Removing door card with

[si2085]

.....window stuck down

A question for you knowledgeable bunch:

Having lowered the drivers side window to clear some condensation on a recent cold night, sod's law dictates it decided to stay in the dropped position. Cue me getting rather chilly on the way home.

There is no noise from the window motor when pressing the switch, and the window seems stuck even with a helping hand. I've swapped the switches which made no difference, and have no voltage at the motor so am fairly sure a new window motor is in order.

Now for the challenging part - getting the door card off. I've read that it can be a bit of a pain even with the window up. My question is, how do I get it off with the window stuck down?! Has anyone managed this?


Many thanks in advance

[sapper]

found a really old topic, much the same problem as yours.
Good luck
http://www.pistonheads.com/gassing/topic.asp?h=0&a...

[Hedgehopper]

Well I have to ask the obvious question...have you checked the fuse?

Assuming you have, if you were VERY lucky you might be able to pull the window vertically out of its clamp plate. You could even run WD40 down both sides of the door glass to facilitate this.

Hope this helps but it's all I can think of.

Edited by Hedgehopper on Tuesday 4th February 12:29

[over_the_hill]

It might be a loose or suspect connection in the door.

Take the speaker out and you should be able to see the motor wires and connectors. Make sure they are tight and give them a wiggle.

[ukdj]

si2085 said:

.....window stuck down

and have no voltage at the motor so am fairly sure a new window motor is in order.

Err ... if you have no voltage at the motor then perhaps the motor is still good? when pressing the switch you should get voltage at the motor assuming fuse/switch/wiring to the motor is ok.

I would be looking for why there is no voltage at the motor before replacing it, have you tried putting 12v direct to the motor to prove it's kaput?

Regards

UKDJ

[ChimpOnGas]

over_the_hill said:

It might be a loose or suspect connection in the door.

Take the speaker out and you should be able to see the motor wires and connectors. Make sure they are tight and give them a wiggle.

^^^This^^^

It's how I sorted the exact same problem on my mate's 5.0 litre Chim.

In his case one of the many connectors had corroded slightly causing intermittent motor operation, remember the window to door skin seal is totally ineffectual at keeping water out of the door so everything inside the door gets saturated every time the car sees rain.

Some emery paper & contact cleaner sorted it, given the unavoidable exposure to water I also recommend using a tiny smear of dielectric grease on the connectors before you rejoin them to seal out future problems.

You'll laugh when you see the lift motor loom, it goes from the hinge end all the way up to the lock end of the door, then back again to the motor

It looks like TVR created this unnecessarily long a loom just to convert from one type of multi-plug to another, they also made it in very light gauge wire.

Neither the excessive length or the light gauge of this converter loom help with window lift speed and all those connections add resistance & potential points of failure, a little connector corrosion and it's game over.

If you want to improve electric window speed & reliability I'd recommend a bit of sensible well considered pruning & soldering, followed by thorough cleaning of all the multi-plug connectors as described above.

While you're at it you can also safely remove a good portion of the rubber channel at the lower section of the two runners without any risk of window of rattles, this alone takes a huge amount of load off the motor.

Finish the job off by lubricating the runners, the split tube (I beleive a guide guide pin runs in this?), and all pivot points using silicone grease & silicone spray lubricant.

After all that your windows will be 100% reliable & will zip up & down like any other car.

Window issues on these cars are very common so its well worth a Saturday morning's fettling to improve their future reliability.

Just imagine what driving your Chim at speed would be like if you lower a window on a freezing cold raining night only to find it won't go up again.

I had this once when someone smashed the drivers window my old Cortina to steal the shippy £10 radio , I can assure you the 30 mile wintery drive home (before I could tape a sheet of plastic over the hole) was not pleasant at all

I recommend we all service/improve our rather iffy windows as above before you suffer that experience.

Edited by ChimpOnGas on Tuesday 4th February 13:59

[si2085]

Many thanks all for the helpful replies. Taking the advice of cleaning the connections has solved the problem for now and my window is now back up!

UKDJ - you spotted a typo, I meant that I did have voltage at the motor, which is why I believed the motor was on its way out. I can understand how that caused confusion!

ChimponGas - thanks for the detailed advice - as you say a job for a Saturday morning and a more long term solution.

[Oldred_V8S]

si2085 said:

Many thanks all for the helpful replies. Taking the advice of cleaning the connections has solved the problem for now and my window is now back up!

UKDJ - you spotted a typo, I meant that I did have voltage at the motor, which is why I believed the motor was on its way out. I can understand how that caused confusion!

ChimponGas - thanks for the detailed advice - as you say a job for a Saturday morning and a more long term solution.

The above bit in bold is where a lot of people fall down with electrics.

Having a voltage present is only half the story you could get 12v through a bit of wet string or even your hand, but neither would allow current to flow to operate the motor/bulb/pump etc.

It would be possible to have voltage at the motor, but if the wire carrying that voltage is thin/damaged/has corrosion in the connections, current will be unable to flow.

[jamienshelly]

Oldred_V8S said:

si2085 said:

Many thanks all for the helpful replies. Taking the advice of cleaning the connections has solved the problem for now and my window is now back up!

UKDJ - you spotted a typo, I meant that I did have voltage at the motor, which is why I believed the motor was on its way out. I can understand how that caused confusion!

ChimponGas - thanks for the detailed advice - as you say a job for a Saturday morning and a more long term solution.

The above bit in bold is where a lot of people fall down with electrics.

Having a voltage present is only half the story you could get 12v through a bit of wet string or even your hand, but neither would allow current to flow to operate the motor/bulb/pump etc.

It would be possible to have voltage at the motor, but if the wire carrying that voltage is thin/damaged/has corrosion in the connections, current will be unable to flow.

Just to add to this invaluable advice, check with a test lamp to draw a current, If the light illuminates then the wiring is probably ok, no light then check the wiring but only on basic circuits! if you test a circuit that is sensitive, like a circuit board, you could draw more current than is safe!. And please be careful of power probes, a little knowledge of electrics is advisable when using one.