DIY window repair

In detail: do-it-yourself window lifter repair from a real master for the site my.housecope.com.

Comfort in the car is provided not only by all kinds of systems, which are becoming more and more, but also by fairly simple mechanisms such as power windows. After all, any budget model that does not provide air conditioning, navigation, and the audio system consists of only a few standard speakers, is necessarily equipped with mechanisms for raising and lowering side windows.

On cars, electric and mechanical power windows have become widespread. In the former, the glass is raised and lowered by an electric motor, which ensures ease of use and ease of control. The driver or passenger just needs to press the appropriate button to move the side glass down or up.

In power windows, the driver ensures the movement of the glass using a special gearbox, which is manually driven into rotation. That is, to lower or raise the glass, it is necessary to rotate the handle installed on the door. Windows with this type of drive are less convenient to use, moreover, they are practically superseded by electric ones.

Window lifters are of several types, differing in design:

Moreover, these differences relate to the actuators of the lifts, that is, with the help of which the lifting and lowering is performed. The second component is the drive mechanism.

To consider possible breakdowns of the power windows, let's look at their design.

Let's start with the drive mechanism, as already noted, it can be of two types - mechanical (aka manual) and electrical.

Video (click to play).
  1. Mechanical is a small gear reducer. A cable actuator is usually used with this type of drive. Therefore, such a gearbox consists of two gears that are meshed with each other. The pinion gear is small in size, and it is it that the driver rotates by means of the handle mounted on the door. The driven one is much larger in size, it is a drum for winding the cable. Due to the different sizes of these gears, a relative ease of opening and closing the glass is achieved.
  2. In the electric drive, a gearbox is also used, but already of the "worm-gear" type. There is a worm on the shaft of the electric motor, which is meshed with a gear. The drive motor itself is of a reversible type, that is, when the polarity is changed, its rotation side changes, which allows the use of just one element to both lower and raise the glass. Such a drive is used with all types of actuators.

- window handle; 2 - handle lining; 3 - power window handle socket; 4 - window regulator mechanism; 5 - upper rollers; 6 - screws for fastening the pressure plates; 7 - pressure plates; 8 - lowering glass brackets; 9 - lowering glass; 10 - cable; 11 - lower roller; 12 - bolt; 13 - tension roller

Now, with regard to the executive mechanisms. The cable type can be used with both types of drives. Moreover, for mechanical and electrical mechanisms, their design is different, and significantly.

We will consider the design of a mechanical drive and a cable actuator using the VAZ-2107 as an example. In addition to the gearbox, it includes 4 rollers between which the cable moves, with ends fixed on the drum. One of the rollers is tensioning and ensures the proper tension of the cable for the entire period of operation, since in the process it is stretched.

Two rollers are upper and they are connected by means of tension plates with glass brackets. Because of this, when lowering or lifting, the rollers move with the glass. The last roller is the lower one, it is fixed and it is fixed on the door.

A cable is laid between these rollers in a special way. Moreover, it is not looped back. When lifting or lowering, the end on one side of it is unwound from the drum of the gearbox, and the other is wound. Thanks to this, it is possible to move the upper rollers, and with them the side glass.

In an electric drive, the cable actuator has a different design. It includes a guide at the ends of which rollers are installed. The electric motor with a gearbox is placed slightly to the side of this guide. The drive cable is laid between the guide rollers and goes to the gearbox drum, where it is fixed.

In the area between the guide rollers, a slider is attached to the cable, which in turn is connected to the glass. When the electric motor is turned on, one side of the cable begins to wind on the drum, and the other to unwind. Due to this, the cable moves between the rollers, and with it the slide with the glass.

The linkage actuator works in a different way. There is a lever, at one end of which a semicircular toothed sector is made, connected to the driven gear of the reducer. Its other end is connected to a strip on which the glass is planted. The lever from the sector side by means of a bracket is connected to a fixed plate fixed to the door.

There are actuators that include two levers in the design, and the second plays the role of an auxiliary one.

The third type of actuator is rack and pinion, while there are several types of it. One of these mechanisms has a fixed guide with a toothed sector along its entire length. This sector meshes with the gear of the reducer. In this design, the motor with a gearbox is movable and they are connected to the glass. That is, when turned on, the motor with a gearbox and glass begin to move relative to the rail.

Also, the design of the power windows includes a control mechanism, which is the usual buttons through which the electric motors are powered from the on-board network of the car.

If, in general, we consider the device for lifting the side windows, then in the cable type with a mechanical drive there are very few components that can fail. The first of these is the cable itself. Over time, it stretches, from the effects of corrosion, its threads can break, which will lead to wedging, or it can break altogether. Excessive forces can damage the gearbox itself.

But in general, such a mechanism is quite reliable, it rarely breaks down and for its maintenance it is enough to coat all its elements just once a year.