Window won't go down more than 2 inches

I'm assuming the regulator needs to be replaced in the passenger door for the window. Also still having a squealing coming from A/C belt, car has been in shop for the past two months and I finally got it back yesterday and plan on fixing everything with my end of the year bonus.


So I'm on here to ask a question in regards to this:

I'm going to spend $60 to have a mechanic do a full check up on my car, while checking the cause of the A/C squealing, most likely the belts are too loose or too tight. And have him see if it is in fact the regulator.

He has a quote for me to replace the windows motor for $290.90 installed. Seems like a good deal as I've seen a lot of "do-it-yourself" fixing that ended with cracking the door frame. And as I'm not very good at anything related to fixing, or rather I should say not very experienced and paranoid about doing it myself, I'm considering just paying him the money as it seems like a good price. From a quick glance on google I found the regulator to cost upwards of $150.

So my question is.... pay him, or do it myself? What's the difference in cost, and is it something I can do without breaking anything?



Thanks.

Take it to Rogue (Stevan) at Miata Solutions, up near TMS. He knows these cars better than any other mechanic, and will probably do a better job. It might not even require a full replacement, as the rollers go bad on those.

^+1 for Stevan

Common cause: tracks crapped up, rollers, window switch contacts. If those are bad long enough, more things start to break. The window switch is more an NA thing, but suppose it could be the culprit on an NB too.

Belt could be too loose, a crappy quality belt, or glazed over. Too loose is easy enough to see and correct. A glazed over belt generally is shiny on the contact surface or looks like it has "wax" on it. Some brands of belts just squeal for the sake of squealing (the Midas that was down the street from a shop I worked at only used crappy belts that would squeal relentlessly no matter how correctly they were adjusted. I forget the brand though).

Didn't you say you took it to your family mechanic to have it fully looked over already? And why was it in the shop for two months? Am I thinking someone else? Sorry if I am.

And +2 for Stevan - if you're who I'm thinking you are, you should ditch your usual guy and start bothering Stevan.

It is not that hard to take the door panel off and clean up the tracks. The sutff mazda put on the track dries and cakes up and causes the window moves slowly or not at all. I spray a ton DW40 on the track and ran a cloth with a screw driver to clean the tracks. If you are annal enough, you can emove the tracks and clean them thoroughly. I re-grease them with the stuff from Honda. It runs about $25 for a tube at the dealer. Now my windows are like that on the new car.

Quote:

---

Originally Posted by Rob®

Common cause: tracks crapped up, rollers, window switch contacts. If those are bad long enough, more things start to break. The window switch is more an NA thing, but suppose it could be the culprit on an NB too.

Belt could be too loose, a crappy quality belt, or glazed over. Too loose is easy enough to see and correct. A glazed over belt generally is shiny on the contact surface or looks like it has "wax" on it. Some brands of belts just squeal for the sake of squealing (the Midas that was down the street from a shop I worked at only used crappy belts that would squeal relentlessly no matter how correctly they were adjusted. I forget the brand though).

Didn't you say you took it to your family mechanic to have it fully looked over already? And why was it in the shop for two months? Am I thinking someone else? Sorry if I am.

And +2 for Stevan - if you're who I'm thinking you are, you should ditch your usual guy and start bothering Stevan.

---

I'm the guy who was rear ended by the truck. It has taken them 2 months to correct the damages that should have taken 2 days. I did take it in and had the belts adjusted and it's squealing again. I like seeing that the window could be a cheap fix..... I plan on taking it to miata solutions... I've been told to go to him a BILLION times for everything. I'm going to send him an email.

might be different problem but my 99 passenger window cost me one small zip tie to fix.
my problem was a broke plastic part that holds the cable to the inner door.
to pull the door panel it's 2 screws and 3 or 4 plastic pull plugs.
I'm in haslett, work at lockheed if you want to see if we have/had the same problem

Quote:

---

Originally Posted by ryuu

might be different problem but my 99 passenger window cost me one small zip tie to fix.
my problem was a broke plastic part that holds the cable to the inner door.
to pull the door panel it's 2 screws and 3 or 4 plastic pull plugs.
I'm in haslett, work at lockheed if you want to see if we have/had the same problem

---

My 99 did the same thing. I totally forgot about it until you mentioned your fix. The plastic cable clip broke and let the cable move over enough that the window would get caught on it. seems like it only went down a few inches and then got hung. Same thing, a small zip tie took care of the problem. seems like it took a couple of try's to get it right, my cable shifted a little bit the first time and started getting hung up again.

This guy is a member of this forum too.

http://forum.miata.net/vb/showthread.php?t=443960

He has a sale starting 1-15-12.

Wow, he includes a lot more with his stuff for very little extra cost. I bought those guides awhile ago and installed them. Made my windows quicker than they ever were (and I bought the car with 34k miles on it 9 years ago). But now my window switch is completely gone, so they're back to not working so hot again :(

Anyway, the Honda lube mentioned in this thread is Shin Etsu, and you can get it on eBay for like $15 shipped. I think the last tube I bought was ~$14.88 shipped. But yeah, I'd definitely pick that up over anything else.

