My car has a self-destruct mechanism.. It must!

[Kalmah]

A couple of weeks ago I was driving along and decided to roll down the windows.
After a moment of letting them roll down I heard a loud "Clunk!" from the back left window. The damn glass fell out of whatever was holding it.

I took the door apart to find the wire/pulley assembly was tangled and was off its tracks. I rigged it to hold the glass up then disconnected its power.

Last night I took a trip to the store.. My windows where all fogged up when I got in so I rolled down the 3 that still function and again, heard a loud "clunk" from the back right window this time. *facepalm*

Car is a 2000 Ford Focus. (btw, don't buy one of these k?)

It's suppose to rain today.. I have trash bags over the window right now. I don't want to take the fucking door apart!

 

[lxskllr]

That's why electric windows suck. It's getting to be that's the only way they come :^(

 

[CPA]

I'm sorry if I'm laughing at your pain.

 

[Sluggo]

The window regulators on a 10 year old car broke?

Alert the media

 

[mwmorph]

The Focuses of that era had window regulator issues. There's no official TSB that I know of about it, but years ago, I used to work at a Ford dealership as a tech (thing ~2006 era) and Focuses (as well as some other cars, IIRC the Lincoln LS and Mustang also had this problem) would very, very commonly have the window regulator problem.

I'm not sure if the new replacement parts have the design fixed though.

On the plus side, it's a relatively cheap item.

 

[JEDI]

A couple of weeks ago I was driving along and decided to roll down the windows.
After a moment of letting them roll down I heard a loud "Clunk!" from the back left window. The damn glass fell out of whatever was holding it.

I took the door apart to find the wire/pulley assembly was tangled and was off its tracks. I rigged it to hold the glass up then disconnected its power.

Last night I took a trip to the store.. My windows where all fogged up when I got in so I rolled down the 3 that still function and again, heard a loud "clunk" from the back right window this time. *facepalm*

Car is a 2000 Ford Focus. (btw, don't buy one of these k?)

It's suppose to rain today.. I have trash bags over the window right now. I don't want to take the fucking door apart!

psst.. Garage subforum that way ---------->

 

[Modelworks]

Did you just pay it off ? That usually triggers the built in self destruct.

 

[herrjimbo]

dude, it's a ford. there's your problem.

 

[The Boston Dangler]

That's why electric windows suck. It's getting to be that's the only way they come :^(

what? are you listening to a victrola next to a whale blubber lamp? is your medicine cabinet full of opium and leeches?

 

[lxskllr]

what? are you listening to a victrola next to a whale blubber lamp? is your medicine cabinet full of opium and leeches?

Unfortunately I'm running low on leeches. You have to keep breeding them, or you eventually run out. I neglected them a little too long, and now it's hard to find new ones :^(

 

[Jeff7]

Similar happened on my Hyundai Elantra. The braided steel wire that pulls the window's carriage goes up and over a nylon pulley. Either the wire gets tangled which snaps the pulley off, or the pulley snaps first, which then allows the wire to tangle.
Either way, the result is the same: Broken pulley, and a crippled motor assembly.
My car now has one working window, and one of them's already had the assembly replaced once. Now all but the driver's side are effectively bolted in place (the carriage wire is bolted to the frame, that is).

It almost seems like a place where a metal pulley was replaced with plastic without properly increasing its size to deal with the forces involved, or possible problems with creep.

 

[Born2bwire]

what? are you listening to a victrola next to a whale blubber lamp? is your medicine cabinet full of opium and leeches?

His avatar is a current self-portrait.

 

[Freshgeardude]

The window regulators on a 10 year old car broke?

Alert the media

my uncle has plenty of classics and all of the electric windows work to this day.

for some reason car companies are making them in a cheaper way

 

[BabaBooey]

At ford quality is job one / everyone knows this.

I feel like a pig of some sort all the sudden....:awe:

 

[Raduque]

That's why electric windows suck. It's getting to be that's the only way they come :^(

This is more of a fail window operating mechanism than just electric windows failing.

Who the hell thought a cable and pully system was a good idea to operate electric windows should be shot.

 

[Vette73]

my uncle has plenty of classics and all of the electric windows work to this day.

for some reason car companies are making them in a cheaper way

A lot of it is not about cheap but also about how light it can be. The old ones were heavy and made more noise then currnet ones. So they make them lighter and more quiet.

 

[Imp]

Ah, a family member paid $700 to fix a broken power window motor in a 2003-ish Camry. I'd probably just have someone do what OP did and bolt it in place if one failed.

 

[MovingTarget]

It was only a matter of time. They will all go bad eventually. I just had to replace one on my Cavalier (1997). Just get it over with and enjoy not having a car payment every month.

 

[Kalmah]

Yep, now I officially have 2 non-functioning windows.

I don't even know how to explain how I 'fixed' it. The wire fell off of its pulley, it was tangled on the outside. I ended up snipping the wire, then rigging it so that it would pull the glass up and hold it. Then I disconnected the power just like on the other window.