Minivan Ghost window

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pishta

pishta

I know I'm right....
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So my wife is in the drive though and gets her lunch and is rolling out, rolling her power window up in the 2012 Dodge Caravan. She hears a loud POP and thinks she hit the side mirror on something. Meanwhile the driver window starts to slide down into the window by itself. She hits the up button and it doesnt stop but starts to make a grinding sound. Oh **** she says and calls me from home. "Honey, I broke the driver window..." WTF? how?? "It just broke, i didnt hit anything"...did the window break or is it stuck? "I heard the sound of shattering glass but the window is down in the door" Ok. ill look at it when I get home.... "I made an appt with Carmax to look at it..." Not before I look at it, bye. So I shake the door and there is no glass sound and remove the door panel and find a cable hanging in the breeze. when it popped out of its lift, it hit the door skin like a drum. The cable operates the 2 lifts on 2 tracks that move the window up and down and one spring loaded end had popped out of its lift. I further look and i find that the cable is totally stuffed around the motor pulley and looks like a fishing reel after you cast it with no drag. So I put it back with 2 bolts and she drives it to carmax who tell her they wont fix it because its already apart and they cant diagnose it. OK, no problem because the diagnostic was going to be $60 and the repair was roughly quoted at $400 to replace the window lift! F that, I find a new driver window lift for $51 shipped on Amazon Prime and some panel push pins to boot for another $8 (for 50!!). I look on youtube and find out that the entire inner door panel comes out now (no working through sheet metal hand holes) and the window literally snaps into the carriers from the top. Hardest thing was getting the 2 rods popped off the lock mechanism, and trying to put a bandage on my sliced thumb one handed......:-( So I got the window held up on the track by a little vice grip until the new lift arrives thursday and I get to install it Sat. Good times.....
 
pishta said:
So my wife is in the drive though and gets her lunch and is rolling out, rolling her power window up in the 2012 Dodge Caravan. She hears a loud POP and thinks she hit the side mirror on something. Meanwhile the driver window starts to slide down into the window by itself. She hits the up button and it doesnt stop but starts to make a grinding sound. Oh **** she says and calls me from home. "Honey, I broke the driver window..." WTF? how?? "It just broke, i didnt hit anything"...did the window break or is it stuck? "I heard the sound of shattering glass but the window is down in the door" Ok. ill look at it when I get home.... "I made an appt with Carmax to look at it..." Not before I look at it, bye. So I shake the door and there is no glass sound and remove the door panel and find a cable hanging in the breeze. when it popped out of its lift, it hit the door skin like a drum. The cable operates the 2 lifts on 2 tracks that move the window up and down and one spring loaded end had popped out of its lift. I further look and i find that the cable is totally stuffed around the motor pulley and looks like a fishing reel after you cast it with no drag. So I put it back with 2 bolts and she drives it to carmax who tell her they wont fix it because its already apart and they cant diagnose it. OK, no problem because the diagnostic was going to be $60 and the repair was roughly quoted at $400 to replace the window lift! F that, I find a new driver window lift for $51 shipped on Amazon Prime and some panel push pins to boot for another $8 (for 50!!). I look on youtube and find out that the entire inner door panel comes out now (no working through sheet metal hand holes) and the window literally snaps into the carriers from the top. Hardest thing was getting the 2 rods popped off the lock mechanism, and trying to put a bandage on my sliced thumb one handed......:-( So I got the window held up on the track by a little vice grip until the new lift arrives thursday and I get to install it Sat. Good times.....
Click to expand...
Gotta love those 21st century Mopars.....Not!!
 
And this window lift style is widespread.....Beware. But it is cheap to replace.
 
Could always do this:

SDC100691255593161.jpg


Good enough for the super stock darts/barracudas. Good enough for your minivan! Right?
 
Yep.

My mom's 4 door Dakota loses a window cable about every 8-10 months.

The guides are brittle plastic and don't weather well in humid FL, esp with the stress they are under.

I've tried three different manufacturers replacement including Mopar and (gasp) ac delco, and even one that proudly proclaims "new, improved design".

Same result.

I think if they made that guide out of nylon, or simply made the aluminum bar ends into the guide blocks and put on a nylon slide bushing, the issue would go away.

...but then they'd sell a LOT less $65 window cable assemblies.

...and no such luck on working without your inner wrists ending up looking like you've wrestled a bobcat. It feels like the entire first layer of skin gets abraded off.
 
My neighbor recently went through the same thing almost.
He could hear the motor running but nothing was happening so he called the dealer and they told him somewhere around that same price.
I found a whole new assembly on on ebay for about 50 bucks and showed him how it goes in.
The backlashed fishing reel is a great analogy. :D
 
I tried to rewind it last night as it looked to be fixable but the metal bike brake cable they use had multiple right angle kinks in it so I just put it back together without the assembly. New one is a 6 bolt-in once you get the door panel off, it's scary prying that hard on a plastic door panel on an otherwise prestine interior. Will update this weekend.
 
OK, so the regulator showed up, went in fairly easily (compared to other stuff) and worked right off the bat. Had one snag: the auto "up" function didnt work. Your supposed to pull the switch up past a detent and the window is supposed to go up all the way automatically. This wouldnt do it and I could not understand why as that was a motor function, not a regulator. After trying it a few times, I lubed the rubber gasket up the sides of the window frame and sure enough the auto function came back. Seems like the gasket was providing enough friction to trip the relay or whatever stops the motor when it feels its all the way up? The hardest part by far was getting the window off the 2 nylon carriers. You are afraid your going to break the window, and pushing the window down into these snap clips seems like its going to be bad for the regulator but I bet on the line they slam these home with no ill effects. The driver window seems to peek up out of the felt about 1/8 inch more that the OEM passenger side when its fully lowered but Im OK with a functional window. Also the panel button clips they sell on Amazon that say they fit Chrysler...dont. They are too small in diameter and the wrong design. Oh well, I spaced the good ones out and snapped it right back on. Job done for less than $60 and about 2 hours.
 
You probably have a pinch mode on the car. If there is too much pressure, the window stops so kids don't pinch off their little fingers in the car windows. You lubed it up and the pressure is now less and it no longer thinks it's involved in a pinch situation.
 
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