Before I take my DOORS apart and replace my 1994 window regulators. Since failed regulators are a common problem ..... I was wondering if there was a recall where you can have them replaced at the local nissan stealerships? I know i am about maybe 15 years late on this ...but I never had a car that was recalled will they fix the problem for free if I tell them Ive been LOST like on the tv show LOST????

Also could somebody point out just what it is that fails on these things that causes such misery?????
(Photo - Courtesy of Parts Geek)



Has anybody ever been able to fix the mystery part that fails?

 

The plastic clips on the top and/or bottom break. The cable/wire goes around those clips, and when they break it causes the cable to go slack which causes the window to fall. New regulators supposedly are reinforced on those plastic areas so that they don't break.

I believe some in the past have fixed them with bailing wire or some such, but it's not really worth it. You can get new ones for 40 bucks, and no, Nissan won't replace them

 

or cable breaks like mine did

 

No recall. I think that close to 20 years isn't bad at all for window regulator. Most Ford, Chrysler and BMWs dont make it that far before their regulators go bunk.

 

actually what happened on mine was thtat the little metal "bullet" affixed to the middle of the cable tore through the plastic housing on the window carrier thing, and then it continued upward and broke the top clip. but the top clip was just a victim, not the culprit. you could reinforce the carrier w/ jbweld so that the bullet can't pull through it.

 

All nissan had to do was put metal where the plastic is. I scratch my head when I see plastic where a good deal of weight/force is applied. All of the regulators that I've replaced on my Maximas have been the same problem, the plastic around the cable breaks causing the cable to pull through and then the window drops. Motors keep working.

 

My 94 broke them, and it started doing that when it was probably about 8-10 years old. At least two or three of them, fixed at the dealer for $$$

That plastic bit cost me some money!

I know these parts break, but knock on wood, my family has owned lots of cars that were old and didn't have regulators fail.

Here is a tip-clear masking tape can be placed inside the car to hold the window up and not look too obvious before you need a repair.
Oh, and one of these things broke on a rainy day once.

 

Well as many of you may know the previous owner of my car had the 3 windows where the regulators had failed - glued closed. Because he had no intention of getting the windows repaired as he wanted Nissan stealership to do the repair at $$$$$$ and hes too cheap. Masking tape as a temp fix will do ok but the longer the tape is on it will harden and leave a residue on the glass that you will have to scrape off. Maybe he had the imitation masking tape as there are so many varieties of masking tape these days. BUT I plan on buying one window reg. at a time starting with the drivers window...so once i get the bad one off i can see whether its something that I can temp fix on my other windows before i buy the next one to replace... if they have the same problem.... but I think I need to replace my master switch before I do the other 2 windows to make sure the motors are actually working in those. I can always hear the drivers window motors working but sometimes when Im driving it sounds as if the other 2 windows or motors are trying to move but are stuck.

 

Clear Packing tape is more stealthy, and should be good up to about 60mph when used as a loop over the door frame

 

old dry-clean hangers, bent into an "S" and hung under the window, over the door on the inside and hidden by the door panel are more stealthy, and good up to about 150...

 

Why bother with tape? Just take the door panel off and put a screw into the door just under the glass, so that the glass rests on the screw. Then unplug the harness so people can't screw with the motors. Did this for years on my old skyblue VE auto

 

Yeah, tape is useless. Just take off the door panels and repair or temp fix it right. I will say get some new panel clips before you do remove the door. They tend to break. Another crap part.

 

These are all good suggestions for all of us who cant get the regulators replaced right away........ I MIGHT try the hangar technique if i can figure it out, but the screw ideal sounds good too but I would want 2, 1 at the top to hold the window all the way up and a 2nd in the middle so I could let the window halfway down to let air blow thru. As temp fixes anything is better than the glue right now....


HEY ..... whats the name of that product you use to spray on a rusted screw ... in my drivers door the screw to unscrew the long handle from the area by the door release ... I already sprayed it with wd-40 and took a hammer to end of a screwdriver to get a better grip inside the screw slot but no budging.....as of yet

 

Rust penetrate. Then hammer it. May have to apply it more than once and let it sit a couple minutes.

 

JUST CONTINUING TO BRAINSTORM HERE:

I dont want the hangar to be visible
Are you saying that the hangar will not be visible? with an S pattern? you prob have to draw me a stick figure diagram as im visualizing this pattern with the hangar.....

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For back passenger window
where the top line fits over the top of window inside and the bottom hooks under the bottom of the window inside the door to hold it up ......

