The AM Forum

My XYL's 96 Pontiac GP has a weird electric window problem. The window goes down until it is sitting in the bottom of the door. The useless dealer
I brought it to did not properly repair the problem. The window closes perfectly after I alligned the track the dealer monkey replaced. I wonder if there is a stop missing or a limit switch somewhere. This window fully opens when you hit the switch once or stops if you hit it again.
The car has low miles so want to get it right.  ???

.

Frank,
       There should be a "stop" on your window regulator. If it's broken (common problem) the window will go past the stop and off of it's track. Take the door panel off and try to find out where it was and see if you can fabricate something that will work.

It's unbelievable that a dealership couldn't find this problem!

Have fun,
            Joe Cro N3IBX

Hi Joe,
Thank you very much for that hunk of information. 2 years ago the plastic
roller broke and my chaep butt didn't want to pay for a new assembly. I
had a frind turn out a new one from metal. That was a mistake becasue it mangled the regulator track. The track was softer. This happened in the middle of siding the new place last year so had the XYL bring it to the dealer for reapir. $300 to replace the assembly. A month later another $200 the track.
A.H. never installed a stop. 6 months later the thing falls apart. I bad mouth them all the way up to GM when they want another $500.
So now it is time to get it right. The track needed the slighest bend in the top mounting bracked for the window to slide straight but it goes down to the bottom of the door. I was afraid it would pop out of the slot in the track
where it is assembled.  I suppose a hunk of metal with a couple screws tapped through it would make a nice stop,  TNX AGAIN!  fc

My mom had a late 90s GP and it had constant window problems, so I feel yer pain, Frank.  Her windows would just go down and not go back up! I did get some mileage out of it along the lines of 'elevator doesn't go to the top floor'. ;)

It also went through front brakes like Kleenex and often had front end steering and suspension issues. She traded it in with about 35K miles for a Ford Taurus a couple years back and hasn't had a single problem.

I bet she went through half dozen window motors. It wasn't unusual to stop by and find a window down in her car. Give me good ol' crank up windows anyday, one less thing to have break.

Todd,
That is how this all started. I've instructed her to not sit on the switch so the motor is still good...so. The real problem was the lower track was not receiving the window properly. I bent the mounting bracket slightly and now everything works fine except for it going down too far.
The car has been perfect otherwise. Knock on wood.........

My Toy has that feature Frank, you hold down the window switch for a second and the driver's window automagically goes down until you pull the switch up, it stops in the correct place... Friend of mine had a saturn sports coupe that the system malfunctioned, he had to open the window then turn the ignition off to get it to stop. The dealer couldn't fix it, a real pain for a smoker.

This thread reminds me  of a time when I was a teenage gas slinger at the local gas station.  One of the regular customers came in with a new car and wanted my boss to look at the passenger side window before taking it to the dealer.  He was having trouble with it going down.  My boss removed the door panel to discover a bolt missing in the mechanism.  He found the bolt laying in the bottom of the door.  He also discovered a long arrow drawn in yellow grease pencil on the inside skin of the door pointing to the bolt.  Apparently, upon assembly of the car the person who puts the bolts in for the window simply penciled in where the bolt was for the window and it went down the assembly line for the next person to deal with.  I guess they didn't bother and let the buyer deal with it. 

Aside from some of the very new cars, most employ some sort of mechanical stop for the window regulator.
Often this is a solid block in the gear teeth of a gear driven regulator, or a nylon block in the cable type.
Volvo goes this one better and acutally counts the rotations of the motor from close to open to determine the stop posistions.
Its a clever idea, but a problem if the window gets out of sync and you don't have the computer to reset.
I suspect your vintage vehicle would employ a mechanical stop.

I'd check the bottom of the door, all the goodies usually end up there.
By the way, many of the Euro makes now sell the window motor and regulator as an assembly, guess it just saves time in diag and repair.
With that said, rarely see window motor faults any longer.

TNX Bruce,
I'll be a hero if it is fixed before Hostraders even though the prenup says hostraders is a guarantee weekend.

Hold on, you acutally wrote hamfests in the prenup?
God bless you, thats thinking ahead, what a good idea!
Chances are if I ask for that she'll make dance lessons a condition.

I'm trying to sway the YL to have a nice dinner for some radio friends later this month....hate to think what thats going to cost me (in terms of bribes).

Afraid no Friday Hosstraders for me, can't get off work.
Saturday might work, depending on WX.

We arranged wedding to be late May after Hostraders '89 was an odd year and it was late. Friends had a running bet that I would miss it. We came home from Bermuda on Friday night at 9:00 and made to Nashua by 12:30. Thunder storms delayed the plane but made it.
This was a verbal agreement so ....... and no girls.

QST: trading dance lessons for hamfests is a bargain!  Even at a one-to-one trade, the benefits last far beyond the lesson.
Ed, N0AUB

Well no hero status this week. I tried using a screw driver as mechanical stop
motor did not want to stop in express mode.

Some of these GM cars use a hard plastic guide/stop that bolts to the window glass,near the rear vertical track.......will take your info,see if i can get a pix tomorrow and get back to you.Can't recall from memory,do so many different ones....need to see..........John