Window Regulator

[VX KAT]

Allison,

If you want a temporary fix till you can get a replacement seal, just cut the seal where Sue's finger is pointed in the first pic. Trash the piece in the front track & replace with felt weather strip from Home Depot or Lowes. I ran mine like that for several years till I finally got off my arse & put in an OEM seal I got from Sue. There are probably still pix of it in my gallery if you want to take the time to sift through all those pages.

Tom

She toldme the front vertical rubber gasket is all ripped and twisted, so I mentioned your fix when we spoke by phone, although I told her to cut it off a little further down, at the base of the tweeter panel. And told her to try your felt weatherstripping idea.
She was losing daylight so she would get back to it later.

[Allison3371]

I'm going to try cutting the seal until I can get the part. Sue explained how easy it is to take the door panels off and take a looksee at what's really going on in there. Unfortunately the VX is on jack stands right now. I took the rear rims off to plastidip them. My first try, I had some peeling....then I ran out of daylight...then locked my keys in the VX. It was time to quit for the day. haha.I'm taking a second try and so far so good. It's cold and rainy here though, so until that project is finished, I'm stuck. I really want to see if I can tell that the binding is indeed being caused by the rubber guide and nothing else. My mechanic told me he had to remove all the door guts again to replace that, but Sue says that's not true. I have lost faith in my mechanic and I will try to tackle it myself. I've been trying to get Merlin's place on the phone since Friday to order the part anyway, but no luck yet. So, I probably won't have this fixed for a couple more weeks.

[tom4bren]

You'll have to remove the inside door panel & the window glass to do the mod. You do NOT have to remove the regulator.

When I got my VX, the rubber weatherstrip was torn & bunching up so that the window got jammed in there pretty tight. I had no other option than to remove the damaged section of the weather strip & replace with felt until I quit procrastinating & got the right part.

The only problem I encountered when switching back to the OEM weatherstrip was that I used some high grade adhesive to glue the felt in place. It was a som-na-beech to remove.

If you want to take a road trip to Fredericksburg, we could knock it out in about 30 minutes. I probably won't be back in Williamsburg area till March.

[VX KAT]

As I understood her, mechanic told her he had to remove basically all the door guts to remove the twisted/torn rubber weatherstrip/gasket piece in the metal channel area. But on mine, I know I pulled out the top and rear portion, then pulled UP on the remaining front strip and it came right out of that front metal channel, all the way out.

Only difference, mine was not ripped or bunched up, so that might make a little difference in how easy it is to pull it up and out.
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*** oh, one tip I forgot to mention to her
when messing with the metal channel trying to widen it, be real careful not to let pliers slip off and hit the inside skin of metal door shell..you don't want a wrench imprint on your door...

[tom4bren]

Nah. If the weather strip is bunched up then it's already pulled loose from the track and it should come out real easy. IIRC, when I finally replaced the entire strip, the rubber was just held on by friction. There's no adhesive. So inside door panel & glass are all that need to be removed (actually a very easy process that only takes about 10 minutes).

[VX KAT]

Nah. If the weather strip is bunched up then it's already pulled loose from the track and it should come out real easy. IIRC, when I finally replaced the entire strip, the rubber was just held on by friction. There's no adhesive. So inside door panel & glass are all that need to be removed (actually a very easy process that only takes about 10 minutes).

But you only have to remove the GLASS if you're trying to install something like the felt, right? I didn't have to remove the glass at all, just yanked the strip, and put in a brand new one, all w/o removing glass.

[tom4bren]

Then you must have magic fingers. I don't know how you'd get the weatherstrip in place with the glass still engaged with the tracks. The window will still be in the track even in the lowest position.

Even if you can, it would probably be quicker & more easier to remove the glass since it's literally a matter of 2 bolts, tilt & slide out.

Of course, if your windows are tinted, you have to be much more careful on the 'slide out' part.

[VX KAT]

Then you must have magic fingers. I don't know how you'd get the weatherstrip in place with the glass still engaged with the tracks. The window will still be in the track even in the lowest position.

Even if you can, it would probably be quicker & more easier to remove the glass since it's literally a matter of 2 bolts, tilt & slide out.

Of course, if your windows are tinted, you have to be much more careful on the 'slide out' part.

I'd cleaned the metal channel, and treated every square inch of the new rubber strip with 303 andput a little Silicone spray in the rubber track where the glass goes.
Then, with glass in place, I was able to feed the rubber strip down some, and then grab it from underneath and pull it down into place. I used the electric window to position the glass where it made it easiest to get the rubber strip where I wanted it. The window edge actually pushed the rubber right into place, worked great.

And you're right, the rubber strip is just held in by friction, no glue.

And watching Tim remove the glass when installing my SBC brackets made me quite sure neither Dave or I was gonna touch it! KISS!
(bet ya'll didn't know that last S stood for Sue did ya?)

[Allison3371]

OK, New issue, can really use some help. I got the rubber track in...the new regulator that the shop replaced a few weeks ago...and it's all hooked up. BUT, the glass is still rocking forward and I THINK I see why. The little plastic clip on the regulator is coming detached from the track causing it to not stay horizontally flat. Is this a common problem? I did widen the front track and moved it a little. It really did help, it's not as bad, but still binding. It is not jumping off the side window track anymore though.



The top white plactic guide is not on the track at all but the buttom one is. There is no way to "push" it back either.

Help?

[Allison3371]

Also, I tried the washer fix, but the bottom white piece is already tight against the guide/track. When I added the washers, it put too much strain on the bottom white plastic piece.

[tom4bren]

Is this a common problem?

Yes it is. Those little plastic pieces are really the source of all our woes.

I've got a drivers side regulator in my garage with those pieces all goobered up. Soon I will have the passenger side as well. My plan is to try & find something to 'fix' the regulator rather than replace it.

In the mean time, if you unbolt the glass from the regulator it should give you enough freedom to get that top guide back on the regulator. It may not stay though since the piece that grabs the track on the regulator is broken off. You need to get that piece back in place before you do anything else.

My washer fix (that pushed the upsy downsy thinggy against the track of the regulator) only bought me about 18 months before the regulator was too goobered up to work anymore.



You can certainly tell that I've discussed this topic at length with Sue ... her VX verbiage has rubbed off on me.

[VX KAT]

My washer fix (that pushed the upsy downsy thinggy against the track of the regulator) only bought me about 18 months before the regulator was too goobered up to work anymore.



You can certainly tell that I've discussed this topic at length with Sue ... her VX verbiage has rubbed off on me.

Ouch .

[tom4bren]

I just found out that my replacement passenger window regulator isn't going to happen so it looks like I'll be trying to fix my old one rather than replace it. I'll keep you posted.

[yellowgizmo99]

hey Tom see if they will throw in the regulator, can maybe use it to work up a fix on the guides.

[tom4bren]

I thought about that but I didn't want to use the same pieces that keep breaking. What I'd ideally like to find is something that is available nation wide that could be clipped or glued on.

IIRC someone found out that the plastic clips that attach the glass to the regulator are fairly common parts. Maybe these guides are too.