I have a situation with my driver window. On a cold winter day I put my window down and there was a loud crack sound and then the window did go down. I assumed the window had become frozen and the crack sound was the ice seal breaking loose. I was able to put the window up without any issue. Later that day I attempted to put the window down and -- nothing. Since then the window hasn’t functioned. Now that the weather has warmed up, I removed the door panel and took a look. Nothing appears out of order. With a mirror I looked at as much of the cable on the regulator as I could. It seems the cable path is correct and the cable is traveling correctly over the pulleys, though I can't say that with certainty. I did notice that there is cable slack in the front regulator arm, but the cable is very taut in the back arm. I would like to remove the regulator (and motor) to further investigate, but with the window “stuck” in the up position, I cannot access the top regulator screws. I read another post about a window stuck in the up position and the solution was to cut the cable on the regulator. While I see that as a possible solution, I would like that to be a last resort.

So, I have these questions:

  • Is there a technique for lowering the window, so that the glass can be removed? … and then the regulator?
  • Is there way to release the regulator cable without cutting it?
  • Can the window motor be removed from the regulator while the regulator is still installed in the door? And if so, will this free the window glass to move?


I would like to believe (hope?) that neither the regulator or window motor are faulty, and the it just needs to be reset/initialized and if I can free the window from the current stuck position I can do this.

Any suggestion will be greatly appreciated. Thanks.