Saturday, March 10, 2007

Power Windows Serviced!!

Another DIY session to share with. It has been months since the driver side power window gave some musical beat when it was in motion. It sounds like this; 'tak...tak...tak...' and it seems that its getting slower and hard to move. See the below video to listen the 'tak...tak...tak...'. Until one morning last week, the power window can barely wind-up, I decided to get it serviced that evening. Here is the details of how I got it serviced (and the door lock too).



Below is the step-by-step of what I did, from dismantle the door panel, until showing up the power window parts needed to be service. Equipments & tools needed are just flat and philips screw driver, 10mm spanner, and the good WD40. Don't forget to have piece of rag with you to clean up the things.


1-REMOVE TRIM

Remove the door lock trim by squeeze it up a little bit. The lower part will then be disengaged from the panel. The same should be done to the upper part (squeeze down a little bit).


This is how it looks like after the trim removal.


2-REMOVE DOOR POCKET

Notice the location of the flat type plastic pins. There are 3 such pins altogether at the lower part of the door pocket. Remove them by using a flat screw driver and turn until 90 degrees only. Keep them in safe place.

Gently push up the end of the door pocket. This may be hard, especially if this is the first time. But believe me, it can pry out when you push it up from the screw holder. Just a bit patient and don't knock it hard from the below side. The illustration above gives exactly how your hand should be placed when prying up the door pocket off from the screws. Do this for both right and left ends.

Once the prying up successfully done, turn the door pocket about 45 until 90 degrees as shown above. This will help to disengage the center hold from the door panel.

Then remove both right and left philips screws. Again, keep them is a safe place.

3-REMOVE ARM REST & POWER WINDOW UNIT

Using small flat screw driver, pry off gently the screw covers, 2 of them.

Using a philips screw driver, unscrew the arm rest holding screw. There are 3 of them. Again put them in a safe place. At this level, the arm rest is detached from the door panel, however the upper holder is still hanged on to the panel. Let it be there for a moment.

Lift the power window switch unit to the right. This will detach the unit from the arm rest.

To completely remove the arm rest, slowly turn it as shown above until approximately 90 degrees. You may want to slowly pry it off from the door panel while turning the arm rest unit. The locking mechanism of this arm rest can be seen and self-explained after you got it off.

The next step is to remove the power window unit wire sockets. You may want to jot down the sockets location for proper re installation later.

4-REMOVE DOOR PANEL

Remove the door knob by turning it in counter clockwise direction.

Using small flat screw driver, run through the door panel to see which part is being clipped. Do this slowly. Caution should be taken as the old door panel might be brittle enough and breaks easily.

Pry off the clips using the small falt screw driver. Do this all around the door panel, and remove all clips.

Then, starting form the right end, lift up the door panel, then slightly to the right. It should glides off easily. Note that carefully take off the power window wire socket one by one through the wiring holes, so that the panel is completely off from the door.

This is how it looks like so far.

To access the power window mechanism, remove the white plastic cover.

5-SERVICE THE POWER WINDOW!!


This is the power window mechanism. The power window motor is located at the most below of the door. You might want to take this chance to tighten up the two 10mm nuts that hold the power window motor. Reinstall the power window switch unit for further test purposes. Power on the ignition key, and test the power window, move it up and down to see where is the flaw.

In my case, the 'tak..tak..tak' sound came from the metal round coil. What I did is just to spray the metal coil with WD40. I used quite a lot of WD40, until brownish residues comes out. Move the power window up and down while spraying the WD40. You might also want to take this chance to apply WD40 on the door lock mechanism as well. Clean up the door area after you have done with the job. Installation is just reverse of removal procedures.

The results?? I got a silent power window moving up and down, also lighter door lock. And very happy with the results. GOOD LUCK :))

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