Hey guys,

I need two pieces of advice:
1) Will a new window regulator solve my issue?
2) Is the regulator install really straight-forward?


Issue: My front passenger window goes up and down just fine, however, when going up it goes up crooked! Going down, it's fine, but any upward motion causes it to go slightly ajar. Almost as if their were more friction on that side (but I lubed everything, so I know that's not the problem). Will a regulator fix this? Is there something else I should checkout before replacing the regulator?

Install: I have a Haynes manual. The write-up for this is extremely short. Is it short because it's a piece of cake? Or is there anything I should look out for?

Oh yeah, any advice on the cheapest place to buy a regulator? (other than the usual google-search car parts places)?

i havent installed a window regulator but i have seen it done. However, i have installed a window.
I dont know what you mean by it being crooked when it goes up, but if you take off your door panel you can view everything and probably see what the problem is.
i think i bought my regulator for about 70 dollars and one of the plastic pieces that held the window on was broken, that was why i replaced it.

I've been having the same problem. I sprayed some silicone spray in the window tracks and it seems to be working. For how long I don't know. The problem seems to get worse everytime it rains

I just took the door panel off this afternoon. I lubed the tracks with silicone spray not 12 hours ago. I also oiled all of the moving parts that I could get at. It didn't help at all.

What I mean by "crooked" is that the window doesn't close correctly. It's too far over on one side, and leaves a small gap on the other side (the right-hand side if you are sitting in the driver's seat looking towards the passenger window.)

If I have the window part-way up I can easily push the window to the right to straighten it, but it goes crooked as soon as I push the window button to move it up again...

It's almost as if it's not being pushed up equally at both sides. Like one side is pushing up and the other side isn't...

Is that any clearer? Or worse?

Okay I gotcha.
Well the window is only attached at two places on the regulators "lifter". If that lifter is crooked or loose or the window isn't attached to it securely that could be a visible problem?
It seems like something you could diagnose by observing rolling the window up and down with the door panel off.
It seems like maybe the metal piece screwed into the bottom of the window isn't horizontal enough or something.
I mean the regulator is just like two pieces of metal and one climbs the other holding the bottom of the window, if I remember correctly.

the regulator is attached to a wire pulley that screws to the door. check the wires and make sure they are tight. not like guitar strings, but check for excessive slack. i had this problem and my window slipped in the weather stripping and wouldnt go up, thought it was the regulator until my little sister looked at it and pointed out the problem so you might want to chek that as well.

yes i have that in one of my rear window and it is the incorrect window regulator that was installed if im not mistaking. As it was closing it would lean to the right and their would be a huge gap and then come back into the middle after it was almost closed.

Thanks guys. I appreciate the ideas.

1) I'll first check to see that the window is fully attached to the regulator. I can't imagine how it could become "unattached" though since the window glass is held on by two bolts according to what I see in my Haynes manual. It's a long shot, but worth a look.

2) I'll also check the slack (per Afroken's advice). One question: You saw slack, but how the heck did you adjust the slack to fix it?

Now, if the window is attached and the slack is okay, does that mean the regulator is "bad"? What are the symptoms of a bad regulator? Maybe I have a different problem entirely ?

Can anyone tell me the symptoms of a bad regulator? Does it match what my window does? Or should I be looking for another repair option...

Thanks again!

UPDATE: I opened the door panel again. I ran the window, checked everything out. The odd thing is that everything 'looks' perfect. The window is firmly attached, the regulator wire looks nice and taught. Everything is well-lubed. Going down the window is perfect. Going up, well, same crap.

I just ordered a new window regulator. Cost me $42.55 delivered from Nissan Pro Parts.com. They were actually cheaper than the junkyards trying to sell me used ones!

I hope this solves the problem for me, if not, I don't know what to do. I refuse to pay the dealer $200 (or some other exhorbitant rate) for a minor repair...