Passenger Window Gremlin?
06-04-08, 08:54 PM
#1
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Passenger Window Gremlin?
My wife gets home and tells me the front passenger window on the RX won't roll up. Tells me the car was running, but when hitting the switch, the window makes a dull fluttering sound with nothing happening.
We go outside to move our other car out of the garage and pull the RX in. It was starting to drizzle here in SoCal of course on "THE DAY", the RX window stops working.
Turn the RX on and pull forward a few feet and out of curiosity my wife hits the switch and it goes up. We pull it into the garage, roll the window up and down a few times and it works just fine.
Shut the car off, roll the window up, roll it down, roll it back up and all is working. Roll it halfway down, roll it back up all the way still with the engine off and all is working.
I did notice the window seems a tad slower than usual though. I welcome any opinions on what might be causing this or if anyone had a similar experience.
I like Lexmex's thread on cleaning the window motor, but before I do that, I figure I'd ask the brain trusts here if it might be something else. Maybe something related to battery...etc.
We go outside to move our other car out of the garage and pull the RX in. It was starting to drizzle here in SoCal of course on "THE DAY", the RX window stops working.
Turn the RX on and pull forward a few feet and out of curiosity my wife hits the switch and it goes up. We pull it into the garage, roll the window up and down a few times and it works just fine.
Shut the car off, roll the window up, roll it down, roll it back up and all is working. Roll it halfway down, roll it back up all the way still with the engine off and all is working.
I did notice the window seems a tad slower than usual though. I welcome any opinions on what might be causing this or if anyone had a similar experience.
I like Lexmex's thread on cleaning the window motor, but before I do that, I figure I'd ask the brain trusts here if it might be something else. Maybe something related to battery...etc.
06-05-08, 06:28 AM
#2
Lexus Champion
This may sound a little odd,but how often does she use that window?The reason I ask is because with power windows,if you hardly use that window,they can some times stop working for no rime or reason.This happened to me with my previous car(87 300E) If you think you can tackle what lexmex shows,it may be a good time to do this before it quits altogether.Your lucky its giving you a fair warning.
06-05-08, 07:06 AM
#3
Out of Warranty
These questions seem to arrive every spring along with the warming weather. Before you tear into the window mechanism, try this on all of your windows:
Wash the window thoroughly inside and out to remove accumulations of gunk collected over the winter. Pay attention to the rubber seals at the bottom and sides of the window. Roll down the window and clean out the rubber gasket surrounding the window channel with a rag or even a handful of q-tips. Spray or wipe a silicon lubricant, clear rubber dressing, or Armorall into this channel, allow to dry and wipe up the excess. This should soften and lubricate the track the window moves in.
Next roll up the window and treat it with a glass compound like Rain-X, working it out to the edges of the glass where possible. You'll find that if you work a rag well-dampened with the product toward the edge of the glass, capillary action will wick it under the rubber. When the product is dry, buff it off carefully, being sure to polish out the streaks. Rain-X has a special product for interior glass, but I personally don't recommend it. It contains glycerin as an anti-fog agent and while it is marginally effective, it streaks badly and is difficult to polish out. For the purposes of this treatment, the exterior compound works just fine.
When you complete this process, your windows should move smoothly and easily, and the problem solved - at least for this season. The rubber window seals tend to dry out, particularly in the sun and dry weather. In time they become hard, binding the glass. By softening the seals and smoothing the glass, you can ease the load on the window motors and make the windows operate smoothly.
And as we always say, your efforts are never wasted. Even if this treatment doesn't work for you, at the very least, you will have sparkling clean windows!
Wash the window thoroughly inside and out to remove accumulations of gunk collected over the winter. Pay attention to the rubber seals at the bottom and sides of the window. Roll down the window and clean out the rubber gasket surrounding the window channel with a rag or even a handful of q-tips. Spray or wipe a silicon lubricant, clear rubber dressing, or Armorall into this channel, allow to dry and wipe up the excess. This should soften and lubricate the track the window moves in.
Next roll up the window and treat it with a glass compound like Rain-X, working it out to the edges of the glass where possible. You'll find that if you work a rag well-dampened with the product toward the edge of the glass, capillary action will wick it under the rubber. When the product is dry, buff it off carefully, being sure to polish out the streaks. Rain-X has a special product for interior glass, but I personally don't recommend it. It contains glycerin as an anti-fog agent and while it is marginally effective, it streaks badly and is difficult to polish out. For the purposes of this treatment, the exterior compound works just fine.
When you complete this process, your windows should move smoothly and easily, and the problem solved - at least for this season. The rubber window seals tend to dry out, particularly in the sun and dry weather. In time they become hard, binding the glass. By softening the seals and smoothing the glass, you can ease the load on the window motors and make the windows operate smoothly.
