Hi Friends, Over the last year or so I thought I had sorted out and developed expertise on everything to do with passenger windows, but then there's always Murphy's law. To bring folks up to speed, I had a passenger window going up cockeyed about 10 months ago. Made the mistake of trying to move it around manuallly, then up with the moter - POW - a million peices. These guys cost about $400 used so I never want to install one of them again.

As we have said to several posters over the last year: When the window does this, the first place to look is at the adjustment screw under the door panel about 1/2 way up the door, 10 inches in from the rear vertical edge. This bolt can loosen causing the cockeyeed travel. After the replacement, I learned all about adjusting the window, even had to re-tighten this bolt once more. All was going well until this week. Then window was starting to bind and shift on its way up again. I just pulled the door pannel off today and was surprised to see the previously mentioned adjustment screw was in position, super tight. Something else was making the front side of the window bind on its way up. After lubricating the channels and checking all the bolts, I found that I had to move this adjustment screw all the way "down" to the bottom of it's travel - the window works perfectly now!

This just doesn't make sense to me. I never ever wanting to go through replaceing a passenger window again, which makes me reach out for your opinion. On the positive side, the window is lining up perfectly now. On the other hand, only the weather (temp. decrease) has changed. Something must be wrong right?

The window regulator drives two "arms" which are like an X. The bottom of each X (lets' call them an arm) is in the window's channel, which runs front to back at the very bottom of the window. These arms have the ability to move left or right within that channel to move the window.

I am not sure what caused the binding. Today when I was trouble shooting I noticed that the left arm (the one that attaches to the window on the front/dashboard side of the car) of the window regulator was not moving over the first few inches of travel (after that the arm is behind the door - can't see). It didn't seem to be binding but I wanted to share this too. The right arm moves imediately as the window is engaged.

Like I said, the window is working well now, but this just doesn't seem right to me. The binding only occured when the window was moving into the space behind the super tweeter, which is at least 1/2 way up its travel, so I assume both "arms" are transferring power from the regulator. I don't want to label a "band-aid" repair as perminent so I wanted to run this by you to see what you think. Thanks for looking.

John

 

Sometimes in an effort to cover everything I get too wordy, let me try to boil this down:
Passenger window went up crooked. Unlike all the other times this might happen, the adjustment bolt (up / down slot) was not loose. I had to move the bolt all the way to the bottom of the slot to fix the travel. Works OK, but scary - why would this happen?

While trouble shooting, I noticed that the cross brace that moves the window (X shaped brace attached to regulator on one end. Bottom of that X, (one on left, one on right) attaches to a channel in bottom of window and slides in the horizontal channel bottom of window to move window up / down). One of these "arms", the forward one (Lays bottom left to top right in the aformentioned X shape), appears to be frozen/imobile. Could this stick and cause the issue? Worse yet, could the regulator be failing in that this one "arm" of the X brace is not connected to it any longer? This might cause the imbalance and the need to reposition the adjustment bolt in the extreme.

Does anyone remember if you should be able to see this, forward, side of the X brace moving over the first 4 inches of window travel, when moving upwards?

The strange part is that the window works perfectly now. Just want to stay ahead of the curve if something is going bad on me.

Thanks,
John

 

I can't help with the problem but I have noticed that both passenger door windows on Kim's car are not held firmly by the regulator. It seems like there is excessive wear in the mechanism. If I hold the back top corner of the glass I can easily wobble it around forwards and backwards. I am sure it could not have been like this when leaving the factory.

 

Wow that's interesting. Makes me wonder if the torx bolt at the top of Kim's door is tight. That bolt is on a horizontal plane, upper right corner just inside the glass when looking at passenger door. It is a sloted hole so play can occur when loose.

As you probably already know, a bolt is directly below that at the bottom of the door. As I type this I realize that the one at the bottom's job is to adjust and position this upper right side of the window you mention.

You know what, it is litterally a 5 minute job to take the door pannel off and you could check this really easy if you like. From what you mentioned I'd be surprised if there is not an air/noise (even H2O) leak when all the windows are closed. Racediagnostics, you probably already know how to do this, if not, just ask - after 4 or 5 times I can give you good instructions. Like I said it takes just a couple of minutes mate. John

 

RD - forgot one thing, I also have a few "tricks" to help you get that alignment/seal perfect. Will share them too if you like.

 

Do you know if there are any YouTube videos or Jag Tech Bulletins that describe the adjustment procedure(s)?

 

Hi Cat, Yes there are. Rev Sam has one as I understand. Here are some ideas for you from my experience:

1) Align frontwindow with respect to rear window.
a) close roof, close all windows. Let's assume passenger window is being adjusted for this example.
b) note how the vertical edge of the driver window is perfectly parrellel to the rear window's rubber weather sealant (top to bottom). I could have said edge of rear window, but once you look you will see what I mean. Our goal is to do this for the passenger window too.
c) If passenger is not parrellel, then the adjustment nut will be used to correct. (see adjustment nut notes below)
2) Alignment with respect to rubber window seals below the edge of the passenger window that is next to the rear window - Are the seals equally tight across the whole side of the window top to bottom?
a) take a thin piece of paper, choose something that will resist bending, but will not/can not scratch or pierce rubber window seals. I used a piece of thin cardboard paper from package packing like Krazy Glue.
b) Starting at top of passenger window, slowly insert the flat peice of paper behind the edge of the window until it meets too much resistance to move. This will give you an idea of where there are gaps and pressure descrepancies.
C) as you move downward you will notice the resistance increase. You want it just about equal across the entire length of the window. You will use the frame adjustment screw to do this (my name, I will describe below).

3) go through the motions to re establish the upward and downward travel points for both front windows.

