Hello,
It’s my first time posting any questions about car maintenance/repair + I am a girl, so please be understanding. Here it comes: a couple of months back my driver side window began to make this terrible squeaking noise when rolled up and down. I noticed that the noise is not as bad when it is cooler out and when I run my car through the wash with wax (just an option they have at the carwash place).
After some internet research I believe that the problem is with a part of window regulator mechanism. There were a couple of options available to me:
Replace window regulator mechanism (great instructions on pelicanparts.com). To do it on my own is about $80 (part cost) and 5-6 hours of work or $600 at the dealer’s.
Locate the motor of window regulator, open it and clean it. Probably 5-6 hours of work, but $0!!!
Open the door, clean inside and grease the tracks.
I opened the door and cleaned the glass and tracks – no result! I brought it back to the dealer (car is not under warranty anymore) and they were nice enough to open it again for me and grease the tracks – no result except for marks on my window and the verdict that I need to replace the regulator mechanism….$600 AUCH!!!
My question is: what else can I do before I decide to invest my precious time and a little bit of money (I’m not paying $600 for this!) and do you think it is doable?
Actually, I forgot to mention that I took the moulding off and rolled the window up and down - no luck:( But thank you very much for your response!
I believe before I start fixing this I need to know what I am fixing, right? Since the window goes up and down - then the motor is fine (not sure if the noise could be attributed to the motor?). Also, because the tracks were lubricated - tracks are not the problem. And moulding is not the issue either.
You took the window rubber off?? Seriously? Wow. That’s a job and a half, usually.
If not, I’m talking about the rubber around the window when I said ‘moulding’. Glass doesn’t always like to slide on rubber - that’s what the silicone is for,
I had a Saab years ago that would make horrible noises as well. The window worked well enough but the grinding was driving me crazy. After some poking around, I found that the motor wasn’t meshing with the regulator gears correctly. It could be something like that.
I think we are talking about different things. The window is not encased in rubber, there is a pannel I was able to remove where the glass meets the door (three other sides are bare glass).
If you are sort of a scientific or experimentalist type, or just want an adventure doing something you normally don’t, and would consider to risk some of your time in exchange for the possibility to save some $$, I think it would be worth it to remove the motor, do a visual, clean whatever needs to be cleaned, and reinstall. I expect in the process either you’ll fix it, or you’ll discover a part that is worn or broken and needs to be replaced.
If you are really short on time, well, fixing window problems is notoriously time consuming, so in that case maybe a good well-recommended shop is the way to go.