impee's DIY Window Regulator Repair


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DIY Window Regulator
Repair

DIY Window Regulator Repair for BMW 318i e46

How to repair a Window Regulator yourself!

Prices:

Professional labour costs for Window Regulator Repair - £55 (private) or £155 (BMW) - per hour X 2 hours

New Window Regulator - £85

DIY costs for Window Regulator Repair - £23 (approx - for tools which can be used again & for other projects)

Difficulty Level: Medium/Difficult

Approximate time for this project: 2.5 hours

ITEMS	INFORMATION	OUTLET	QUANTITY	PRICE*
Socket Wrench		http://www.halfords.com	1	£14
Socket Wrench Extension		http://www.halfords.com		^
8mm & 10mm sockets		http://www.halfords.com	1	^
torx 20 & 30 bits		http://www.halfords.com	1	^
Thin Flat Head Screwdriver		http://www.halfords.com	1	£1
Ziptie	medium or Large size required		10	£2
Lithium grease	spray on is simpler and less messy	http://www.halfords.com	1	£4
Duck tape			1	£2

*some prices & figures are approximate

1)	Assemble your kit :)
	Below is the total kit I used. As you can see, there aren't many tools required for this job at all, but having the correct ones is very important.

2)	-ve Terminal of Battery - Disconnection
	NOTE: First roll down a little more than half of the window. (This helps in a later stage, and also gives you place to hang the air bag off). I forgot to do this myself (as you will notice in the photos) and it was a major headache later on.
	Go to your boot, locate the battery and use 10mm Socket to undo the black -ve cable and detach it from the battery and move it away, or cover it in duck tape to avoid it swinging back and reconnecting the battery. In the photo I used a spanner, which isn't recommended. Mind you, after stripping one screw and bolt in one of the later stages, I went to the shop and bought a decent tool kit containing a Ratchet Spanner, correct Torx Bits, correct Sockets and Socket Extension. I should have bought these tools a long time back as for other DIY jobs on the car I was sufficing with other tools.

2)	Decor Strip - Removal
	As in Photo, use the thin flat head screw driver to open one end of the Decor Strip. There are 2 screws beneath this which will be opened later.

	The Decor Strip is held down by clips, so just slowly pull it all off, nothing can break

3)	2 Plastic Screw Covers - Removal
	Use your nails, or the thin flat head screw driver to pry of these 2 covers. There are 2 screws beneath them which will be opened later.

4)	Mirror Control Box - Removal
	Use the flat head screw driver to pry out this little mirror control box. You must only insert the screw driver on the right centre part, as that is the only place that a screw driver can fit to enable you to take it out (exactly as in the photo).

	Once it has come out enough for you to use your fingers/nails, pull out the rest. There is screw inside this, which will be opened later.

5)	Door Panel Screws - Removal
	Open the 5 screws using Torx 20. Be VERY careful to use the correct tools and pressure, to not strip these screws.

6)	Door Panel - Removal
	Once you have taken all the above off/out, use your fingers to pry off the large inside door trim. Start from the outside of the door at the top and work round clock wise. There are 10 clips, which all require a slight pull each (as highlighted in the photo below). Once trim is loose/off, you will notice a white plastic thing attached to the door handle on the trim, just pull this white connector off the trim/handle to detach it.
	There will also be 2 more wires snaking around on the trim and attached to it with small plastic clips, just simply pull them off the trim to detach them from the trim.
	Remove the 2 speaker cables form the trim and the 2 plugs from the little mirror control box.
	Don't worry about remembering which cables go back where, due to the way they are made, each cable can only plug back into its own socket.
	The trim should now be free. Put it away safely, to not damage/scratch it.

7)	Airbag - Removal
	Use 10mm Socket to remove the 3 bolts holding the Air Bag.
	NOTE: DO NOT REMOVE THE CABLE PLUGS FROM THE AIR BAG. IT MUST REMAIN CONNECTED, or the airbag light will light up later on.

8)	Airbag - Securing
	Use 2 zip ties to hang the airbag to the window as in the photo.

9)	Vapour Barrier - Removal
	Now you will see the sheet of grey Vapour barrier. Take your time and remove this form the door without ripping it. If when putting the door back at the end this sticky thing does not stick well back to the door frame, use a hair dryer to slightly melt it.

10)	Regulator Bolts - Removal
	Use a 10mm Socket to open the 5 bolts. If you are opening only the right regulator side, then just open the 2 right bolts, if also the left regulator, then open the left 3 bolts too.

11)	Cable - Release
	Use a cutter to cut the zip tie to release the cable. At the end, do remember to re-attach it with a new zip tie.

12)	Window Motor - Removal
	First you will need to use Torx 30 and remove the 3 screws from the window motor. In the photo below, the red circles denote the place from where I have already removed the bolts.
	Then twist the motor so that it is possible to pull out. Then suspend it using zip ties.>
	This will now free the window and it will now be possible to apply some pressure to move the glass up and down when required.>
	To avoid wasting time and opening extra stuff, you can diagnose which window glider is actually broken (rather than open them both).
	NOTE: If you are opening the whole regulator (both arms), then you must secure the glass, in terms of using duct tape to tape it firmly in place (as if the window was shut).
	Manually lower the window and then on both left and right regulator arms look and see if the middle metal connector is in place in the plastic glider, or has come out? Obviously the one that has come out is the culprit. For me, it was only one side, i.e. right one (outer side).
	Take a look at Step 15 to understand and diagnose if the glider is broken or not.

13)	Glass Bolts - Removal
	Push down the window till you can see the 2 bolts through the small holes as indicated (remove the bolt for the side of the regulator arm that you want to extract) and use 8mm Socket to remove this bolt.>
	NOTE: Be very careful to use the correct tools and pressure, as these bolts in particular strip VERY easily. BMW has indeed done a very bad job whilst designing these particular bolts.

one of the bolts looks like this.

	one of the bolts looks like this.

14)	Regulator Arm - Extraction
	The photo below is the whole regulator. The gliders are the small dark grey plastic parts on each arm that move up and down (highlighted). I couldn't find a product code for this item and when I checked with BMW, they told me that they do not sell it as a seperate part and instead sell the whole Regulator as one part and it costs around £85.

	Once the glass bolt has been removed, pull out the regulator arm, to get to the broken glider.

15)	Glider - Repair
	There isn't much I can say here, except get the highlighted middle metal connector into place and then use 2 zip ties to hold it down, as in the below photo
	I will admit that the below photo is slightly misleading as the zip ties are not tight enough and later on the connector came out, meaning I had to open the whole door again. Tighten both zip ties to the maximum so they hold the little metal connector in place.

16)	Lithium Grease - Lubrication
	Before you put the glider back, shake and use the lithium grease to lubricate it. The grease is white, so you can see in the photo that I have sprayed both sides of the regulator and also sprayed on the bottom end of the glider which is open and visible. As you probably have a spray on grease with a thin nozzle, spray the grease over the other regulator too. Over the years the original grease surely has worn off, hence slow windows, and also the broken glider.

17)	Put The Door Back Together
	Work back in order and put it all back together. I read somewhere to give 10 mins before you re-attach the battery (I think it has something to do with the airbag settling down).
	The first time you roll up and down the window, there will be a slight crack; this is the window re-aligning itself into place.

DIY Window Regulator repair by - imran hamid www.impee.co.uk

Any questions - imran@impee.co.uk