So I take my newly refurbished car to Cairns today, to finish off my Xmas shopping. On my way into town I stop to chat to a mate (& show off my new car). Only when I go to drive off, & try to raise the window, nothing but a gnashing & grating noise comes out of the door. Of course, every mechanic in town started their holidays yesterday. So, having no hope of getting professional help, I decided to investigate it myself. Once I got the door card off I discovered lots of broken plastic clips lying in the bottom of the door, & a bit of cable. & when I hit the window button I found the grating noise to be the cable thrashing around a spool. I quickly surmised that this was way beyond my mechanical ability. So I taped the window in place with duct tape, & I'm waiting till Wed for a workshop to open. Does anybody have any tips for my mechanic, to make his job a little easier.

 

if you went that far you can do it yourself. you need to buy a new window regulator without the motor(cheaper). pull the window up to access the 2 10mm bolts front and rear that holdit. Its easy to pull up since you already broke it. now undo the 5 10mm nuts tha thold the reg to the door frame. if you have the new regulator in hand youll see where they are. but 2 at the top front and rear, and 3 on the bottom, 2 towrds the front and 1 at the rear. unplug the motor eletrical connecto and pull out the regulator. You do have someone holding the window all the way up dont you? or taped it up
reverse to install that it. A pro takes all of 5 minutes. a DIY maybe 30min
EDIT: oh I forgot youll need to swap the motor over to the new regulator and is held by 3 torx screws. check www.partsgeek.com and youll need a US passenger reg for your RHD car. or the right side if listed U.S. left and right

 

Thanks. I'll give it a go. Do you know of any places on the net to buy one cheaply?

 

OK I found them on Parts Train. Only problem is they're for US cars. Would a US passenger side unit fit my RHD? Or are there other differences between the passenger & driver units, which would require me to get a RHD version?
PS Is there any way to check if the regulators are in good order? Or is it just taken for granted that they'll fail eventually? I ask because I'm about to fly out to WA to check out a manual S-Type, & I was wondering if there's any test I should be doing to check the regulator (sorry if this has already been covered in another thread)

 

You'll find them on ebay, too, I think.

I think the FAQs may have pics of a repair (but they'll only add to what Brutal said) as this is sadly fairly common.

 

It's only a guess but I'd imagine a right side regulator will be a right side regulator whichever country it's in.

Here's some pics https://www.jaguarforums.com/forum/s...ics-faq-57126/ as brutal says if you got as far as being able to see it you can do the rest.

I don't think there's any way to anticipate a failure.

 

Is it known why they fail? An improved version would sell well, & would be worth the investment in R&D IMO.

 

I think Brutal posted something a while back if you hunt through his posts.

 

the black railed ones are updated over the plain silver since the coating improves the sliding of the blocks. But common, theyre made with plastic and all manufacturers that have these regs all have the same issue. Ive replaced them in BMW, Benz, Fords, GM etc. Theyre quiet, light, and cheap to make and package in a door. Just like everything, they have a life expectancy

 

Keep your windows rolled up completely whenever you open or close your doors. Supporting that glass to the maximum in its surrounding frame can go a long way towards preventing the significant force of a door opening/closing (repeated thousands of times) from breaking the increasingly fragile plastic window bits inside the door. The less your glass can move during door opening/closing, the less chance it has to exert force on the plastic parts and break them....