tank level was 1/4 full- wild swings from full to empty. This is a common PA issue in the 2001. Retail is 679.82 I paid 320.00. The repair would cost typical joe 850. I take a chance part is good or I have to pay extra labor. I also control
quality of stock. I don't want something gone into or sitting around on shelf 15 yrs. what I want to know does the tech still make his money I don't wNt to hurt the tech. Is it fair that gm throttles the price up the older the part is? If I am original owner of gm car it'* a dealers responsibility to help. My Buick was bought from a dealer who disappeared when gm downsized their network. Again not my fault. The 2000-05 Park Ave was a solid good buy. It is quirky however. Why make changing the cabin air filter a NIGHTMARE to service?
Why couldnt gm make decent seals on the 3800 so you don't get coolant leaks. Everybody I know that owns a 3800 had manifold leaks. Why does hm design do a good job most of the time only to screw up on the details that cost the owner like the gasket issue. And who designed the cabin air filter?

Do you want his actual name? Are you a stalker?

Vehicle design is a process of compromises. Every commodity has its best-practices design criteria that would satisfy the requirements for each part in the vehicle. The problem is when you put all those parts together the requirements conflict with each other and design criteria has to be compromised. To give you an example, for one of the vehicles I was responsible for, seat comfort dictated the width of the driver'* seat cushion, but when fit within the vehicle architecture it ended up violating the design criteria for clearance between seat controls and the door trim panel. We had to decide whether to compromise on driver seat comfort, or ease of access to seat controls. Guess which way we went. Try fitting your hand between the seat and the door panel to access the seat controls on a Chevrolet HHR and you will know the answer.


The point is, the engineer who designed the cabin air filter and its mounting probably made the best of the space he was given to work in.