How to adjust:

1) Remove door pannel. (easy job, sounds intimidating first time - takes less than 5 minutes)
2) peel bank the black plastic water seal.

3) Find the adjustment nut mentioned in 1C. It is to the upper right of the bracket that holds the arm rest. Look into the door, see the silver metal bracket that lies left to right and is attached to the regulator. The rear side of this bracket is attached to the door with a 8mm bolt in a vertical slot. If you were to loosen this bolt and then closed the window, the braket will move upwards and the window will go cockeyed. Here is the adjustment: The further down you secure the nut, the more the upper rear corner of the passenger window will move down and back. IOW if the edge of the window in #1 above lies like this (look at the slash, it is an example of the angle of the window edge when fully raised. {rear window} /{front window} (exagerated example) moving the bolt down and securing it will move it to this: [rear window] | [front window].

4) Note the gap mentioned in 2b. If the entire length of the window needs to be moved into the seal slightly, use the Torx Bolt at the top rear edge of the door. This silver 30 Torx bolt is on the horizontal plane. It can be loosened and moved in towards the inside of the car. Tighten securly.

If / when you need to adjust the top of the rear of the passenger window, go to the bottom and see the two silver torx bolts with a black allen bolt between them. I called this a Frame Adjustment Screw above. No need to loosen the silver bolts, but do turn the allen bolt 1/4 turn at a time to move the top corner of the window plane in to the seal.

SUMMARY: To adjust the entire window edge inward - use the sliver torx bolt at the top rear of the door. This is the bolt that secures the rear of the window frame to the door. To adjust the top rear quadrant inward to match the lower left quadrant, just use the Frame Adjustment screw 1/4 turn at at time. Clockwise moves the corner inward; counterclock moves the corner outwards.

Remember, When you are closing the door to test the new positions, lower the window before you close it - the position may have changed; watch the wires hanging down from the inside of the door - don't catch them in the door jamb; I never attach the window switch until the door is shut (all you need is to crack that). Re set the Window travel each time you make a new adjustment.

Hey I just remembered - Someone shared a nice diagram or two with me in April 2014 that has these as a diagram. It is sure to be in this website's archieves. Do a search on my name, passenger window replacement, April 2014 as I recall. Sorry I don't have time to pull it up today.

I hope this helps you. If you have questions, just ask.

John

 

Thanks, Johnken! I was able to reset the driver side, but i'm still having a problem with the passenger side. When the door is opened, the window drops about a quarter inch like it's supposed to in order to clear the soft top upon closing. However, as soon as the door handle is released, the window rises to the top so that when you close the door, it hits the soft top and doesn't close all the way.

Do you think your instructions will cure this problem?

 

Hi Cat, the first thing I think of is: Does the passenger door light turn on when door is opened (all the inside lights for that matter)? I suspect = No. Then this is a malfunctioning microswitch in the door latch. The door never knows if it is open or shut.

If I am wrong about the lights/micro swtich then let's think. I have seen this happen with low battery, try giving her a quick charge. Some may suggest a '"reset" (probably true but a battery charge fixed this for me.

The instructions you asked about above will not fix the window drop issue. Can you report back on the two suggestions above in this post? If it is the microswitch let us know - common failure. Sounds intimidating but actually was pretty easy.

John

 

Thanks, Johnken! I will check the light in the passenger door. The battery is brand new; i reset the radio and the driver side window (works fine now).

 

When i open the passenger door, the door light doesn't come on, but the dome lights do light up. Do you still think that means the microswitch is bad?

 

HiCat, This is a good one. I would have bet the house on a bad microswitch based on the door light not turning on, but the dome light is on the same circuit. When my 1998's door switch malfunctioned the dome light did not come on. I wonder if it is on a different sensor, let's think about this.

The microswitch is in the door latch. It monitors the position of the latch with respect to open/closed/even partial close. When the door is opened, the window drops . . . wait I may have figured it out.

Obviously (he said to himself) not everything is driven by this microswitch, if it did how could the window know to drop. That "window drop" signal comes from the door handle's micro switch. When everything is working properly, the window drops (courtesy of the door handle switch), the body module knows the door is open (courtesy of the microswitch in the latch) so it knows not to move the window back up.

Without the microswitch in the latch functioning, the door doesn't know it is open every time you touch the handle, it drops another 1/4 inch. Conversly it can't know when it is closed either, so it will never travel back up the 1/4 inch.

HiCat I please feel free to launch another thread to validate this, but I suspect in 2004 model cars, the dome light is driven by door handle motion, not the door latch opening. In my 1998 the dome light is driven by opening the door. Following this logic, Yes I suspect you have a bad microswitch.

There are many threads about this, I believe I even launched one with instructions a month or two ago. Rev Sam has a great video too. Good news is that the switches are readily availble from DigiKey (a national electronics parts supplier), and the part number is in a thread you can quickly find with a seach on microswitch passenger door or something. Digikey charges a nominal $$. Jaguar makes you purchase an entire latch assembly.

This job is intimidating sounding, but I promise it is not that difficult once you get into it. You might even get lucky, like me and several others, and find that once you have the door latch in hand, a little WD40 and open/close manipulation clears the problem without having to change the micro switch.

Once you feel comfortable with the diagnosis, we are here to help. I will tell you up front that I was able to get the latch out without many of the steps Rev Sam listed in the video (good news). That's how I was able to learn and post the instructions for window alighment, funny how things connect.

Let us know.

 

Thanks, Johnken. I think you're right that the dome light is actuated by the door handle. When you say WD-40 might do the trick, do you mean b4 or after disassembly?

Scratch that, i just re-read ur post. So I'm gonna check out Rev Sam's latch disassembly vid hopefully tomorrow, will report back. Appreciate the input mucho!