I finally got fed up with my intermittant power windows,
so I gave them an overhaul
Here's what I did:
The offending vehicle is a Grand Prix, but the procedure should be identical to all the A/G bodies.
Symptom - windows would work whenever they wanted to
When they'd fail, a good kick or punch to the lower door panel would wake them up again
OK, first step is to remove your door panel, I won't walk you through that part here
From there, locate the power window motor in the front lower corner of the door:
This pic shows one exposed bolt, the front mount of the motor.
You can also see the wiring (blue, grey) to the motor,
and the lower portion of the motor at the bottom of the image.
NOW, hidden behind two dimples in the doorskin:
are the other two mounting bolts. The huge time-saving trick here is a hole-saw
centerred on each of those two dimples. Unfortunately, I my holesaw wouldn't cut it
Sooo... I improvised (Hey, it's hidden, and for ~this~ car I don't care...)
Either way is up to you, it's ~your~ car, right???) Holesaw's quicker though
Just make sure the glass is rolled up while doing this
Just in case the drill slips
Eventually, you'll uncover the two hidden bolts.
Next comes some safety and convenience measures.
I used a 2x4, you can use whatever you're comfortable with.
Roll down the window so it's resting on the support block.
Don't ~force~ it down, just enough to take the tension off the motor
and keep the block from falling back out.
This will prevent the glass from falling down when the motor comes out.
Also opens up the hole beside the motor, by putting the gear in a hidden position.
Here, a 13mm makes quick work of the bolts (other years may use SAE size, I'm sure)
Next, pop the motor loose and fish it out from the bottom
(Again, being careful not to nail the glass behind it!!!)
From here, you have two options. Repair or replace.
I opted for the repair, but be warned, these things are MESSY!!!
(At least ~mine~ were!, sticky, gooey, greasy, nasty!)
Regardless, from here you can uplug the motor and take it to the bench.
This is what the bottom looks like, and this green plate will be our primary focus
There are 3 tabs holding it in place, a pliers will bend the tabs out of the way:
Next, the brush holder can come out (yours may be a different color)
There are 2 brass 'brushes' in there, and two springs, that may want to fly away
Keep a close eye on falling parts.
There's also a white plastic spacer ring that we'll need to pull out
We'll see those all shortly. Next, grab the armature and work it out of the motor
Between grease and the magnetic force, you'll need to work at it a bit
And with everything removed, this is the mess you'll be looking at:
Now, cleanup time. I used BraKleen, one of my favorites. Watch for it to go on sale
and then STOCK UP on the stuff!!! I've found it ranging from $1.50 to $5.00 a can.
Spray and/or wipe off whatever you can here, be careful not to lose parts though
You'll notice the copper contacts on the armature are likely black.
Scotch-brite works well here:
Also note the other parts are cleaned up a bit in the pic, as much as I'm gonna get 'em
At this point, you ~could~ go into the gearbox of the motor and clean and lube it
I didn't, so I won't cover that on this page. My concern was electrical only.
I did put a dab of grease on the armature end to replace what I cleaned out of the brush holder
You'll notice the two 'brushes' that came out are mostly square,
with round protrusions on each side
One round protrusion fits the spring, the other rides on the armature.
They ~ARE~ reversible. So, if they're worn, flip 'em around
putting the worn side inside the spring.
Also note they're bevelled on two of the square edges.
Sharp sides ride against the metal brush holder,
bevelled side rides against the plastic - at least ~mine~ are that way
Now, for the REAL treat. The brushes need to be loaded in their holder.
(Don't forget the plastic spacer underneath)
I used a snap-ring pliers to hold them in the holder, it worked
but still took a few tries. Ain't like an alternator that you can put a paper clip in
Next, drop the armature in the brush holder, and work it a bit to get both brushes in position
Now, carefully thread the whole works into the motor case
(you might dab some grease on the worm gear here, too)
Thanks to magnetics, this assembly is another pleasant treat.....
Just keep at it, and be careful not to let the armature separate from the brush holder
Once the worm gear finds the hole inside, ~GENTLY~ tap the whole assembly into place
Then use a pliers to fold the locking tabs back over, and it's ready to reinstall
Before bolting it up, let it hang loose and cycle the motor a few times, for 15 seconds or so in each direction,
I'm sure there's a standard procedure for it, but I figure it should help seat the brushes better.
Installation is reverse of teardown, logically, be careful not to overtorque the bolts
They strip out easily. If it won't quite line up, bump it with the switch to change the position of the motor gear
(Careful not to actually move the glass though, just in case)
Once bolted up, use the switch to roll the window up off of the block, and you're in business.
Here's a good time to clean/lube up the rest of the door hardware too, but again, that's a different topic