And as we always say, your efforts are never wasted. Even if this treatment doesn't work for you, at the very least, you will have sparkling clean windows!
06-05-08, 02:18 PM
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The window is used every other day for the most part. It see enough action where non-use should be an issue.
I do know what you mean though. I had a window freeze on a VW. Never used it and just stopped working.
I'm wondering if the motor is going bad. Today, with the car running, I rolled it down have way. Pull the auto-up on the switch and it rolled "down" a few inches. Hit auto-up again and it rolled down a few inches.
Then rolled the window all the way down, hit auto-up and it rolled "up" this time all the way. Just odd.
I do know what you mean though. I had a window freeze on a VW. Never used it and just stopped working.
I'm wondering if the motor is going bad. Today, with the car running, I rolled it down have way. Pull the auto-up on the switch and it rolled "down" a few inches. Hit auto-up again and it rolled down a few inches.
Then rolled the window all the way down, hit auto-up and it rolled "up" this time all the way. Just odd.
06-05-08, 02:23 PM
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These questions seem to arrive every spring along with the warming weather. Before you tear into the window mechanism, try this on all of your windows:
Wash the window thoroughly inside and out to remove accumulations of gunk collected over the winter. Pay attention to the rubber seals at the bottom and sides of the window. Roll down the window and clean out the rubber gasket surrounding the window channel with a rag or even a handful of q-tips. Spray or wipe a silicon lubricant, clear rubber dressing, or Armorall into this channel, allow to dry and wipe up the excess. This should soften and lubricate the track the window moves in.
Next roll up the window and treat it with a glass compound like Rain-X, working it out to the edges of the glass where possible. You'll find that if you work a rag well-dampened with the product toward the edge of the glass, capillary action will wick it under the rubber. When the product is dry, buff it off carefully, being sure to polish out the streaks. Rain-X has a special product for interior glass, but I personally don't recommend it. It contains glycerin as an anti-fog agent and while it is marginally effective, it streaks badly and is difficult to polish out. For the purposes of this treatment, the exterior compound works just fine.
When you complete this process, your windows should move smoothly and easily, and the problem solved - at least for this season. The rubber window seals tend to dry out, particularly in the sun and dry weather. In time they become hard, binding the glass. By softening the seals and smoothing the glass, you can ease the load on the window motors and make the windows operate smoothly.
And as we always say, your efforts are never wasted. Even if this treatment doesn't work for you, at the very least, you will have sparkling clean windows!
Wash the window thoroughly inside and out to remove accumulations of gunk collected over the winter. Pay attention to the rubber seals at the bottom and sides of the window. Roll down the window and clean out the rubber gasket surrounding the window channel with a rag or even a handful of q-tips. Spray or wipe a silicon lubricant, clear rubber dressing, or Armorall into this channel, allow to dry and wipe up the excess. This should soften and lubricate the track the window moves in.
Next roll up the window and treat it with a glass compound like Rain-X, working it out to the edges of the glass where possible. You'll find that if you work a rag well-dampened with the product toward the edge of the glass, capillary action will wick it under the rubber. When the product is dry, buff it off carefully, being sure to polish out the streaks. Rain-X has a special product for interior glass, but I personally don't recommend it. It contains glycerin as an anti-fog agent and while it is marginally effective, it streaks badly and is difficult to polish out. For the purposes of this treatment, the exterior compound works just fine.
When you complete this process, your windows should move smoothly and easily, and the problem solved - at least for this season. The rubber window seals tend to dry out, particularly in the sun and dry weather. In time they become hard, binding the glass. By softening the seals and smoothing the glass, you can ease the load on the window motors and make the windows operate smoothly.
And as we always say, your efforts are never wasted. Even if this treatment doesn't work for you, at the very least, you will have sparkling clean windows!
I am going to try and clean the channels though as I'd like to avoid a complete take off of the door panels and motor. I think it could be the motor though as it was acting a bit funny today. Rolling down when I hit the auto-up switch as I described in my post above.
Sometimes I rather a part completely not work so I can just fix the whole thing and be done with it. Trying to pinpoint weird electrical gremlins is a PITA.
06-05-08, 03:50 PM
#6
Out of Warranty
It's not so much a matter of dirt, but one of time taking its toll on the soft surfaces of those seals, particularly in a sunny or dry climate. If you can keep these seals pliable they won't bind the window and "lubricating" the channels with a silicone compound as noted will help keep things moving freely.
I'm with you, running down DC electrical gremlins is not high on my list of fun things to do.
I'm with you, running down DC electrical gremlins is not high on my list of fun things to do.
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