Window suddenly stopped going down

N

Nuieve

Regular Member
American Zeds
Joined
Jun 9, 2026
Points
13
Location
Spokane WA
Model of Z
A green one with a big engine
I just bought this car a few days ago and on the way home I rolled the windows up and down a few times without a problem.

I did open/close the door a few times while cleaning the car after bringing it home and now the passenger window won’t go down. It nudges a little maybe half an inch up and down but won’t go lower past that point. I did open/close a few times to try to shake things up but that didn’t work.

is there a good troubleshooting guide? I searched but only found scattered info so far.
 
colb said:
Since it can still move up and down you need to get the door card off and inspect the glass runners and lift mechanism to see if its getting jammed.

Door window lifting mechanism front Diagram for BMW Z3 E36 1.9 (1999) Catalog | RealOEM.com

BMW parts Z3 E36 1.9 Door window lifting mechanism front
www.realoem.com
Click to expand...

"Door card" is a plastic outer trim with leather? Or do you mean complete door disassembly?

Sorry about the stupid question, a mechanical moron here, never fixed a thing in a car in his life.
 
Inside door trim panel here https://www.realoem.com/bmw/en/showparts?id=CM12-EUR-12-1999-Z3-BMW-Z3_19&diagId=51_2343
Once off you will find a plastic foam type cover that seals the cavity of the door and the window workings, its held in with sticky goo thats hard to get off so take care not to tear the lining. There are screws for the inside door pull handle that have to be taken out and behind the door opening lever once they are out pull the card off by levering out the circumference edge clips that hold it to the door then lift it upwards to release it from its top edge.
 
Thank you. Oh man... I'm already scared about fixing my non-reclining seat and now this... Next week will be quite stressful.
 
Before I do that, is it possible to squirt some silicon WD40 in some specific spots under rubber seals and maybe have it break down if it's some sludge that got loose?

Would really like to avoid taking the door apart... Grasping at straws... Or is the door disassembly inevitable?
 
Really sounds like something is jamming it, it is known for a weld to fail on one of the mechanism anchor points, maybe that's happened and it's dropped down an causing the jam. Door card off and investigate
 
You could try loosening the little bolt on the underside of the door before removing the door card. This holds the window-holding frame secure. If you loosen the bolt a small amount it can allow the frame to move. If you try the window with the bolt loose (don't remove it or you may struggle to get it back in), it may help.
If not it is a door card removal job, as said. Just be careful removing the door card, as the clips can break/ come unstuck really easily. TBH if you have no experience working on cars, getting the door card off is not easy IMO.
 
Pond said:
You could try loosening the little bolt on the underside of the door before removing the door card. This holds the window-holding frame secure. If you loosen the bolt a small amount it can allow the frame to move. If you try the window with the bolt loose (don't remove it or you may struggle to get it back in), it may help.
If not it is a door card removal job, as said. Just be careful removing the door card, as the clips can break/ come unstuck really easily. TBH if you have no experience working on cars, getting the door card off is not easy IMO.
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Now I'm even more scared. I never worked on any cars, ever. I saw some videos and all even experienced people say, removing the door card is one heck of a job and all say, don't do it, it's very hard to put back on (or something).

Which bolt is there to loosen? Is there only one and I will recognize it? I'm just not familiar with any of this but I want to try it.

I want to try simple things, I saw a couple of videos where people loosen up the door card just enough to make a crack in the bottom and then just hose the inside of the door with the WD40.

That's probably as far as I will go. If that doesn't help, then it's $$$hop time.

Another guy just did "force push the damn window down" and do the up/down sequence until it starts to go lower. Idk if that was a good advice, seems like it'd put a lot of stress on everything.
 
Avoid places like Facebook BMW sites they are full of uniformed clowns who offer awful advice, stick to this forum and you can't go wrong, advice on here is from people who know there stuff when it comes to our cars. Taking a door card off is not rocket science its pretty straightforward just take your time when doing it for the first time. Be a good idea to tell us where in the world you are, you may have a member on here close by who can assist you. Update your user details to include your location so it appears on the left of your posts.
 
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imo getting a door card clip removal tool is very much worth it for a job like this
Screenshot 2026-06-13 at 22.46.34.webp

Something like this
 
Smudgemanuk said:
imo getting a door card clip removal tool is very much worth it for a job like thisView attachment 364575
Something like this
Click to expand...

Thank you, just ordered it. I already ordered a set of trim removal tools but I omitted this thing cause someone on YouTube said they don’t use it. Should be here tomorrow, I’ll try to work on the car on Tuesday
 
I always use plastic tools for this job so as to avoid damaging the paint.:thumbsup:
 
I guess I’m lucky today.

Gave a sharp medium-force push down on the trunk side of the glass as I was pressing the button and it went down just fine!

It still gets stuck the same way but I can make it go down with a push each time so far.

I know it will probably fail completely soon but for now I’ll take that. Just want to drive, not take it apart.

Would squirting wd40 somewhere in that hole be beneficial since it seems to stick on that side? Or would it be pointless?
 

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Got nothing to loose by trying that but finding out why it's sticking and putting that right is the way to go.
 
Nuieve said:
Would squirting wd40 somewhere in that hole be beneficial
Click to expand...
WD40 isn't a lubricant, it's penetrating fluid, for loosening stuck fixings mainly.
You can spray the stuff wherever you like, but it will have virtually no effect and make a mess forever more.
 
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