Power window won't go all the way up or down, nasty grinding sound.

[Casey]

My passenger window today stopped working properly.  Previously it was working great, but today I went to roll it down, and it made it about an inch, then made a nasty grinding sound, refusing to go further.  It would go up, but would not go down any more than an inch.  I pressed it down while pushing the down button, and it went a bit farther, then the same thing.  Then I tried to roll it back up, and now it won't go up any more than about an inch from the top, nor back down any more than maybe 4 inches.

I took the door panel off, and none of the visible gears are grinding - they just stop.  Same with the small gear inside that they connect to that I can see with a flashlight and sticking my head in the door.  The sound seems to be coming from the front of the door, near where the bar is that holds it open.  There are 3 holes with little round nut-looking things in them visible through the holes, and a hex bolt in the center.  I haven't tried messing with it further, because I don't know what I'm doing.

I found two pieces of metal in the bottom of the door, which were at one time a single piece of metal, as the broken spots line up.  In addition, each has onother broken-off end (at a sharp angle), so it's apparent this was at one time part of something up inside the door.  I don't know what though.  They seemed wedged down into the door, so I'm assuming they were there for longer than today.

I would like to at least get the window up, to fend off any rain.  Any advice?

[calvin streeting]

The three holes are what needs to be driled to remove th motor and then mechanisum... look in library. Might be worth pulling unit out to realy see whats wrong.

[1980sdga]

I wish I could help you out. Maybe some pics would get more replies?   I'd check and lubricate all the other windows before using them much. 

[Casey]

I loosened up the three bolts that I could access, which freed up the whole assembly inside.  It was still attached to the glass and I couldn't see how to get anything apart.  However, I barely reattached the bolts just enough to stabilize it, and shoved up on the bottom of the glass while pressing the switch, and managed to get it to roll all the way up.  Tried down, it stopped and started grinding after an inch.  Went back up just fine.  Ok, fine by me!  I tightened up all the bolts, put the door back together, happy that the window was closed.  That's good enough to keep out rain until I can figure out what needs done to fix the window.

The trunk lid was rubbing a bit on the right side - it's worn down the paint there.  So I adjusted the bolts enough to get it centered better.  And my reverse lights weren't working, but I checked the bulbs and it turned out that was all the issue was - I had extra bulbs from my last Mercedes that fit right in.  So made some progress today even if the window isn't fully working.

These are the pieces of metal that I found inside the passenger door, if anybody can identify them:
http://casey.shobe.info/images/?s=Interests%2FCars%2F1980+Mercedes+300SD%2FPieces+From+Inside+Passenger+Door

[Casey]

I wish I could help you out. Maybe some pics would get more replies?   I'd check and lubricate all the other windows before using them much. 

I tried taking a little video, but you can't really see anything as the noise is coming from up inside the dark recesses of the door.  I'll post it online though once I get it copied to a computer.  Might be a little while...

How would I go about lubricating them?

[Big_Richard]

my bet will be that the window regulator is cactus.

Life is going to be interesting not being able to lower the glass to remove it though 

[vlv8vic]

The cast pieces you found are the bits which stop the door closing when you open it.  You know, at a certain point the door sorta pops or clicks and stays in the open position rather than closing itself? (depends too on how stiff the hinge is).  Mine are busted and the door closes itself - usually on my leg or foot  

My tip on the halting window is that the cast aluminium plate has warped, as many of us have experienced and the teeth on the attached crank are either no longer lining up at all or have gradually worn down to stumps which fail to engage on the motor gear.  In my case it was only two teeth which cased the failure and a clunking "trying to engage" type sound.
Being a tightarse I welded some blobs onto the crank where the missing teeth were meant to be and used a super thin diamond tip blade (used for tile cutting) on the small angle grinder to roughly re-build nice little teeth on the crank gear (which is a semi-circular gear).  Because the newly welded teeth are a bit wider than the old ones it seems to make up for the slight warp in the cast-al attachment plate.
Works a treat.

As for getting it out to do so, i honestly don't remember the process.  The channel under the glass has a circlip or something from memory which was a bit of a PITA to put back and apart from knowing it was a tight maneuvering process to get the mechanism out I don't remember the specifics.  If you can get the door lining off then half your battle is already won.

[vlv8vic]

my bet will be that the window regulator is cactus.

Life is going to be interesting not being able to lower the glass to remove it though 

With regard to that I wonder if the same system he used for closing it would work... run the motor 'down' while giving the window a good shove down... with some luck only a couple of teeth are busted and the window might engage.

[Big_Richard]

I'm pretty sure i tried that technique on TJ's 6.9 when he told me NOT to open the window and i said "she'll be right" and the door glass proceeded to drop to the bottom of the door. 

[TJ 450]

Yes, and you need to refrain from doing things like that MT.

As for the issue, you may find that the channel the glass sits in is rusted out, or the grinding may be misaligned teeth. As for lowering the glass, all you need to do is remove the clip from the regulator and manually lower the glass.

Tim

[vlv8vic]

I'm pretty sure i tried that technique on TJ's 6.9 when he told me NOT to open the window and i said "she'll be right" and the door glass proceeded to drop to the bottom of the door. 

LOL i pictured holding the glass at the same time to avoid the possibility of further damage!

[Casey]

With regard to that I wonder if the same system he used for closing it would work... run the motor 'down' while giving the window a good shove down... with some luck only a couple of teeth are busted and the window might engage.

That's how I got it to the "can't roll all the way down, can't roll all the way up" state, so I'm not inclined to try it again and end up with a window I can't put up.  Note that shoving up on the glass did not help until I'd loosened the motor from the door frame, either.

[Squiggle Dog]

You can remove the motors from the regulators, which will allow you to manually raise and lower the windows by lifting the glass with your hands. I believe all sedans made after 1976 already have the three holes drilled in the door. Or, if you want to fix them properly:

1. Remove regulators and motors from car

2. Acquire Euro-spec sedan

3. Install manual window regulators and console piece from Euro-spec sedan

4. Throw power window regulators and motors in the trash

[vlv8vic]

With regard to that I wonder if the same system he used for closing it would work... run the motor 'down' while giving the window a good shove down... with some luck only a couple of teeth are busted and the window might engage.

That's how I got it to the "can't roll all the way down, can't roll all the way up" state, so I'm not inclined to try it again and end up with a window I can't put up.  Note that shoving up on the glass did not help until I'd loosened the motor from the door frame, either.

Ah yeah i was suggesting that would be a helpful way to get it to a point where you could remove it to repair it - not at all suggesting its something you'd do as you were getting in the car in the morning to go to work....

If by loosening the bolts you caused the cast aluminium plate to flex (or re-flex) to a point where it allowed the window to engage then my theory still applies.  Won't really know til you get it out I suppose.

[Casey]

The cast pieces you found are the bits which stop the door closing when you open it.  You know, at a certain point the door sorta pops or clicks and stays in the open position rather than closing itself? (depends too on how stiff the hinge is).  Mine are busted and the door closes itself - usually on my leg or foot  

Are you sure?  Because this door actually stays open in two possible open positions quite well, and it's the one I found the pieces in.  The driver side door, on the other hand, does not hold itself open anymore.  I haven't looked inside it yet (and now may just replace it).