which part of the window motor should i whack?

[timandbim]

my rear ds window motor failed this week while the window was down. (i ripped off a piece of the door panel while taking it off in a windstorm so i could get the window shut, boo). i can hear clicking near the connector at the edge of the door but can't get any movement from the actuator and it's not restricted at all by its guides (i just popped it off the plastic connectors to the actuator-pretty difficult as it was stuck only 2 inches down). i have a replacement motor from my old front ps door (in the end i got to keep both my old front doors! karma is real!) but these are a big pain to change because they are riveted in on and you have to be careful drilling them off, more so this time as i intend on keeping this door. i've already tried slamming the door more than i feel comfortable doing and have given a few solid whacks with a hammer on the motor and the brushes casing to try and get it going again but have not managed to revive it yet - anything else i should try before i dig out my drill again?

[Blitzkrieg Bob]

If you are sure it's the motor.

Just swap the motor off the gearbox.

Two bolts and its done

[timandbim]

If you are sure it's the motor.

Just swap the motor off the gearbox.

Two bolts and its done

I thought the motor was actually in 'a' and 'b' was the brushes or something and everything would fall out if i took it off. they sell the whole thing as a complete unit at bma - but it would make sense to try that first wouldn't it... and no, i'm not sure it's the motor... just happen to have an extra one handy.

[Blitzkrieg Bob]

I thought the motor was actually in 'a' and 'b' was the brushes or something and everything would fall out if i took it off. they sell the whole thing as a complete unit at bma - but it would make sense to try that first wouldn't it... and no, i'm not sure it's the motor... just happen to have an extra one handy.

A=gearbox

B=motor

[Ross]

Smack that $#$#*& while holding the button...... Your welcome

[Ross]

Any part, hold the button and just hit the door hard enough to shock the motor.
Like Fonzi would "fix" the jukebox if you're old enough to understand the referrance.

[timandbim]

Any part, hold the button and just hit the door hard enough to shock the motor.
Like Fonzi would "fix" the jukebox if you're old enough to understand the referrance.
yeah i saw some old threads and i think i pushed it to the limit trying that - i was pushing the button and slamming the door pretty hard and even wedged the button down and hammered on the motor (like, with a hammer). tried the button all ways did it gently at first but was really killing the m/f before i stopped. (not the plastic gear cover tho, duh) way beyond the fonz, dude - and usually i got tha... 'ayyyyy' vibe - not this time tho. i'm wondering if a gear is jammed in there or something... a while ago i noticed the button on the door had been left jammed 'up' but it had worked fine for months since that. it's weird that it completely died without any warning or strange noises though- i was rolling both rear windows down (or up... ?) at the same time and the left one just stopped... maybe i fried something else?

so that part b really is the whole motor then eh? i'll try rossarelli's suggestion one more time (my neighbours must think i'm totally bananas!) and then i start drilling and screwing. anything else i can hit?

[Mr._Graybeard]

If you're sure the problem isn't corrosion at the switches, you can remove the motor can from the motor/gearbox housing to examine/clean the brushes and motor commutator. It's a hell of a lot easier than removing the regulator, which you would have to do to remove the entire motor/gearbox unit, IIRC.

The motor housing is held to the gearbox by two torx screws. Remove them and you should be able to remove the housing and armature as well as the brush housing and wire leads. When I had a similar problem I cleaned up the commutator and brushes with DeOxit and it got the motor running again. (There's a potential for grease from the gearbox to get onto those parts, despite a seal on the armature shaft. Brushes also can wear, although these motors generally don't get that kind of use.)

When you reassemble the motor you can hook the brush leads over some tabs on the plastic brush housing, which holds the brushes back and out of the way until you can insert the armature/pinion gear back into the gearbox. At that point you can release the brushes so they make contact with the commutator, refit the motor housing and reinstall the torx screws.

While testing the motor you may find that the gears are excessively noisy, which means they aren't seated correctly. Take the torx screws back out and try again. I've found it may help to keep the screws a little loose so the internals have some room to adjust when you test the mechanism.

You will eventually get the pinion mated correctly with the rest of the gears. I've had three or four of these Bosch units apart, and they always have come back to life just fine.

[timandbim]

so i plugged in another motor before removing the one in the door. it only worked one way (up). i removed the old one anyway and after i got it out it of the gear assembly it worked up only also. so maybe it's the plug methinks, something in the wiring there anyway. i've wiggled everything around and all the wiring and plugs i can get to seem pretty solid - can't find any rust on any of them. i think next thing i'll try is to bypass the plug and hardwire straight to the window motor, but i'll happily take suggestions...

[timandbim]

turns out the plastic (!) gears in the gearbox got smushed somewhere along the line -hmmm like maybe when i beat on it although i didn't hit that part very hard. i got the motor working again (just came to life pretty much after it was removed from the gearbox a second time) but it started grinding plastic again pretty fast and now won't even fit into the gearbox. luckily i have the part but i'm going to have to replace the whole assembly. the window's stuck up so i'm motivated to procrastinate on this one- winter sucks.