HELP! Window regulator fix not going well.
 

I started that project this morning, the black piece is not broken, and I bought the wrong size corner bracket. The techinfo article said 1.5", that is not right, it only leaves 1/2" in the middle. THe biggest problem I am having is winding the wire back onto the spool, it is all kinked up. Once I get it on to the reel, it is IMPOSSIBLE to get it back on to the post. any ideas or experience in this?

My wire was kinked pretty bad aswell take a piece of leather or a rag, wrap around the cable and CAREFULLY squeez out the kinks with a pair of pliers. Once you have the cable around the pully you want to use a screwdriver to pry it into position. you will want to put the black cover over the pulley as soon as your in position so put it on the srewdriver with the pulley pry it into position and snap the cover on. the screwdriver might bend some teeth on the pulley so you may have to clean them up afterwards. good luck and be patient you'll get there, also be sure to get the cable as tight around the pulley as possible before it will make it way easier to get the pully where it goes.

Hey, thanks a lot. I was working the screwdriver technique, but the teeth seemed so soft, and I was still like 1/8" off. Hopefully that advice about taking out the kinks will give me the extra space I need. Again, thanks!

There is alot of knowledge about this here just ask if yo have any other hang-ups. Oh and welcome to the club. 8)

EDIT: this may help you dunno.
http://www.bonnevilleclub.com/forum/...968&highlight=

I agree with Cruiser. I had to fix both my rears and one was a breeze and the other was rough. My cable was kinked also, I wrapped it as tightly as I could and used the screwdriver to pry it on. One bit of advice I can give is...after you get the cover on hold pressure on it while you bend the little posts back into place. Bend them down tight and all should be well.

Tim

It is a 1.5 inch corner bracket, which means each side is 1.5 inches for a total of 3 inches. As they said above, try to straighten the cable as much a you can. The more times someone tried to activate the window after it broke, the more tangled the cable will be. Try to keep the cable in the grooves of the reel also. I used a large phillips head screwdriver to align the reel. That allowed most of the pressure to be on the center of the spool, keeping it away from the teeth of the gear.

Apparently I was putting so much force on it, I broke the big white piece, just the end of it, where the cable is held in. Since I had a corner bracket that was too small, I wedged that in there with a very small locking washer to keep the cable from slipping through the corner bracket on the one end, and wedged the other piece into the gap behind the spring that the black piece use to cover. I should've took a picture, but the way that it's in there, I doubt I'll ever be taking it back out. The good news is, it works like new. And many thanks to all of the contributors to the site! You guys have saved me a ton of money over the last 2 years.

If I'm understanding what you did properly, that will work. The idea is to support both cables with the bracket, and you've done that. Good job!

:shock: boy that sounds awful... I'm next doing the fix... I haven't takent it out yet so I don't know how kinked it is... and i've accidentally hit that button a time or two in the weeks since I dissembled it... oy :roll: I

I finally disassembled the whole thing, and as I suspected, the wire is very kinked, plus it came apart where the two ends are joined to each other, and is no longer a continuous piece of wire. The wire connected to the top part is in good shape, but the bottom part is kinked and frayed.

I was thinking that I need to get a new wire for the bottom, but will I be able to connect it to what is the pieces already there? If not, how do I reconnect the two ends? Any ideas?

It is not one continuous cable, but rather two separate ones. One cable comes off the spool slightly to the side, through a cable covering, along a cable guide on the top of the regulator and attaches to the top part of the sled. The other cable comes off the spool pretty much straight up and attaches to the bottom of the sled.

The bottom cable often is at least tangled. it can usually still be used, as the pressure put on it will keep it straight once everything is put back together.

Not to pick on anyone but you can get the entire assy. from the dealership for around $65. I had to replace both rears and got sick and tired of messing around so I called the dealership and they had them in stock.

Really? That's great! What dealer? Do they ship out? The cheapest found anywhere else has been $180, before shipping and handling, on eBay.

Ditto on Archon's reply....
what do you get? the whole sled and wires? Or maybe a better question (for someone like me) is what do you ask for?

:eek!: I checked around and 180 to 200 was as cheap as I could find. Man for 65 bucks apeice you could replace all four for a little more than what one would cost. let us know more about this.

I'd be all over it,

Thanks,

Tim

Only bad thing about a replacement is they may be no better (except the new intermediate steering shaft design Archon mentioned, we hope!) :?

I had one of my doors apart and put the fix bracket on before it had broke, which I would highly recommend. No cables to mess with. I found that if the bottoms of the 1/2" long ends of the Fix bracket are bell-bottomed (slightly wider at the bottom) the bracket will Snap into place and I can't imagine it ever falling out. The white plastic carrier it snaps into is open on the underside, allowing the bracket "bell bottoms" some clearance once it is installed. Just a slight improvement on the idea, but you have to grind-check fit-grind-check fit. This is also a good time to put a new seal on the infamous door water shield since it has to be removed to get the window regulator out!

bump this!

Good information, previous to this..the only thing available was $200 or so or for the regulator.

another route for some......just disconnect if rear window
 

Guys, I know this is not for most, but I just didn't have the time or the cash to invest in doing the fix the right way. My rr window sploded all over so I just removed the rear door panel, unhooked the electric plug from the mota and then slide the window all the way back up into the closed position, then took a piece of rubber and a hose clamp to the metal runner that the window slides on. This keep sthe window in place..............and.... doesn't keep hurting the cable if there is anything left of it till I can get to it..............when the three kids are done with hockey in 10 years:) "L"

That's a viable solution to the problem. People have used anything from screws to C-clamps to hold it up. Good idea on disconnecting the power also, as many cables get scrunched when the switch is still used after the cable pulls through.

I stuffed the door panel full with bathtowels - it couldn't move because there's no where to go. I still have the regulator in pieces, waiting to hear about the $65 price because I don't have to tools to fix that little metal piece. I called two places today - one a Pontiac dealer was in Filllmore, NY, where LJJCS_AUTOMOTIVE lives. They didn't stock the part. The other was a GM dealer in my town, who quoted a price of $280. :shock:

I think I may just leave those towels in there and put the other door pieces back together, and NEVER use the other back window as long as I have the car :)

Unfortunately, whether or not the back window is used does not appear to be a factor. The plastic breaks just from the regular tension the cable puts on it.

Yeah my driver back window is out, they should of done a recall on those i think

what does everyone do with the window while the reg is out?

If you're just working on it, use duct tape up over the top of the door and back onto the other side of the window. If you need to drive it with the reg out, I've heard of people cutting wooden "props" to fit vertically between the bottom of the window and the bottom of the door.