A friend of mine suggested that i take the door panel off and just put a stick inside thats the same length as the window, under the window to hold the window up ......

 

quick how to:
remove inside door panel. use tape to temporarily hold window up.
straighten the hanger, and cut it in half(keep both halves).
bend the hanger so it has a hook on one end (about an inch from one side should be fine.
one end loops under the window glass, the other side over the inside of the door.
make sure to do both the front and back of the window (each window should use one hanger).
now to make sure the window is sealed good:
drive, checking for wind noise.
if wind noise is fine, spray with hose, make sure it won't soak everything on teh off chance it rains before you can really fix it.
if you are good, replace door panel, and have fun.


I have had mine (both back windows) like this for nearly the entire time I have owned the car

 

OK I think I get what your saying now, one end loops under the window at the bottom and the other loops over the inside of the door at the bottom of the door not the top of the door. I thought the hangar was going to run from the bottom of the glass to the top of the window. I'll take a pic whenever I do it..

 

I've never seen so much engineering to rig something and fix it incorrectly to avoid paying $40.00.

 

 

Until i get my new regulators installed .... Benstoked's fix worked for my window until I can get my old regulators replaced ... whats wrong with that?

 

 

The plastic clip on the top broke on mine. Luckily, I only had to replace one (left rear window). I thought for sure the driver's window regulator would break first, but it never did.

It's not that hard to replace.

 

I have another thread with the results of the fix ... I couldnt get mine out because from the reflection in the glass inside the door i could see that at the top of the regulator the plastic tube-thing was broken from the bottom and the top of the wire was no where to be seen I could only let the window about a quarter of the way down then it wouldnt budge ...it would go back up but not down lower..... so i didnt force it down because i didnt know what it was hanging on to keep it from going all the way down.


Looking at the picture of the regulator:
It would have made better sense to me that they would replace the plastic tube-like things on the top and bottom of the regulator with metal ones welded to the regulator if the wire just passes through them as a guide. Or a plastic tube inside a metal tube so if the plastic breaks inside the metal tube guide/passageway is still intact.

I dunno maybe the friction of the wire against the plastic breaks the plastic

 

I've replaced 2 of these assemblies. i bought the "expensive" one off of ebay for $40 because it had either a 3 year or lifetime guarantee. The cheap ones were $20-25 with 60 or 90 day guarantee. Pulling apart those door panels time after time is asking for something to break.And it's a PITA.

On my RF window, the cable had twisted it's way off the main drum and was tangled. Impossible to fix. I noticed other regulators with the exact same thing, at the JY.

My LR regulator had the plastic piece separate to the point it's lost tension and the plastic cable insulator can pull out. So I got to thinking... I'm going to try a small hose clamp over that plastic fitting, to hold the plastic cable insulation in place. As long as I don't pinch it so hard that the metal cable can't slide inside the insulation, I think it should work. I tried a zap-strap, but you can't pull it tight enough to stop the insulator from pulling out again.

 

Well before all this I DIDNT know what the regulator looked like or how it worked. Now I know that the cable is supposed to only run down the middle long shaft of the regulator and the cable wire is guided by the tube-like things at the bottom and top of the long shaft. On my back right passenger window regulator at the bottom I can see the wire to the right of the door way off track .. I cant see where the wire from the top is going to and the window will only go a quarter of the way down.

I can pull my drivers window by hand all the way down and all the way up BUT when trying to remove the door panel I have 2 stuck screws on the long handle with no rust but the other screw on the door that is rusted will unscrew and the ones with no rust will not! So i cant get the panel off to check/change the regulator right now ... Same problem with my front passenger window. So if this rust penetrate stuff doesnt work I will have to take the car to a shop just to get the screws unscrewed.

 

Try an impact driver. If that doesn't work and you strip the screws then drill out the screws.

 

Check out Ebay. Recently bought both the back ones for $50 as a set shipped. Did have to shim the motors with a washer. But otherwise they were fine.

 

I bought two one by one pieces of wood at Home Depot that were 21 inchs long, placed inside so the window rests on the pieces of wood.

How much do Nissan dealers change for the window regulators?? I dont trust eBay.... so I rather buy from a dealership

 

there are many quality aftermarket places to buy it from other than the dealer

 

What about the master switch what do these run for ... It was suggested that I needed to replace my master switch along wit a regulator for my drivers window .... I was hoping that my front passenger window will come back alive when I change my master switch ....