Electric window prob? - Ford Forums - Mustang Forum, Ford Trucks, Ford Focus and Ford Cars

rossi · 10-15-2003, 16:47

I was winding the window up in the EF Fairmont the other day, and as the window neared the top, it make a pop/crack sound.

When I wind the window down its not a prob, but as it goes back up, it makes a slight grating sound (sometimes).

Now the back rear left has been like this for a while, and now that the front has gone, it's time to fix them up.

Anyone had this problem?

danege · 10-15-2003, 21:59

maybe the winder or some of the cogs in there are a bit screwed?

Walkinshaw · 10-15-2003, 22:24

sounds like the cable has frayed and is binding in the regulaor

EDghia · 10-30-2003, 20:17

The crack/pop sound you heard was the one of the white spring retainers on the outside of the electric window motor winder crap itself.

My ED has suffered this problem and due to the prohibitive cost in replacing the electric window motor/regulator etc, I figured out a way to repair it very cheaply, but it takes a little time.

I will write it all down and then post it here in the next few days, but the most important thing is not to operate the stuffed windows, as it will only make them completely irreparable. This is because the steel wire does not wind back onto the spool correctly.

rossi · 10-31-2003, 03:50

Don't worry all! I have fixed the problem! Did both windows and are working sweet!

Even doing the mates as he has the same prob. But I'm not surprised that all his windows have stuffed up.

It's a holden!!!

TopGhia · 11-01-2003, 00:00

Hey Rossi,

How about letting us in on how you fixed it. Might help somebody else.

cheers

rossi · 11-02-2003, 15:47

I'm back again. Been away all weekend without access to the computer box.

If you have the problem follow the steps below. My car is an EF but yours may be similar.

1. Pull the doors apart. when you get everything off, there's fours screws that hold the windows to the supports. Take these off.
2. You should have three rivets holding the mechanism on so pop these with a hammer then remove the mechanism.
3.Like EDGHIA said, there's two plastic T-shaped retainers with a spring supposed to hold the tension for the cable, that goes from the pulley around the window support. What happens is after a while the plastic goes brittle, then when you leave the switch on for too long after it goes up or down, the top part of the plastic retainer that holds the spring in place pops off.
4. What you do now is take the top cover off the mechanism (there's a circlip), and make sure the wire is on the right grooves for where it is (I'll explain later).
5. Place the cover back on.
6. Grab both cables and pulling them apart, you should see at least a couple of inches of the cable.
7. Now here's the tricky part. Grab the head of the broken plastic retainer and pull the sheath of the cable away from each other (as hard as you can), and visualize a mark on the cable where it can go no further. Let the plastic and the spring go, and mark the spot.
8. Cut the plastic sheath on the cable, grab some side cutters and separate the metal twining apart slightly so that you can see the inners white plastic cable cover.
9. I used some old clips from the mustang, but what you need is something that you can use as a circlip to put in between the metal twining of the cable.
10. You may need someone to give you a hand here, but I was able to do it myself. Grab the broken plastic retainer again, and pull the cable apart from each other, and slide the circlip in. This will now hold the tension of the cable, not allowing it to slip inside the pulley to make that grating sound.

Note: If you don't pull the cables apart hard enough, as you put it back on for a test run, you will have a small amount of slack and the problem will be there again. But not so bad. Just make a new mark, separate the metal twining of the cable and put the circlip in the new spot.
You'll need three bolts with nuts to put the mechanism back on, as you've popped the rivets before. Test the window at each stage as you put the door back on, as the slack probably won't come out straight away.

I fixed 2 of my windows, and 4 of my mates windows doing this. I saved my mate $990 from holden, as this is how much they were going to charge him to fix them.

If you have any problems, free fee to post them here.

TopGhia · 11-02-2003, 23:08

Thanks Rossi, good work. My rear driver's side window is just starting to make a nice grating noise.

rdrummond · 10-29-2007, 09:13

I know this thread is a little old now, but I'd like to contribute to this on the back of the work already done; I just repaired the windows on my car.

I've documented this with photos and other details but can't post attachments (the full PDF is 260k, each page is less than 100k, still won't let me). pm me if you would like a copy (or tell me if there's a way I can post the PDF!)

Rhys.