My first window regulator failure

[ross1]

Driving E39s for about the past 15 years, nine of them passing through my hands in that time without a single window regulator failure, until last night, while raining, of course.
Opened the RR window to let the dog stick her schnoz out in the air as dogs do. After a few sniffs and raindrops she was done so I hit the up button and heard a pop. Drove home with window down in the rain, yahoo! Dog was looking at me as if to say WTF, Ross? Finally my luck ran out and it is my turn to replace one.

I won't be paying $$$ to the Bavarians nor any amount for a Uro which seems to be the dominant aftermarket unit with plenty of discussion here about same.
If I'm going to buy Chinesium junk it will be at the lowest price I can find. That turns out to be $20.22 shipped to my door from an Ebay seller having stock in the US. Not a big job so I'm going to gamble.
I will report back how it fits and works.
Ready to face the firing squad here if it doesn't fit correctly and/or if(when?)it fails.

[crazy4trains]

Buy from FCP.

Ouch!!! Just checked their website. Currently only have Genuine Bimmer for mucho dinero.

[ross1]

Its twenty bucks and a little work. I view all the aftermarket ones as same junk. we'll see.

Worth mentioning is that I discovered a simple method of holding the window in the up position now that it wants to fall into the door.

The sliding portion which the glass attaches to with a single M6 torx head bolt is symmetrical, having another treaded hole that ostensibly would be employed for the mirror image opposite side regulator. If you start a M6 bolt in that hole, push the glass up then reach in with a ratcheting box wrench you can run down the bolt against the track, effectively clamping the slider in place. No wedges, props or, perish the thought, duct tape mess.

[philly98540]

Another option. My car still has all four original regs. I've had both of the rear ones "Pop" as you said. It does this when the little metal nugget attached to the cable pops out of the metal window slider. The metal sliders grip on the nugget expands and wears over time and then it finally pops out under load. I've taken both out and repaired this connection. I drill and then tap a small hole in the metal slider and use a flat head screw with a small custom bent metal cover to secure the cable nugget back in its place. Its tricky but doable. There are tight clearances as the slider goes up and down, so the repair needs to be low profile. There was a kit on ebay that does something similar, but I did my own thing. The original regs seem well built minus this attachment, but I also hear the pullies eventually go.

[TiagE39]

The original regs seem well built minus this attachment, but I also hear the pullies eventually go.

When my RR regulator failed on a trip to Rochester, it was the pulley disintegrating. Interestingly I just had the "metal nugget" failure on my X3's LR regulator.

[ross1]

Another option. My car still has all four original regs. I've had both of the rear ones "Pop" as you said. It does this when the little metal nugget attached to the cable pops out of the metal window slider. The metal sliders grip on the nugget expands and wears over time and then it finally pops out under load. I've taken both out and repaired this connection. I drill and then tap a small hole in the metal slider and use a flat head screw with a small custom bent metal cover to secure the cable nugget back in its place. Its tricky but doable. There are tight clearances as the slider goes up and down, so the repair needs to be low profile. There was a kit on ebay that does something similar, but I did my own thing. The original regs seem well built minus this attachment, but I also hear the pullies eventually go.

Thanks for the idea but too late for me.
I also saw the Ebay repair kit with the cable, slider, pulleys, etc. I'm not assembling all of that mess, even at gunpoint
I've seen that same failure on others and also attempted to dupe them up with only mixed results for my own efforts. The slider is a pot metal casting not well suited for the stress potentially applied.
I already removed the motor and the drum which the cable winds onto stuck on the splined drive so the whole thing is a tangled mess now which I don't have the patience to rewind even if I thought I could successfully repair the slider.

[JimLev]

For 20 bucks each you should have bought 2.
I’m still on the original regulators, knock on wood.

[crazy4trains]

I never roll my windows all the way down. The one regulator that failed on me happened when my daughter rolled the window all the way down.

[BimmrMeUpSnotty]

Just the other day, the right front window stopped rolling down three inches from the top, just stops, rolls back up, which is good, but only goes down three inches, not good, I like to roll the windows down. i will not be held hostage by this Chris Bungle bullsh!t. I have spare regulators in storage, been a while since I’ve had to get my fingers all gummied up with pulling the old dumdum out of the vapor barrier and the door. I wonder if applying JBWeld on the pulleys, the side facing out at least, and JBWeld on the spring tensioner housing going into the motor would help anything. If anything, it wouldn’t hurt to try. Most of the failures I’ve had were the pulley side walls blowing out, but I have had the spring tension housing blow up a couple times on me too. So, JBWeld with fiberglass should help, but I thinking, the next weakest link would break after that.

[pleiades]

Not much to offer here, I've used a couple of the $20 ebay regulators (swapping in the motor from the broken original) and they still work after say 5 years. One thing I noticed with my old car is that the seals where the glass closes up top can really grip the edge of the window enough that the regulator has to strain to open them, especially in cold weather, so I occasionally wipe a bit of that Gummiphledge (sp?) stuff (any silicone spray might work) inside the grooves, and it seems to help keep everything "loose".....

