What is it with Right Rear Windows?

Three cars now. Two Pontiac and one Olds. From 1995 thru 1999.

Three for three. The right rear door window.

Goes intermittent. It will go out for a few days, then work again.

One Pontiac it only did it once or twice in a year, then the car was totaled. The other Pontiac has only done it once. But the 99 Olds Intrigue did it intermittently a lot till it finally failed solid. Then it 'broke' and the window dropped about 2 inches. I haven't taken the door apart yet, but eventually I'll get to it. (My daughter has it at college right now)

Anyway, it seems weird that it's three for three on the right rear.

Reply to
Mike Y
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Our 1998 LeSabre did the same thing. I never fixed it. Sold it at a discount. I hope, if there is a common thread, somebody will post about this behavior.

Reply to
hls

All but the driver window motor is original on my 91 Bonneville. The driver door window motor was replaced in 1999.

All the windows are opened up when I drive, A/C busted.

harryface

91 Bonneville 310,434 05 Park Avenue 63,343
Reply to
Harry Face

That's odd, generally it is the other less used windows that fail. Corrosion occurs in the motors and in the switches. When used arcing occurs leading to premature failures.

That is why we collectors are sure to run all of the switches and motors once a month. The windows are my old cars work fine as a result ;)

mike

Reply to
Mike Hunter

I had three of four rear window regulators fail in a four month period. The are never opened and when they finally were (accidentally hit the buttons) the cable came off the pulleys. I'm thinking of disabling the rear windows on my new car for that reason.

Reply to
Edwin Pawlowski

"Never opened and when they finally were (accidentally hit the buttons) the cable came off the pulleys." Did it ever occur to you THAT'S perhaps why they failed? :)

mike

Reply to
Mike Hunter

That would be something of a problem, don't you think Mike? Cables come off of pulleys the first time the window is opened? There's no way you can justify that. It's just a bad system.

Reply to
Mike Marlow

It certainly did; that's why I posted it as a warning to others to exercise those windows. Crappy system that would cost pennies more per car to improve. Not just GM, they all use junk regulators from what I've seen. Since the car buyer can't see them, no reason to use more than the bare minimum to get by for a few years.

Reply to
Edwin Pawlowski

One must admit not everybody maintains their vehicles as needed, it must be something are doing wrong. My old cars are not GM products but one of my collector friends owns a half dozen GM cars from or the seventies. He does not have a problem with his "junk regulators" from what I've seen. They have been working fine for over thirty years. ;)

mike

Reply to
Mike Hunter

The parts used 30 years ago were a lot more robust than those used today. That's good and bad - less weight = better performance and mileage, but possibly less reliability.

nate

Mike Hunter wrote:

Reply to
Nate Nagel

How do you "maintain" a regulator? Disassemble the door panel every 3 months or 3000 miles? I've never seen anything in a service manual on doing that, maybe my page was missing.

Those regulators from the '70s are probably much more robust than the minimalist parts used today. I never had a problem with any regulator in any car I've owned in the past.

Reply to
Edwin Pawlowski

That's a pretty foolish statement Mike. For one - how often does he even roll a window up or down? For another, it's an entirely different regulator. The regulators in use today suck. It's a pretty widespread matter.

Reply to
Mike Marlow

I never had a problem with any regulator on any car I've owned either, including those today.

Everything on ones vehicle should be inspected and maintained on occasion, if you intend to keep it longer than the three to four years, with 45K to 60 on the clock, at which the average new car buyer in the US replaces their car.

Unlike the cars back in the day, that were lucky to last much past 100K, any new car today from any manufacture will easily last to 250K or more if given the proper preventive maintenance. 100K warranties are not unusual today compared to the 100K thirty day warranties of old

When I owned my fleet business we removed door panels annually to inspect, clean connections and lubricate internal parts etc.. Fleet vehicles, unlike rental car vehicles, are generally kept in service for five years or

300K because of federal corporate tax deprecation laws.

Collectors do extensive maintance as well because they do not generally expect to get rid of their vehicle. They generally stick to OEM parts when possible and stay away from the rebuilt and after market stuff.

mike

Reply to
Mike Hunter

You certainly are entitle to your own opinion but you can't prove it by me. I've seen thousands of fleet cars with hundred of thousands of miles on the clock that did not have high rates of "regulator" problems

mike

Reply to
Mike Hunter

Whatever.

Reply to
Mike Marlow

It's not mileage that kills them, it's age and cycles. And newer cars do have a higher rate of regulator failures than older ones for a variety of reasons.

nate

Reply to
N8N

You are entitled to you own opinion but our experience shows the longevity of a vehicle and its components has more to do with proper preventive maintenance than anything else. ;)

mike

Reply to
Mike Hunter

I'll go along with the age, but not the cycles. Of the three I had fail, it would be a lot if they had 50 cycles. If anything, it was lack of use that may have caused the window to stick or something of that sort. Never had a driver's window regulator fail. YMMV

Reply to
Edwin Pawlowski

How do you "PM" a power window ?

Reply to
Anonymous

RJ - you're being wicked...

Reply to
Mike Marlow

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