Corner Wrench: Recovering after a frozen window snaps free
It’s a chilly morning and you pull up to the drive-through. A tap of the window button and there’s a pause, then a snap as your window clip breaks and drops the glass into the depths of the door. The rest of your drive is chilly, and chillier still is the knowledge that you’ll have to pull the door apart.
It’s a common problem, especially on vehicles with one-touch power window features: regulator failures after attempting to open a frozen window. You’ll probably know how to stop this from happening in the first place if you’ve been working on your own vehicles for any number of Canadian winters, but if your memory’s short and hazy like mine, here’s a reminder. Before the frost hits, check all window mouldings for damage that might let water in and replace them as needed. Make sure any water drains in the bottom of the doors are clear, and apply some non-petroleum silicone spray lube to the run channels and edges of the mouldings where they contact the glass. Unfortunately none of that feels particularly helpful when you’re facing a broken regulator or its glass-attachment points.
First, you’ll have to figure out what’s broken, which means removing the inner door trim panel. Different manufacturers use different attachment systems, and not all of them are easy to figure out. The most common is a series of push-pins around the perimeter of the panel combined with some self-tapping screws at the main stress points: look where the inner door pull handle and armrest are. The top of the panel is usually formed to hook over the inner metal part of the door, but the biggest surprise that can ruin a trim panel is the use of a molded hook below the upper edge. If your vehicle has one of these and you pull too hard, it will snap off. Your best bet is to start at the bottom and outer side edges to release the push pins, then remove any screws and push the panel upward to release it.
Glass attachment designs vary as well. Popular Ram trucks use two plastic clips per door glass, which are relatively inexpensive and can be changed with the glass and regulator in place. They seem to act as a failsafe to prevent the electric motor from overheating and to save the mechanics of the regulator from permanent ruin. Other popular systems use pins to attach the glass to the lift-bar through holes in the glass.
The worst, from a DIY point of view, are those that use a glue bond between the glass and the lift-bar. If you’re lucky and the regulator arms or cables haven’t been totalled (and the glass is intact), you may be able to get an auto-glass shop to repair and reattach the lift-bar. If you’re unlucky, you could be looking at broken glass or bent regulator arms, either of which obviously require costly replacements.
If your ride uses cables to lift and lower the glass, no automaker sells them separately from the regulator assembly. Fortunately, when you see them and learn how simple they are, you may be able to find a cheap fix at your local bicycle shop with a shift or brake cable.
Finally, before you put the trim panel back on after your repair, take advantage of the access and spray some silicone on the complete run of the channel guides and lubricate any arm pivots while you’re at it.