[ross1]

Slapped in the E-bay special today. No trouble to install, fit as the old one did. Runs the window up and (all the way*) down. Ran it through half a dozen cycles and all is well so far. The problematic pot metal casting part that is the usual failure point has a different, shinier, appearance. I don't what if any significance this has. I'll report back if/when/how it should fail.
For twenty bones I'm happy, so far.

If changing yours I'd advise cleaning the felt channels the window rides in and also cleaning the edges of the glass where it meets the w/strip. I noticed significant mineral deposits where the weather strip meets the glass and suggest this would cause drag against the felt channels causing undue labor for the regulator and motor.

* others have reported some aftermarket brands (Uro) don't allow your window to roll all the way down.

[wagons ho]

You are truly blessed to have your first one fail and done.
The other day, I popped 2.
In one day. 2 different cars. I blame the wife, as she caters to the dog and his incessant desire for windows down.
On the 1998, Amazon $28. They are different than 99 up.

[ross1]

You are truly blessed to have your first one fail and done.

So I've been told. I've bought cars with failed ones but was lucky(?) to have factory replacements from parts cars on hand.
Funny about the dogs. Ours isn't as insistent about sticking her head out but DOES fart with some regularity which absolutely requires immediate, and thorough ventilation.

[scubajim20]

so i've been told. I've bought cars with failed ones but was lucky(?) to have factory replacements from parts cars on hand.
Funny about the dogs. Ours isn't as insistent about sticking her head out but does fart with some regularity which absolutely requires immediate, and thorough ventilation.

lol

[crazy4trains]

So I've been told. I've bought cars with failed ones but was lucky(?) to have factory replacements from parts cars on hand.
Funny about the dogs. Ours isn't as insistent about sticking her head out but DOES fart with some regularity which absolutely requires immediate, and thorough ventilation.

Can't resist a dog phart story opportunity.

I use a CPAP. I had an aging golden retriever that liked to sleep beside the bed. The CPAP is on the bottom shelf of a night-stand right beside the bed; right beside the dog's arse. He lets fly one night. Brought me out of a dead sleep while ripping the CPAP mask off almost instantaneously. He just rolls over and looks at me. Whatever!!!

[ross1]

Can't resist a dog phart story opportunity.

I use a CPAP. I had an aging golden retriever that liked to sleep beside the bed. The CPAP is on the bottom shelf of a night-stand right beside the bed; right beside the dog's arse. He lets fly one night. Brought me out of a dead sleep while ripping the CPAP mask off almost instantaneously. He just rolls over and looks at me. Whatever!!!

I really did just laugh out loud!

[crdiscoverer]

They are different than 99 up.

My E39 is a 12/96 and I've had the driver's door reg fail, which I replaced with the newest version (OEM), completely different from the old one. It was plug and play and I'm hoping it's better designed than the earlier ones (seemed much simpler = less things to break). If have an older E39 and have doubts whether or not you need the exact same version/part number... you don't.

All my other 3 regulators are still the original ones, knock on wood.

[Mike WW]

With 3 E39s now and a total of ~260K on them combined, the highest mileage one was 253 when I sold it. I had one get cranky, the RR of the first one, a '97 528i. I took the door panel apart, realigned things a bit and buttoned it back up. Sold it not long after.

My wife's cars, she'll roll them down a little bit, maybe an inch, frequently in warm weather, and more or all the way down sometimes, again in warm weather. I roll them down at tollboths, police stops and mailboxes where I'm dropping off mail.

So Ross, we may be in the minority, but you're not the only one.

[URO Parts]

If anyone is interested in engineering data, we have a white paper for our E46 regulators 51 33 7 020 659 & 51 33 7 020 660 vs OEM and "Brand X": https://apaindustries.com/apasite/pa...7020659PRM.pdf

[TiagE39]

@uroparts, when will Premium E39 rear regulators be in stock again?

[URO Parts]

Hi TiagE39, the front E39 regulators are in-stock and ready to ship. The early-model rear regulators have arrived in our warehouse and should show "in-stock" any day now. The late-model rear-right is out of stock until March 2023. Part numbers ending with "PRM" are the ball-bearing version.

Front Left: 51 33 8 252 393-PRM (late-style, mods required to install on pre-9/1997 cars)
Front Right: 51 33 8 252 394-PRM (late-style, mods required to install on pre-9/1997 cars)
Rear Left (post-2/1999): 51 35 8 252 429-PRM
Rear Right (post-2/1999): 51 35 8 252 430-PRM
Rear Left (through 2/1999): 51 35 8 159 835
Rear Right (through 2/1999): 51 35 8 159 836

[carcrazyethan]

I'm a little annoyed, my replacement door has a bad regulator. All the original regulators work great in my car, including the door that was hit. I suppose i'll be tearing it apart here soon to put the working one in the new door. Fingers crossed....

[crdiscoverer]

Ugh, this morning the window on the driver's door started acting up and stopping midway, pushing the button again repeatedly makes it go all the way down. Ggoing up there are no issues. There are no weird noises and no evident resistance or slowdowns, it just stops, like if the window forgot where the bottom limit is.