Has anyone else had a problem with failure of the window motor assembly? The driver side window assembly just failed in our car – the cable portion of the assembly came off the spool and was sheared also causing the motor to fail – over $500 to repair and each window has these assemblies. Our mechanic researched tech data and found no recalls or notes addressing this by Honda.
It is hard to say what may have caused this to happen. The part may have been just weak and broke before the normal failure point.
For these kind of problems it is nice to have an extended warranty so you don’t need to pay out so much when things like this happen. There are some though that would rather just pay for repairs when they come up in the hope of saving some money over purchasing an extended warranty policy. For sure, some insurance policies are not as good as others. I also had a problem with the driver side window on my '02 T&C van. It would have cost me about the same to fix it but with the warranty policy I have it was only about $50 dollars out of my pocket to fix it. Though I did pay “up front” already. The policy has helped on some other issues I had with my vehicle, so I am getting some value from having purchased it.
Window regulators seem to be a weak spot on all hondas. I have noticed that Autozone, checker, napa are all starting to stock them, which can only mean one thing… they are designed to just get you though the warranty period and then fail.
I have a 2000 Accord. The right front one failed during warranty and was replaced. It started failing again out of warranty (a clicking noise at the bottom and top of the window stroke). I took it apart myself replaced it with the same components and it has worked fine since. I must have got lucky.
Now the rear window reg has failed. WTF… I must have used it what 10-20 times in the life of the car!!! That is poor design. After taking it out of the door, I will have to replace the whole regulator as they don’t sell the cheesy little nylon grommet that failed. I would have gladly paid $2 for that 10c part, but I have to get a regulator (without motor) as its the smallest part you can buy - that I found - here - http://www.myhondapartsstore.com/myhonda/jsp/home.jsp
What a waste of resources.
Your assembly is around $200 - Ouch!!
You can replace these parts yourself when the next one fails (if you have the inclination). You will need the car manual (or equivalent), some metric sockets and wrenches, a phillips screwdriver and the only special tool is a door panel “Xmas tree” popper which you can get at any generic auto parts store. Patience and free time can save you some $$$. The hard parts are finding the locking clips on the electrical connectors so you can pull them apart and removing that plastic sheet without ripping it (peel the glue from one end)
Good luck