Preventative Maintenance for Window Regulators

[OwnerCS]

The service records indicate my Q has had two window regulators replaced by the dealer over the years. The first replacement was with warranty and one a couple of years ago without.

A few days ago, I removed the front door panels to retrieve the Bose amplifiers to send them off to FL for repair. BTW - It was the usual snap, crackle, pop, and loud siren noises from the amps.

The door panel removal process seems to be straightforward and nothing was broken along the way. “What a relief from some of my past cars where something breaks or crumbles in your hand.” Hopefully in a couple of weeks, the amplifiers will return (working) and I will remove the door panels again to reinstall the amp/speaker enclosures, and possibly some sound insulation.

So with my second trip behind the door panels hopefully coming sooner than later, I am hoping to learn whether it is possible to lubricate the regulator or any of the window mechanism components to hopefully extend the service life?

I see on some other European car forums that a “top shelf” full synthetic grease (that can also handle a marine environment) like the synthetic Green Grease product is recommended.

Does anyone have any tips for performing some preventative maintenance (lubrication) on the window mechanisms?

[qship96]

wipe old grease off window tracks and regrease with lithium grease, study all moving pivot points and apply lubricant to all joints that move

[goody90q45]

.......So with my second trip behind the door panels hopefully coming sooner than later, I am hoping to learn whether it is possible to lubricate the regulator or any of the window mechanism components to hopefully extend the service life?........Does anyone have any tips for performing some preventative maintenance (lubrication) on the window mechanisms?

With the door panel off you might be able to lube up the regulator and make it run better but to do a thorough cleaning and make the assembly (regulator and motor) work like new it should be removed. If you're set on "lube and clean in place" spray penetrant on the drum holding the cable and the sliding bar that holds the window. The motor and the gear it drives need no lube. Your interior will smell oily for a couple of weeks so be prepared.

You gave this thread a title that will come up in many future searches so I'll explain how to remove the regulator and motor assembly from the door panel. With the door panel off, roll the window down a few inches (bottom of the window to the widest part of the door) and remove the two 10mm bolts holding the window to the regulator sliding bar. Once unbolted, manually lift the window and wedge it in the full up position to keep it out of your way.

If needed, now is a good time to stop the flow of blood and bandage up the scrapes you got from working inside the door panel. If you're doing this in a salvage yard with the window stuck in the up position I pity you. Wear long sleeves and bring a first aid kit along.

Regulator removal is easy. Unplug the motor, look for seven 10mm bolts in the door panel in the approximate location of the yellow tees in the bottom pic, and remove them. Pull the assembly out through the largest hole in the panel, speaker box hole in the front, ashtray hole in the rear IIRC.

With the assembly on a bench, remove the 3 screws holding the motor in place and set it aside. The sliding bar that held the window can now be moved up and down manually. It will move with some resistance when dirty but when cleaned and lubed it will slide freely. Clean and scrub the cable, the drum holding the cable and the sliding bar and the channel it moves in. I use Simple Green. Once cleaned, lube it up with lithium grease on the cable and drum and a thicker (bearing) grease on the sliding bar and you should be good to go for another 15 years.

Installation is the reverse of removal. Put in the two bolts for the window last.

Typical problems with the regulator include broken plastic cable end connections (there's four, they're white), frayed cable causing it to not reeve properly on the drum, and a broken cable. The first two pics show a regulator with a broken cable end connection on the right side. The cable is not reeving properly on the drum and the window will not go completely up. I've cleaned up at least half a dozen of these from three partouts and they all looked and worked like new when they were sold.

[paranoidjack]

Wow, nice Mike! I'm assuming you didn't use the "quick reply" feature

[OwnerCS]

WOW - This is GREAT information! I really appreciate all the help!

[BCC93QT]

Sounds like i need to do this, my driver side window gets stuck when its all the way down from time to time

[elwesso]

Yeah if your window gets stuck, and its not the switch, eventually it will either fall down or stay down.. so be ready and be warned!!

Great info mike, thanks!

[qship96]

Somewhere along the line I think Nissan improved the replacement window regulators, as my factory installed drivers failed at 60,000 miles and its brand new replacement failed almost exactly 60,000 miles later when the Q reached 120,000 miles ..... the one put in at 120,000 now has over 135,000 miles on it and is ok still

[OwnerCS]

Last night I PMed the rear door regulators. Since the rear doors don't have speakers, and I'm not waiting for corrected amplifiers, I decided to give it a go.
I was really happy to see the regulators had hardly any wear -- and both were surprisingly clean. The inside door "sheet metal" area at the bottom near the drain vents only had a minimum amount of surface dust.

I couldn't be an old Corel Draw user from way back with out having some level of masochistic tendencies. So I did manage to produce some blood, sweat, and tears on the first door. But after that first door, I had my system working and the second door was an order of magnitude easier.

Once I had the door panels off and the regulators out, I decided to get on with a sound dampening upgrade that I've been itching to try. Since I'm sticking with the stock Bose system, I figured I could get the most "bang for my buck" by just installing some sound dampening to improve the acoustic environment. Of course it is only on the rear doors, and I have a long way to go before I'm done, but last night when I closed the rear doors I got that seriously solid "bank vault" high end feel that I remember from the big Benzes of the 70s or maybe a Maybach from a couple years ago or a recently Bentley at the January auto show.

This NICO group and the Q car continue to exceed my expectations on all fronts.

I took about 50 pictures of the process that I need to sort through, distil, annotate, and turn into a slide show for the club. It may take 2 or 3 weeks to get the contiguous slice of time that I need to prepare a presentation. I do better at building slide shows during the winter months when I’m not buried in yard work and/or some house-painting project.

Again, thank you Mike and club for the GREAT information and suggestions!