What the hell is causing my window motor to bang when I put it all the way up? Video

[roboman]

Last August, the driver side window motor in my 02 Ranger died, so I bought a new Dorman motor/regulator combo from AutoZone, installed it myself, and all was well. Then around December, I had put the window up one day and when it got to the top it just let out a "bang" like you hear in the video as if something was releasing with a lot of force inside the door. I took the inside door fascia off a few weeks later and discovered that 2/4 rivets were broken and the other two were still holding on but just floating. I bought the largest rivets I could find at the hardware store (3/16"), installed them, yet the regulator would still "bang" once you got all the way to the top. It only does it all the way up - not all the way down or anywhere inbetween. I found online just tonight that you can buy 1/4" "window regulator rivets" which certainly would help keep everything fastened better, but I am still pissed off and frustrated at what is causing the bang. It was a process to replace the motor/regulator so I'm weary of having to take it out to look at something, but I'm also sick of the dreadful sound and want to take care of it.

Any thoughts?

 

[xlt03]

Sounds like something is misaligned. Check that the cable is not jumping off the guide wheels. It could be that rivets are not holding up. I used nuts and bolts instead with some loctite. Make sure the bolt is not too long. Most of us don't have a rivet gun that big and resort to nuts and bolts.

 

[BigRondo]

I embedded the video into your post for you.

Good luck getting it sorted.

Please keep us posted as feedback helps others reading this post looking for a fix to the same or similar issue!

 

[roboman]

Thanks! I was a member of a vBulletin forum 6 or 7 years ago and used to remember how to type the code for that, but it seems to have slipped through the cracks in my brain.

I ended up putting a couple new rivets in just to hold everything together and keep the window closed since I park outside (that are still too small - I need to buy the bigger ones as a mentioned) and they proved that they were not the problem. If I hold the switch down once it gets to the top, the bang will be continuous. It is well over 300 beats per minute and sounds like a machine gun. I don't know if I'll have time for it next weekend or not, but if I do, I'll probably take the whole thing out and look at it. Thankfully if it's nothing that I can fix or if there are parts I'd have to pay for, it's covered under a lifetime warranty from AutoZone so that's where I'll be off to for a whole replacement. I'll also make sure to keep everyone here updated since I know updates on other issues have helped me out a ton in the past!

 

[rocco123]

I have a rear pass side window doing the same thing. Just started a couple days ago ( that I know of). Still need to look into it

 

[roboman]

Have you replaced anything inside the door recently? Part of me is wondering if one of the broken rivets somehow made their way to a part of the regulator that they shouldn't be. I'll obviously be able to see that when I can remove the whole thing and take a look at it.

 

[roboman]

Okay so it's been a couple weeks now, but for the sake of posterity here is my update. I had put my window down mid-way one day, and when I put it back up, it immediately started banging and would not move up. With my luck, we had thunderstorms in the forecast for that evening so I pushed and pushed and pushed while holding down the button. Eventually it stopped banging and all I could hear was the motor run in either direction for as long as I held the button. Pissed off since the window was still 1/3 of the way down, I called AutoZone to get the replacement motor/regulator coming so that I could swap it right away. Did that, got the new kit, took the old one out, and everything looked fine. Somehow the motor and regulator gears had become misaligned in the middle between fully up and fully down, and I have have no clue why. I was able to figure out that the motor was not aligned properly with the rivets I originally had in there that were too small, and the banging was caused by the regulator moving too far. I ran to the hardware store and decided to try some 1/4" bolts that were 1/2" long with lock nuts since they were easy to get. I was only able to get 3 of the 4 to fit the bracket, but I got them super tight and have zero fear that they will loosen up. Window now works GREAT with no banging.