Driver's side window won't go down
 

Something happened to my driver's side window over the winter and now it won't go down. I try and lower the window and it makes a grinding sound and won't budge. I can push the window down a little bit and it will raise with no problem, but now that we are starting to see some warmer weather I'd love to get my window down. I've attached a quick video just to show what sound it's making. Any ideas on what it might be?

http://i246.photobucket.com/albums/g..._VIDEO0002.jpg

bad motor?? other than that ......pull the door panel off to make sure nothing is broke or worn out

Classic loose motor. Its probably bolted to the regulator and the bolts have come loose. Re-tighten with some lock-tite and you should be good to go. (The motor was probably replaced in the past and bolted in rather than riveted.)

BTW - Don't try to work the window until you fix it, so you don't strip out the gears.

Thanks for the response guys, I'll check the bolts tonight and see if that works.

Alright, so I finally was able to check this out again. When I took the door panel off this is what I found:

http://i246.photobucket.com/albums/g...s90/window.jpg

Are these the bolts that need to be tightened? Because, none of them were loose.

No, those aren't the bolts. The person who did the last motor replacement didn't know what they were doing....

You'll need to do two things:
1) Tighten the bolts that secure the regulator to the motor. Those are on the other side of the door panel. You can either loosen the four regulator bolts you see and take the whole regulator and motor assembly out. (If you do this, be sure to have someone help you and support the glass so it doesn't fall.) Or you can search for the shbox method. The shbox method will show you where to drill holes in your door panel so you can get to the motor-to-regulator bolts. When you tighten those motor-to-regulator bolts, be sure to use some lock tite or lock washers so this doesn't happen again!

2) Replace the regulator bolts with the proper GM-supplied rivets. (They are a special rivet for the composite door.) You may need a body shop or a dealer with the proper rivet gun to do this for you. (It takes an oversize riveter.) Having bolts or the wrong type of rivet can cause this problem over time: https://ls1tech.com/forums/general-m...-included.html

Hey, thanks for all your help, gotta love it when you buy a used car and find out years later that people don't know how to work on them.

Thanks again.

Always entertaining. :jest: found 2 types of plugs in my car when i did the first swap, passenger's side and #8 was untouched of course.

Well those bolts literally don't do a thing, they are just clamped onto the door panel. I was checking the window motor and it definitely has been replaced before because there are no rivets, just screws. Everything is tight on the motor and regulator so I'm guessing the next step is to do the shbox method and pull the motor completely out. Could it be that the gear is stripped?

Yea, if you tightened it up and it still grinds, the gear is probably gone. Now the bad news...

The gear teeth on the regulator are the first to go usually. Life may be easier if you purchase a new motor/regulator unit and install that:

- Have someone support the glass for you so it doesn't fall.
- Remove the back vertical track in the rear of the door.
- Remove the front door speaker.
- Unplug the motor.
- Undo the regulator bolts and slide the whole thing out the hole in the back of the door.

Once you get the regulator out, be careful! The engaged motor keeps the regulator counter balance spring from coming undone. If its really damaged, the regulator can take your hand off as it comes out. Also, if you take the motor off the regulator and you don't have the glass weighing on the counterweight (as in a shbox motor replacement) then it will come unsprung.

^Thanks you've been a huge help, I've got a new motor on the way, now hopefully I don't chop my freakin hand off lol

Where did u find the motor so quick?? I need one...

I got mine through newgmparts.com for $46.70 shipped, item number 88960088.

Why do you need special rivets? The rivets really dont come in contact with the door, they bottom out on the standoff which is swaged into the regulator. Wont regular aluminum 1/4" pop rivets with steel mandrels work? I think mines going and those are the rivets I was going to use. Should I not?

Thanks bullet..

You need special regulator-to-door rivets where the regulator connects to the composite door. Those are steel mandrel/aluminum jacket rivets.

If you rivet the motor to the regulator, they aren't as critical. If you use rivets here, you'll want to use STEEL rivets as aluminum rivets will corrode because the regulator and motor are steel. (Dissimilar metals will corrode when in contact with each other through a process called galvanic corrosion: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Galvanic_corrosion)

Can you post a picture of the worn window regulator after you remove it? I find it hard to believe that the teeth got stripped right off of it. It seems like the bolts that hold the regulator tight against the sprocket would be more likely to loosen or break under pressure - or something was preventing the regulator teeth from making contact with the motor gear teeth. Was either the motor or the regulator loose?