350Z DIY: Changing The Window Motor.

[rmezz13]

Some of you may have had this happen, and it really sucks. I was un able to get my window up when my motor went out though, which made it even more of a PITA. Well here are some pictures and pretty in depth instructions and tips to help you with replacing it yourself. (The way i did it) --If your window is not stuck down, secure it using glass suctions, for holding windshields, or i was going to use folded rags and vise grips.....

Note: I am not a professional in auto mechanics or electrical.

These are the only tools required, besides your own two hands. (I did this alone).

The first thing to do is remove the tab in your door handle that covers the screw (using the flat head screw driver), which secures the handle and window/lock switches to the door panel.

Using the fillips head screw driver, remove the screw.

Now remove the door handle and locate the tabs securing the wire harness' for the door locks & power windows.

Using the flat head, push down the tabs and pull the male end out of the wire harness with your other hand.

You can now locate 2 of the 3 bolts/screws that secure the door panel to the door. Using the 10mm socket, 3" extension, and the 1/4" drive socket wrench - remove the bolts/screws.

Located behind the interior door handle is a plastic covering with a hole cut in it, that goes around the rubber piece that is there to stop the handle. This is where i pry the flat head screw driver to remove that plastic piece.

Behind that piece, you will find the 3rd and final bolt/screw that secures the door panel. Using the 10mm socket, 3" extension, and 1/4" drive socket wrench, remove the bolt/screw.

At this point you can pull the door panel off by hand. There are only tabs holding it on now, and they all will pop off.

Now on the inside of the panel, you will need to locate the opposite side of the interior door handle.

Remove the cables that operate the door lock, and opening mechanism. No tools are required for this step.

Now you have the metal door panel, which is secured by 11-12 bolts/screws (grey) around the boarder of the panel.

Locate the wire harness for the window motor in the upper right corner of the metal door panel. Using the flat head screw driver, disconnect the wire harness. After removing the panel you will need to push the rubber grommet through the panel - the wire is attached to it. There will also be two white tabs on the back side of the panel that secure the female end of the window motor wire harness to the panel. Using your fingers (or pliers) pinch them, to remove the harness.

At this point, you can remove the 11 - 12 bolts/screws that are holding the panel to the door. The panel will not fully remove, but will come off a little bit.

Now for the gold colored bolts/screws and nuts. Three of the bolts/screws are what secure the window motor to the panel. The other two bolts/screws, and the 2 nuts hold the brackets that hold the glass in place. there is one of these bolts/screws, and one of these nuts on each bracket (on each side).

Using the 10mm socket, remove all of the bolts/screws. The Nuts are a 12mm socket; remove them as well.

The panel should now come off, and the motor & guts of the door, will be revealed.

Locate the 3 screws, on the back side of the motor bracket, which secure the motor to the cable spool. The cable spool is what winds up the cables, thus making your window go up, and unwinding them, makes it go down of coarse.Using the fillips head screw driver, remove the 3 screws to remove the window motor.

Now that you have removed the window motor, you can identify the male and female parts of the motor and spool, to determine how they go together. After a brief moment of figuring this out you may put it all back together.

To get them to go together properly, i had to plug the motor into the harness, turn the key on, and hook the switch back up - then play with it up and down until the male and female lined up properly. Only took about 30 seconds.

Now put everything back together the way you took it apart.



When i got everything together and tried the window, it only went up half way, i had to shut the door and close it to get it to go all the way up, and it worked fine ever since. Really this job was fairly easy, and only requires one person and very little tools - basic tools at that.

I bought my window motor through RockAuto.com which was the cheapest i could find it. After shipping, core charge, and all - it was $149.02. One of my friends is a mechanic for a dealership here that sells new Ford, Mazda, Mitsubishi, Hyundai, Kia, and Nissan, and he couldn't get it less then $156 with his discount. But if you can find it for cheaper, let everyone know.

I hope this helps some of you that have had this problem, or are going to have this problem.

[Burtonboarder950]

awesome tutorial bro i dont even have the problem and i just read it b/c of the nice pics

[Beancooker]

Nice job Ryan.

[Sentientbydesign]

Ryan, you're sexy!!!

Do I really need to include your pose as the last picture in the article?

[BlackSmoke]

Good job Ryan, will be a great thread referral, to some clown who does not understand the search function but can text 200 words a minute.

[albert_ey]

Great job!

I don't have a problem with my window, but if I ever do, i'll use this tutorial for sure!

Two thumbs up!

[Mbedit]

This was truly helpful! Thank You!

I got a replacement for my drivers side and followed the instructions and it worked nicely!

The biggest pain was getting the window reset as mine was in the down position when the motor broke.

Only thing is now when I hit the "All up" it goes all the way up, hits the top and then backs down about 1/3 of the way... also the window doesn't do the up/down 1/2 in or so when I open and close the door...

I think maybe there is something else going on with that, but at least my window goes up and down again!

[Sentientbydesign]

Welcome to NICO. You need to reset the motor again. Maybe ryan can show you the proceedure. What's happening is that your window is getting to the top and triggering the safety mechanism.

