question about power windows....

[ecko614]

how hard is it to remove the entire power window assembly?? i have to replace both of mine....well-its like this....my 95 grand am gt used to belong to my sister(she didnt know what she had), sold it to me for $500....anyway, before she sold it to me....she had an unfortunate event happen when some piece of shit lame brain decided to break in the car to steal the wal-mart deck she had installed. They had pryed and pulled on the driver window and it ended up breakin one of the metal scissor arms, and now the window drops all cockeyed when i attempt to roll it down. I can pull it back into place and roll it down about 1/2" to 2" at a time until i get it down.....rolling it up is 10x worse. the passenger window is fine, no problems with the scissor mechanism,other than it basically doin the same thing when i roll it down....1/2" to 2" at a time, same with rolling that one up as well. Bad motors possibly on the goofy rolling up and down?? im just getting tired of driving and not bein able to roll my windows down, if the driver window is down to far...and i go over a nice sized bump....that bitch slams out of position and i gota jam it off track for it not to fall.......please help!!!!!! thanx

[Azrael]

I know it's no small job as I've had to replace my driverside motor which means removing the scissor-like regulator assembly. Took me almost 4 hours to do just that one. The window moving a little bit at a time means you need a new motor but I'd just buy a whole new regulator too if the old one has been giving you issues.

Some tips that might be helpful. When removing the door panel, be firm but gentle. After 13 years the plastic gets brittle. The screws at the bottom are easy enough but don't forget the screw in the hole beneath the handle and the one behind the door handle. The 2nd one requires pulling out the manual door lock lever to access a screw to take the panel surrounding the doorhandle out. The doorpanel is held in from the middle-down with pins that slide into the doorframe, once you pull those out the whole thing should just lift up and off.

Once you get the door panel out of the way, lower the window a little bit so you can see the screws that hold the glass panel. Use the strongest tape you have to hold the window in position. Use strips up one side and over the door frame and down the other side of the window. With the window free, try and get the regulator as flat as possible under the motor's power.

GM liked to use rivets to hold the regulator in place. Four big ones for that matter so use a powerdrill as a cordless won't cut it to drill them out. The regulator should squeeze through one of the door's cutouts and the new one back in the same way.

Be careful with the regulator as it's under constant tension that's held in check by the motor. I wouldn't be surprised if it could chop fingers off. If you do need to remove the motor, there is a hole that goes through each arm. If you can line them up then you can put a large bolt through them to keep it from springing open.

Optionally spray the slides with a Moly-based lube. Should help the new motor from burning out as quickly. You can use rivets to secure the regulator back in place but most new motor/regulator kits come with nuts, bolts, and lock-washers for this to make future repairs slightly easier.