Broken window regulators welcome..(m)

[ferchja]

Anyone that has replaced their window regulator and is willing to part with the broken one I would be interested in receiving them. I am working on a possible repair instead of the dealer new option, which is prone to the same fate. I will cover shipping to my location. Any door is fine.

Email me at jferch@starlodge.com with details

Thanks in advanced.

Jeremy
Phoenix, AZ
97 740iL 104k

[Diver]

Sorry, I had mine done about 6 weeks ago and did not keep the failing parts. Why don't you do a search for folks with the symptoms/problem and PM them?

[Randy V]

The weak link is the plastic pulley wheel.

I've got a toasted regulator - PM me.

[Beastmaster]

When I replaced mine, I expected to see pink plastic parts all over the bottom of the door. Instead, I got one trashed braided cable.

[ferchja]

We are going to look into the cable as well, having not seen one of them up close, we are going to see if the cable can be replaced with a higher strength cable or with a different pulley to provide longivity to the cable. The plastic pulleys might be binding under the stress of the window and causing the cable to wear against the pulley. A possible condition is when a harder surface has friction with a softer surface the harder surface could wear faster. This can cause the cable to frey and the pulley to remain, once that cable begins to break its down hill fast.

We are going to take in some samples and see what we can do. We are hopefull that we will be able to produce a repair that will outlast a new unit for reasonable price.

Thanks for the input.

Jeremy

[Randy V]

I replied to your PM...

[ferchja]

Have my first regulator. Thanks beastmaster!!!. It was missing one pulley and the cable was sheared. I will try to post some pics tomorrow. Depending on some of the other few I get in I think I know why 90% of them fail. It's not the pink pulley or even the cable. Its the cable pulley inside the motor housing. You will see when I up load pics, the design is very poor. Basically the cable begine and ends in side the housing and it winds itself around this pulley as it moves clockwise or counterclockwise. It looks to be the issue that the end and the start of the cable can easily double over each other causing the two cables to pinch together and therefore causing the motor to shartter the pink wheels which will probably free the cable to work the window poorly. The cable is left to work without the pulley against a metal shaft which will shortly cause the cable to frey.

I will send this down to the machine guys to see if they can fab replacement pulleys. THe issue may be how to remove the old pink pulley wheels since they look to be riveted in place. THe other issue is to better construct the drive pulley so it will not double up the cable, and also to replace damaged cable. THe cable in a proper working system that is not prone to fail will not. THe issue os the drive pulley or the pink directional pulleys failing causing the motor to stress the cable against fixed metal posts.

MOre to come

Jeremy

[Diver]

Ferchja:

Your efforts are greatly appreciated. :

[F Johnny Klyde]

Ferchja,

keep us posted! mine is due in a few months...

[///Mik]

Mine just crapped itself. The cables jumped their tracks on the
pulley and bound around themselves. I could probably put it
back together but I don't know where one of the two cables
hooks up on the window side. Stupid cables are kinked too. Grr.
Any help?

[ferchja]

Both cable end in the drive pulley. It is basically a huge figure 8 that wraps around 4 pulleys. The drive pulley turns the cable to spool the cable from one end to lower and the other to raise.

Your best bet top save the window regulator is to get new cable and replicate the metal stops on the cable and thread it. Once the cable kinks it will never work right again. If all of your pulleys are still working then you have a good shot of fixing it. If you do get it threaded and working, put some lube on the pulley bearing surfaces, not the grove where the cable runs, to fix it

Good luck

Jeremy

[ridgeapd]

This thread still open? I've got one jacked regulator ready to ship!

[MisterPootieCat]

Can you get the pink plastic pulleys? I have a regulator that has a broken pulley, the cable jumped off and was running between the pulley and the mounting surface. I stopped using the window immediately and replaced it. As far as I can see, the pulley is the only thing broken. Here's a picture of the broken pulley, you can see the cable is running underneath against the metal frame:

[MisterPootieCat]

I personally think the cable comes loose and jumps off the pulleys and it's downhill from there. This window was sticking when it was being lowered and the regulator failed shortly afterwards. The cable tension is maintained by the two springs in this picture, if you push both springs to the collapsed position the cable goes slack. If you grab the mounting tabs for the window and yank on them the springs will also compress. My guess is the springs need to be stronger to prevent slack in the cable which results (at least in my case) in the cable jumping off the pulley. There are probably a lot of people driving around with the cable jammed like mine but continue to use the window until the cable finally snaps.

[todor]

Is anyone still working on a way to repair these regulators? I just opened up my door panels and found small pink pulley parts at the bottom of the door frame... Haven't pulled out the regulator assembly yet, but I definitely have at least one broken pulley and possibly a snapped cable.

Is there any way to replace the pulleys?

Also, a tangental question: is there any way to take out the regulator and put the window glass back in without the regulator in there? I keep the E38 parked outside, so I need to have a window on there... can't leave it open.

[backinblack98]

Is anyone still working on a way to repair these regulators? I just opened up my door panels and found small pink pulley parts at the bottom of the door frame... Haven't pulled out the regulator assembly yet, but I definitely have at least one broken pulley and possibly a snapped cable.

Is there any way to replace the pulleys?

Also, a tangental question: is there any way to take out the regulator and put the window glass back in without the regulator in there? I keep the E38 parked outside, so I need to have a window on there... can't leave it open.

Well there are 2 ways I know of and they are both kinda ghetto! First one is a block of wood put in the door to hold the window up. The second is to use a screw driver on the inside of your window. A flat head screw driver will put enough pressure to hold it in place and not budge whether you open, close, slam the door. I had no choice but to do this because my window regulator went out half way down. I bought a used unit off of ebay to replace it but that motor burnt out like 2 days after I put it in. As a result I went ahead and took them both out and sent them to a company in New York that rebuilds them and warranties them. So for $85 plus shipping I will get a rebuilt warranted party plus they are giving me $40 for the additional core ie... $45 replacement.