He's a realy nice guy. I "met" him a few years ago after asking his opinion on a part he had bought on ebay. I have the guides installed on my car and they made a world of difference!

Quote:

---

Originally Posted by MiataProtege

I'm the guy who was rear ended by the truck. It has taken them 2 months to correct the damages that should have taken 2 days. I did take it in and had the belts adjusted and it's squealing again. I like seeing that the window could be a cheap fix..... I plan on taking it to miata solutions... I've been told to go to him a BILLION times for everything. I'm going to send him an email.

---

No, no, no... you're the one that needs to go to Miata Technologies. ::EvilBana

So I'm sitting here laughing at my own stupidity after trying to fix my own car.

I took the door panel off myself, and started investigating. I was amazed how DISGUSTING that black goo stuff is. Worst glue substance ever made in my opinion. Anyways.... the plastic that seals the door was already torn by previous owners I found, and was able to get my hands in there and feel around. I found the cable that ran from the regulator to pull the window down, and after greasing absolutely everything I could find, decided that wasn't the cause. I noticed a few rods were stopping and pushing in on themselves which led me to believe something was caught. I reclipped in a rod that holds the wire and the window came down another inch or so, then found a second clip that holds the wire in and clipped it in. After that, voila, fixed window. So I put the door panel back on and admired my work by putting the window down and then back up. I decided to "race" the two windows down and up... and noticed the one I had just greased was faster, so I went to the driver side to pull the panel off and to grease that side up aswell (for some reason I feel the need to make the windows go up and down extremely fast, I'm not sure why). The door turned out to be locked, and since the keys were in the ignition (so I could listen to music while I worked) I had to go in to the passenger side to get the keys.... when I let the handle off on the driver side.... the passenger door closed. Yes.... it was locked. So now I'm laughing.... waiting for AAA to show up (best $2 a month I ever spent!).

Next up..... A/C belt! Maybe I can lock myself in the trunk next. ::Banana::

15 Minutes later they are here and unlock the door promptly. Took the drivers door panel off, greased everything, both roll down very fast and at the same time.

That's why I love my zippered plastic rear window. I used to lock my keys in the car intentionally (beach, diving, etc). Just unzip the rear window from outside, crawl in, done. It actually takes me longer to zip the stupid thing back up then it does to get it down and inside the car.

Quote:

---

Originally Posted by MiataProtege

So I'm sitting here laughing at my own stupidity after trying to fix my own car.

I took the door panel off myself, and started investigating. I was amazed how DISGUSTING that black goo stuff is. Worst glue substance ever made in my opinion. Anyways.... the plastic that seals the door was already torn by previous owners I found, and was able to get my hands in there and feel around. I found the cable that ran from the regulator to pull the window down, and after greasing absolutely everything I could find, decided that wasn't the cause. I noticed a few rods were stopping and pushing in on themselves which led me to believe something was caught. I reclipped in a rod that holds the wire and the window came down another inch or so, then found a second clip that holds the wire in and clipped it in. After that, voila, fixed window. So I put the door panel back on and admired my work by putting the window down and then back up. I decided to "race" the two windows down and up... and noticed the one I had just greased was faster, so I went to the driver side to pull the panel off and to grease that side up aswell (for some reason I feel the need to make the windows go up and down extremely fast, I'm not sure why). The door turned out to be locked, and since the keys were in the ignition (so I could listen to music while I worked) I had to go in to the passenger side to get the keys.... when I let the handle off on the driver side.... the passenger door closed. Yes.... it was locked. So now I'm laughing.... waiting for AAA to show up (best $2 a month I ever spent!).

Next up..... A/C belt! Maybe I can lock myself in the trunk next. ::Banana::

---

My first fix worked great too ... for a while. On mine the clip that pushed from inside the door toward the inside of the car was broke so putting it back worked fine for a while but it soon pulled back out.
Second time after pushing it back in the hole I wrapped a small zip tie around it to keep it from pulling back out.

Quote:

---

Originally Posted by ryuu

My first fix worked great too ... for a while. On mine the clip that pushed from inside the door toward the inside of the car was broke so putting it back worked fine for a while but it soon pulled back out.
Second time after pushing it back in the hole I wrapped a small zip tie around it to keep it from pulling back out.

---

Sounds like a good idea. Next time it happens I'll zip 'em up. Thanks :)

Quote:

---

Originally Posted by MiataProtege

Sounds like a good idea. Next time it happens I'll zip 'em up. Thanks :)

---

Sent a PM, let me know if you didn't get it. Trying to multi task and not good at it.

So I fixed it... and it led to a new problem coming about.
http://i68.photobucket.com/albums/i3...211/photo1.jpg

This is the before pic.... this wire connected into that yellow connector... and keeps the wire tight so it can pull against the regulator and pull the window down. Well... while I was going to affix a ziptie.. I accidentally hit the window down switch... the switch pulled the wire in about an inch, as I quickly pulled my hand away. Now the wire is not long enough to go back into this hole. What can I do to elongate the wire again? I came so close to fixing everything myself, I want to be able to say I did it.