[xjmxstac]

Exellent!!!...Now i posses the knowledge to remove the door panel. Now, I must replace the weather strip on the driver side...muahahahahaha!

[Mbedit]

Welcome to NICO. You need to reset the motor again. Maybe ryan can show you the proceedure. What's happening is that your window is getting to the top and triggering the safety mechanism.

Thank you for the welcome!

Your absolutely correct... I tried resetting the window with the door open... that doesn't work so well apparently!

I found the procedure HERE !

[03-350z]

The 350z window motor is one of the easiest to R&R. Props for Nissan for that engineering. I've done Jaguars (Junkuars), Land Rovers (Land Trash)(Former Jaguar Tech.--> British Engineering Sucks!), Hondas, Mitsu, etc. Love the ease of 350z.Great DIY tutorial rmezz13.

[Sentientbydesign]

The 350z window motor is one of the easiest to R&R. Props for Nissan for that engineering. I've done Jaguars (Junkuars), Land Rovers (Land Trash)(Former Jaguar Tech.--> British Engineering Sucks!), Hondas, Mitsu, etc. Love the ease of 350z.Great DIY tutorial rmezz13.

I have to agree. My I30 and G35 doors were EXTREMELY easy to take apart versus that POS Cadillac that I worked on last night.

Here's the Reset Procedure:

Also,

03-350z, your signature is too large. Pictures look great, but you might want to shrink them down.

Here's the guidelines:

zerothread?id=183575

Thx,

Nate

[rmezz13]

i'm glad to see people finding it helpful, that means they are doing the work themselves! I like that. P.S. my window was stuck in the down position too!!!!

[z33nismo12]

what do i do if i cut the cable wire going into the old motor?

[Mbedit]

Did you cut it before or after the Wire harness shown in Ryans Pict...

(This one)



If you cut it after, then you can just remove the old one and install a new motor as it has the harness...

Of course you probably won't get a core refund if your buying a used one.

Otherwise I think you may need an entire new harness, unless you want to try and repair the one you cut.

[rmezz13]

what do i do if i cut the cable wire going into the old motor?

go to a junk yard or a dealership

<i believe he is referring to the cable that the motor spools to raise and lower the window>

[NSRsheets]

Great write-up. Wish i had it when mine went bad.

[Burtonboarder950]

whats a weather strip?

[mancel120]

Thanks, i did this yesterday and only took about 45min thanks to you! Great Job

[Trvia]

Cool so glad I found this forum can't wait to replace my window motor ... It's driving me nuts not being able to role window down when I want, especially on such a long commute 5 days a week. Oh yeah!!! Easy Instructions with pics, thanks Just need to order the window motor..Can't wait to get started.

[skkid]

Thanks for the post. I actually got here because I'm trying to look inside a 350z door without doing it on my own first. I was wondering if anyone could tell me what's actually inside the door? The problem is I have a small dent in the crease/line effect part of the door. Does anyone have photos a bit higher of inside than what is shown in this post at all to see what is inline with that crease effect on the door in the inside?? Thanks so much.

[dasoupdude]

The problem is I have a small dent in the crease/line effect part of the door.

Take a picture of what you mean..

And all thats basically inside the door is the window motor and the door lock mechanism

[skkid]

I ended up removing the door panel myself anyway and I think it's good news, the PDR guy will easily be able to get to the dent to fix it from inside the door. Happy I checked it out first.

[MCV]

Used ur posting made it hell of a lot easier Thanks

[Spider666]

Hey Man

Thanks for the in depth story and instructions. Your tutorial made for an easy install. My 350 is a convertable and I used wedges on the outside of the window to hold it up. My window was stuck down as well and here is a tip from a Nissan mechanic that helped. If yo bang on the inside of the door just above the armrest it may(did in my case) work long enough to get the window to the up position as this is much easier for the install.
The only glitch it encountered after the install was when I press the up button fo auto up the window goes to the top and the drops back down about 4 inches. I was told by Nissan to manually raise the window to the top and hold the button up for 15 seconds after it gets to the top and it should relearn.If that does not work you may need to take it in for computer scan and reset.
Has anyone encountered this problem?

[mgbkk]

Great tip from Spider666 above: Nissan said to manually raise the window to the top and hold the button up for 15 seconds after it gets to the top and it should relearn. This worked and I didn't even need to replace the window motor.

[Shoelab]

Big thanks for the post...this made my afternoon much easier- and my drives to work much warmer!

[BusyBadger]

Big thanks for the post...this made my afternoon much easier- and my drives to work much warmer!

Enjoy your new warm car! Where do you live?

You should head over to 350Z Owners Check In and/or Z Series Introductions and give a quick hello to everyone!

Glad we could help you out! Welcome to NICO!

[ozkidd]

wow didnt know that this is a common problem.

[hitbychance]

Thanks for the tutorial, i got my new motor in today in one hour . It should be noted that cleaning the old motor and trying it again is a waste of time.