How to Fix a Window Regulator

I didn’t want to fix our cars window. I’d even called a “professional” to come do it. I’d done all the hard work for them, figured out the problem and procured the part. I explained what needed to be done and they were supposed to come out Thursday.

They no showed.

Actually, I ended up calling them late in Thursday afternoon and telling them not to come because we needed the cars at that point in the afternoon, so it would be a waste for them to show up. They assured me they would come by yesterday, in the morning.

Again, they no showed. To make matters worse, they have yet to call.

Not that it will matter at this point. I’ve already done the job.

After the jump is a description of the process I went through to change out the window regulator for a Toyota Matrix. No pictures though. I don’t think they’d be very helpful.

Prior to the instructions, for the curious, the window regulator is the mechanical portion of the window lift. It is basically a scissor with one of the arms fixed to the door so that the other, which is connected to the bottom of the window glass in some way, can raise and lower the window. A motor is attached to the “handle” side of the lifting arm. I believe the scissor arrangement also gives some mechanical advantage to the motor for lifting purposes.

The following assumes you’ve already procured a regulator for the window. These instructions are also for the driver’s side window of the Matrix. I don’t know how portable these would be to other cars on other doors.

The basic idea is to open up the door, unmount the old regulator from the door, then disconnect the regulator from the window. After pulling the regulator out, the motor has to come off and then the process gets reversed to install the new regulator. The whole process will likely take and hour to 90 minutes.

An incomplete list of tools needed: #2 and #3 Phillips, #25 Torx driver, 8mm socket, putty knife, small bladed screw driver, pocket knife.

Here we go:

1. Start by positioning the window about 1/3 of the way down.

2. Remove the 2 screws from the door panel. The first screw is in the cup-handle, the other is behind the door latch handle. There’s a little cover behind the handle that needs to be pried open with a small screw driver or packet knife. After removing the screws, pry the bottom of the door panel away from the door. There’s a small panel where the breaker window would be, pop that out and then lift the door panel up to remove it from the door. It might be useful for repositioning the window when it’s time to remove it.

3. Disconnect the window control from the door. The connector has a small tab on it that needs to be pressed to release it. The panel will now be free from the door. Pull the window control out of the door- carefully.

4. Next, work to peel the waterproofing membrane off the door. Go all the way around to detach the entire membrane. A putty knife might be helpful here.

5. There is a black panel secured to the door with 3 screws in the lower half. Remove that panel. That opening is where the regulator will come out of.

6. Towards the upper right corner of the door is the connector for the wire bundle that controls the window motor. Disconnect that now.

7. There are 6 bolts holding the regulator to the door. Be careful- as these are removed the window will start to come down. Keep an eye on it so it doesn’t break.

8. Now position the window to gain access the bolts holding the regulator to the window. A socket is needed to remove these bolts. I can’t offer much more direction than that at this point. There is no easy way to access these bolts. It just takes patience.

9. With everything disconnected, the regulator will come out through the large opening at the bottom of the door.

10. Now, remove the motor from the regulator. It’s held in place with 3 Torx screws- size 25.

Congrats, that’s the hard part. Now the entire process has to be reversed. When attaching the motor to the new regulator, be sure to try and position the new regulator in roughly the same position as the old one.

A quick list of the reverse process:

1. Attach the motor to the new regulator and insert the regulator into the door.

2. Attach 1 bolt from the main mount of the regulator to the door. Doing this will take the weight of the regulator and make it more manageable to attach the window to the regulator.

3. Now complete mounting the regulator to the door. Be sure to get the window to ride properly in its track during this step. Otherwise, there will be trouble.

4. Plug the cable bundle back into the motor.

5. Replace the black panel to cover the lower opening.

6. Replace the water proofing membrane.

7. If the window control switch was removed from the door panel, replace it and then reattach the door panel to the door.

This isn’t the hardest DIY project, but it takes time and patience to accomplish.