BMW Z3 Window motor failure

TR4man

TR4man

Zorg Addict
British Zeds
Joined
Apr 24, 2013
Points
60
Location
South Cheshire
Model of Z
Z4 Coupe
Is there a way of manually raising a door window if the motor has failed?

Coming home tonight my passenger side window has stuck in the down position.
icon_sad.gif
The motor seems to allow the window to come down, but not up.

I've taken off the door trim and the protection foam sheet that protects the inside of the door but would like to at least be able to close the window manually as it is starting to rain and getting dark!

I can test/replace the window motor tomorrow in the light

I've searched the forum and cant find an answer.

Regards

Peter
 
Hi Peter,

I'm sure there is a way of lifting the window once the door card is off, but I'm struggling to find a picture of the internals of the door I'm sure is on here. Just looking on realoem.com to see if it has the mechanism shown.
 
TR4man said:
Is there a way of manually raising a door window if the motor has failed?

Coming home tonight my passenger side window has stuck in the down position.
icon_sad.gif
The motor seems to allow the window to come down, but not up.

I've taken off the door trim and the protection foam sheet that protects the inside of the door but would like to at least be able to close the window manually as it is starting to rain and getting dark!

I can test/replace the window motor tomorrow in the light

I've searched the forum and cant find an answer.

Regards

Peter
Click to expand...
I had similar issue and it was not the motor, window would go down but not up.
Turned out to be all the runners needed greasing, don't forget the one up in the top of the door.
 
Thank you for your advice.

I'm going to christen my Zed "Christine".

Having last night been unable to move the window manually, I covered the roof with a great big polythene sheet to protect the inside from the now quite heavy rain.

This morning I got up earlier than usual to give it another go before leaving for work. I don't know what made me do it, but I tried the window switch one more time.I could not believe my eyes when the window went up as normal as you like!!

It was as though the shenanigans of last night didn't happen!

I've left the door card and protector off and this weekend I'll follow your advice Mr P and give the runners a good greasing.

Regards

Peter
 
Dont know what made me think of this but i saw this quote the other day'go down a waterslide without water and you realise why foreplay is so important,.Or was it Sarah that told me?
 
Took a door apart today, thought I'd share a picture or 3 of what, generally, causes the window up/down failure.

Tearing of a central part of the mechanism.







I had this problem on my coupe and ended up having to repolace with a new BMW unit and re-weld the nut onto the body.











 
TR4man said:
Is there a way of manually raising a door window if the motor has failed?

Coming home tonight my passenger side window has stuck in the down position.
icon_sad.gif
The motor seems to allow the window to come down, but not up.

I've taken off the door trim and the protection foam sheet that protects the inside of the door but would like to at least be able to close the window manually as it is starting to rain and getting dark!

I can test/replace the window motor tomorrow in the light

I've searched the forum and cant find an answer.

Regards

Peter
Click to expand...

Try coaxing the window up by intermittently pressing the up arrow button gently instead of holding the button down. Just a thought as it worked for me when I had similar problems. Good luck.
 
The thing is here, this awful mess could be avoided by simply spraying the rubber window channels with silicon spray now and again,and once in a lifetime lubricating the lifter mechanisms inside the doors. They didn't put much on them from new. These things always give a warning signal that some thing is amiss well before they fail.

Tony.
 
t-tony said:
The thing is here, this awful mess could be avoided by simply spraying the rubber window channels with silicon spray now and again,and once in a lifetime lubricating the lifter mechanisms inside the doors. They didn't put much on them from new. These things always give a warning signal that some thing is amiss well before they fail.

Tony.
Click to expand...

When I bought my Zed both windows struggled to go up and down and after a bit of investigation I diagnosed that the rubbers were gripping the glass, so just as you recommended Tony, I gave the whole mechanism a good lubrication and I also sprayed the rubbers with silicon spray. Job done,

I give the rubbers on the pillars a regular squirt of silicon just to keep ahead of the game.
 
Good to hear that Garry, magical stuff that silicon spray, also very good for seat belts which won't recoil. First you have to wash them to get rid of hair spray and make up (from the ladies seats I hasten to add).

Tony.
 
I took off the door panels and used some silicone grease and a paint brush to lube up the bottom part of the rubber guide and basically greased everything in site, also sprayed some wax oil in the door though there was no rust or anything I do go a bit ott :p
 
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