Window alignment write up
 

I am by no means an expert but heres what it took to finally get my window to line up properly.
BTW i had a problem with the front of my window not going all the way up, before AND after installing a new motor.

EXPLANATION OF PICS

A & B. Brush assy: this keeps your window tight against the outer rain seal. If it's loose your window will "rattle" when you shut the door with the window partially down. CAREFUL when adjusting, if you relax to much of the pressure it places on the window, the plastic support (kinda off white looking) that attaches to the bottom of the window glass, will hit it. It will also cause the window to bind up causing your problem to be worse. My car had one of the brush assy's broken off, causing the window tint to get torn all to hell!

C. Forward window stop: This keeps the front from going up to far. Mine didn't even touch it.

D & E. Horizontal regulator track bolts: Track where one of the regulator arms travels. This is where my problem was.....

F. Aft regulator track stop: This keeps the back from going up to far.

THE FIX
NOTE: None of the bolts or nuts were removed, just loosened!!

1. Sometimes the brush assy's will work their way loose. After adjusting the aft brush assy (A) tighter, the front of the window improved slightly. As an experiment i removed both A and B to see what would happen and i thought the damn window was going to break! If you don't have a hold of it it will bind up pretty bad.

2. Next i looked at the fwd window stop (C) to see if it was as simple as moving it up a little. Well you know how that goes. Mine wasn't even touching so that wasn't the problem.

3. I adjusted the aft regulator stop (F) down then up. When adjusted all the way up, the front gap did improve but the rear of the window went to far up and would start to push the t-top up. So i put it back to normal.

4. Next tried adjusting horiz regulator track (D & E). when i looked inside the door it seemed that if i moved the track up, it would allow the front of the window to travel further up. You have to loosen (E) for (D) to be able to travel up and down. DO NOT take them out!!!! Just loosen!
That got the gap to less than an 1/8 inch which at this point i almost called it good enough. Well when rolling the window up with the door closed there was still enough of a gap to let water in with the door closed.

5. Lastly I tried moving the fwd end of the track full down, (D). The front of the window went full up so i closed the door and i'll be damned, tighter than a frogs ass!!!

I didn't have a manual or directions so the nomenclature i used for the components are names i made up.


Hope this helps!

Any questions, PM me

MY PROBLEM

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Multiple typo's fixed, my bad

You are my new hero for today! I've been living with my damn window issue for a couple of months now!

You've actually changed my mood from ... strangling the next person I see to lightly punching the next person I see in the arm.

I can't wait till I get home to try out your write up. Thanks again.

Gonna have to try this with my driver window. Ever since I replaced the motor (the hard way, removed the whole thing instead of using shoebox's method since I didn't know about it) it hasn't been quite right. It is aligned OK when up but it jerks when going down and is loose.

Thanks for bringing this to the front!

i read all this but which one would be if i got my motor replaced and theres a lot of wind noise from inside the cabin around 40+ MPH?

Ummm, clarify how you know what a frog's ass feels like ... lol

Nice writeup!

ya i have the same question as italicizedsponge i have windnoise coming from my driver side window

great write up!! very useful

Could be a few things. As your seals age, they will not be as pliable and seal as well to your window. Although nowadays the compound used is a lot better than it used to be. Secondly, colder temps will have the same affect. Have you ever noticed that you will have more wind noise during the cold months? My pass T-top has an annoying bit of rattle during the winter.

I would have to look at your window to help you to get it to seal better. Sometimes even a new motor will weaken just slightly even when it's relatively new, causing it to not seal properly in the rear.

My suggestion is first try to pinpoint where exactly it's not sealing properly. Then you will now how you need to adjust it. My guess is it's going to be in the rear upper corner.



Try adjusting BOLT F up a little first. Be careful, when you move one component it shifts the whole assembly and you may cause another problem elsewhere. It just takes a lot of trial and error, but do it in gradual increments so you don't break anything!
If that doesn't do the trick, try BOLT E. (NOTE; contrary to how it looks, i had to adjust BOLT D all the way down to get the front of the window to go up.) Kinda bassackwards but remember, if they made it easy, they wouldn't make any money!

good luck

any one have a problem with when the window goes down it pushes the plastiuc door panel out?

Quick question, my window goes down but not up. If I grab it it and push the window button it will go up. Is the motor dead or is it one the things your talking about? Combination of both?

Yeah, mine does that. Both sides too, driver does it more (that is the one I replaced the motor in). What I've been doing is once the window hits the bottom I tap the window up just a nudge so it doesn't push on the plastics but it isn't up at all either.

this is a better writeup then what i've found,good stuff...the shbox was very confusing for me *shrug*

Another design flaw. The motor stops operating when it bogs down enough to trip the thermistor. (i beleive that's what it's called). It has enough torque to twist things up a bit a before it trips, and the door panel will get pushed out.

It's happened on all the 4th gens i've owned.

Fresh motor = more torque to push your panel out. Makes you wonder about that crack at the top of the panel that seems to plague the firebirds....

Probably time for a new motor. One way to check is when you pull it up just a little, will it lift itself the rest of the way, all the way shut without assistance, engine not running? Without the oppurtunity to check the rigging of your whole setup, I would say its a safe bet to say you need a new motor. Unless your just way out of rig or something has came apart..... then that's another can of worms!

I finally got around to doing this, nicer day today. Worked great, had to adjust the brushes and the horizontal regulator track and now the window stays tight against the weatherstripping with the door open and it goes up and down straight instead of wobbling all over the place.

Awesome, glad to help

Good post!

I see a lot of people bashing GM over the door regulators ect. Its the same design as a lot of other cars on the road and not a bad one... "when properly adjusted/maintained".

A lot of cars have had glass replacements where the new glass was not adjusted properly. Every glass has different tollerance and the regulator needs to be re adjusted to compensate. Some cars have sagging doors or broken/sepperated outer door skins that also let the door sag. Most of the time its related to old age or more likely abuse/neglect.

The adjustement process is straight forwar when looking at the inside of the door. The biggest thing to remember is to take your time, its trial and error and time consuming to ge the fit/seal right... especially if its your first experience.

One thing I think he forgot to mention is that you can tilt the glass by adjusting the upper felt guides. This adjust the pre load on the upper roof seal once the hight/angle of the glass has been established. To much pre load and the door will be hard to shut, to little and you will have a poor seal.
Remember the door panel itself will put a slight amount of load against the glass so its best to check your final glass adjustement with the interior trim panel on the door before final assembly.

I have also seen several cars where the ellectrical was loose/hanging inside the door causing the regulator to bind. Make sure the regulator/glass has clear unobstructed movement and also be sure to lube the tracks before final assembly.

This should be in a STICKY!
I just used this and adjusted my driver's window and closes up tight!
Thanks