Power window motor quick revival

[Sodo]

Be it KNOWN this other useful thread!
Power Window Motor Rebuild: How to
Lots of good info ^^here^^.

But today we're gonna do a quickie revival.
Passenger side window motor quit.
Pressing the up/down button I hear a click, like a relay click.
No window movement.
There is no relay and yet it "clicks" like a relay.
What makes that audible click?
The motor is totally stuck solid, there is __nothing__ that could click.
It's a vanagon mystery.

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Remove these four bolts/nuts

There are two m6 bolts holding the motor on - that are fairly difficult to unscrew.
The motor can slide off it's shaft if it's not rusted stuck.
You may have to pry it off.
The motor was frozen, and putting 12v to it, didn't turn at all.
I put a wrench on the shaft and was able to to force turn the motor
but if was very stiff.

I drilled a 5/64" hole in the end, drilling in until the drillbit hits the motor shaft.

Squirted penetrating oil in, then turned the shaft, and it became almost instantly free.
I put 12v to it and the motor now spins free!

Pumped a tiny bit of grease into the hole.
Tested both +/- and -/+ and the motor spins quiet and free.

Re-installed the motor, and the window works again, smooth and quiet! 👍🏽👍🏽
_________________


'90 Westy EJ25, 2Peloquins, 3knobs, pressure-oiled GT mainshaft, filtered, cooled gearbox
'87 Tintop w 47k 53k, '12 SmallCar EJ25, cooled filtered gearbox
....KTMs, GasGas, SPOT mtb

[nmerrill]

Nicely done!
I have fixed many electric motors, and it is almost always the bushings lack of lube that kills them.
Most recently a tape deck drive motor - same exact thing.

[Chilepines]

My passenger side window just quit working in the down position. I'm pretty sure the motor died - PO left me a couple of used motors and when I plug in one of the spares runs while the one in the door does not.
So I want to get the motor out without having to remove the regulator. No question, as noted above, it is hard to get to one of the bolts holding the motor in place - to me it seems impossible. Any hints on exactly how to get just the motor out?
_________________
White 89 Westy with 2004 Subaru EJ25 - Betty

[Sodo]

There are some tricks.
You need a stubby 1/4” ratchet with fine-tooth clicks.
I’ll look thru mi pics.
_________________


'90 Westy EJ25, 2Peloquins, 3knobs, pressure-oiled GT mainshaft, filtered, cooled gearbox
'87 Tintop w 47k 53k, '12 SmallCar EJ25, cooled filtered gearbox
....KTMs, GasGas, SPOT mtb

[16CVs]

Un bolt the 3 mounting points first. There's 2 nuts and a bolt that go into the plastic plate.

Take the Plastic condom that covers the door check rod as well. Note it's orientation when you remove it.

Once you have that loose it will give you the ability to move the assembly in the door to access the bolts. It is common for the coupler to be corroded to the motor and make it tough to remove the motor once the bolts are out.

I know we all want to press the the EASY button but sometimes it's just easier to pull the assembly out and do it ion the bench.

After you get it out, put it in a box and let me rebuild it. Avoid the temptation to buy a New Shiny Aftermarket Chinese motor. These fail at an alarming rate. See my Classified ad for a rebuild.

Stacy
_________________
1987 Syncro Westfalia Triple knob (bastard)
1989 Syncro Tristar Triple knob "Swedish"
2013 Jetta Hybrid a true "Zwitter"
Samba member # 14980
Call anytime number 650 722 4914 .
Keep Your van running and upkept tastefully for the love of the hobby.
Don't let your van end up in an "abortions" thread.

[syncrodoka]

I pulled a power window regulator motor with the regulator in place recently. It is as stacy describes, almost easier to pull the entire assembly since the cables restrict how much you can twist everything to get the motor section out of the door. I was able to get it out but not without several different approaches at getting it out. Once that section is out of the door it is straightforward to unbolt the motor.

[Chilepines]

[16CVs]

Send a picture of the motor along.
_________________
1987 Syncro Westfalia Triple knob (bastard)
1989 Syncro Tristar Triple knob "Swedish"
2013 Jetta Hybrid a true "Zwitter"
Samba member # 14980
Call anytime number 650 722 4914 .
Keep Your van running and upkept tastefully for the love of the hobby.
Don't let your van end up in an "abortions" thread.

[Chilepines]

With the help of DuncanS I was able to get this working. Drilled holes in bottom of door just big enough for a 10mm socket and was then able to get the window unbolted from the regulator. Once that was out, and motor and regulator were freed up, it was possible to wiggle the motor out of the door, unbolt it from the regulator, and pop a working motor back on. Did not have to pull the regulator out.

_________________
White 89 Westy with 2004 Subaru EJ25 - Betty

[DuncanS]

A follow up to Chilepines' post. We were unable to gain useable access to the motor mounting bolts with the window regulator still fastened to the window in the down position. What we had to do was unbolt the window from the regulator after drilling the 10mm socket access holes.

Two thoughts on this whole deal. First the aft hole is 2 ½" back of the hole where the ridge is which is for the panel plastic retainer. The forward hole is 4 ½ " forward of that. Number the next, the next time you have the panel off, swap out the 10mm bolts for socket machine bolts so the hole doesn't need to be so big. If you have allen head or torx ones, the holes can be much smaller and you don't need to worry about the panel not covering the hole. It doesn't show anyway even with the big holes, but a socket head one will be easier to get the tool in and more importantly have it be less likely to fall off when extracting it. A magnet was needed at one point. We had some trouble even with careful measurements getting the holes to be in the exact location. Also, if you remove the two bolts top and bottom which hold the regulator track in place, then you can move the track a little to get an allen wrench in with less difficulty even if the hole isn't in quite the right spot.

We had lots of fun in the rain and it turned out that Ms S had worked with chile pines in the past so they had a nice reunion.

Duncan