What do these sound like when they're on the way out? I've had a few die quietly on me in the past, but now my passenger front door is making this horrible crunching, grinding noise when it goes (very reluctantly) up or down. It got stuck down the other day, but luckily went up after some playing with it. Anyone know what this noise could be? I've the door apart twice, and can't see any other possibilities. This plus an A/C problem is starting to take its toll on me.

Please help,
Marty H
1986 5000-degrees-inside Avant

 

and sliding it up and down and making sure that is smooth, I have had problems in the track make funny noises. The window is attached to the lift on the cable with a pin and C-clip, so it is easy to undo and check. You need to unclip it, put the window mech down so the pin is out of the way, then try moving the window itself. I'm thinking that it sounds like the gears or bearings in the motor though, or maybe a problem where the cable clips into the reel (which is also in the motor). I've had luck taking the motor apart, greasing things up (not the brushes), clipping the broken strands off the cable and putting it back together. This is not a job for the faint of heart though as the parts are spring loaded and like to go every which way. Good luck with it.

 

I know exactly what your problem is. the steel cable is comming apart and several of the threads are binding in the chanel.
there is no fix.
In the quatro magazine some dealers offer 20% off list price of 210.00.
i believe the 5000 has the same door stuff as my 89 100.
the armrest comes off with a hex
there is screw behind the (soft) plastic behind the opening handle
the (hard) plastic incert behind the opening handle-pound on it till it slides forward.
unscrew the little screws one each end of the doot-one is underneath a rubber thing(2 on that side).
once opened
unbolt the inner steel portion of the door. its easy and unbolt the regulator.
be sure to remove the C CLIPfrom the plastic at the bottem of the window. its hard to find because it faces away from you. use a mirror,break the plastic and order a new window.
unplug the regulator from its wiring harness, unplu all the rest of the plugs (cut the retaining plastic straps) and pull the whole thing off and take it to a table and put in the stupid regulator which will take you 2 minutes.
this sounds like a huge job, but actually it isn't.
I went to international motors in milwaukee and the service writer quoted me 750. This was obviously a judgment by the service writer that he could win a trip to Jamacia if he could rip some moron off for that much.
never take your car to international. once i've gotten to know the vehicle and see what they do i decided to rely on this fourm. it has been a good expierence.
by the way, the regulator can be replaced in less than 2 hours by me after doing it once. it will take you 5 the first time

 

The crunching sound, I believe, is the plastic
"guide" at the motor crunching against the cable
and the metal spring wrapped around it. I just replaced a window regulator.

Of course, now my regulator is a bit out of adjustment, so it hangs up sometimes going up or down and I can't get it to work consistently. I'll have to check it when I have time this weekend.

BTW, make sure you get the clip and washer from the dealer in case it's not there when you replace the regulator- I had to do this, because the old regulator was held on w/ a nylon washer as opposed to the circlip and washer that is called for by the factory.

TM