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Preface: blah blah, not responsible for anything that doesn't go right, blah blah.
History: Recently, while rolling up my window, the window motor made a horrendous clunk. when I played with the window switch, my window came crashing down... leaving me without a way to keep the window rolled up and the car safe.
So, I took apart the door, removed the regulator, and noticed the cable had snapped from the metal bracket that bolts to the window. Figuring everything else worked, I went to the local bike store, bought a brake cable, swapped out both of the old OEM cables with the new bike cables, and I have a working window again. Window regulators, on the used market are going for $100-$200 (and not guaranteed to work for more than a few days), new is $250-ish. A brake cable for a bike is $4 for two cables.
Parts needed:
- brake cable. Bring your old cable to match up. I got mine for $1.99/ea for about 6'. You'll need two.
Tools needed:
- Phillips screwdriver
- flathead screwdriver
- 10mm socket or wrench
- 12mm socket (needed for the window bracket that holds the window in place)
- vice-grips
- Wire cutters or dremel
- Dremel/file
Steps for removing the window regulator:
1. Remove inner door handle release (phillips screwdriver)
2. Remove covers for door pull (flathead or fingernail)
3. Remove screws for door pull (phillips screwdriver)
4. Pull/pry door card from door at the bottom of the door. There are plastic clips that hold it to the door at the bottom. There's also a small one near the mirror
5. Remove power window/lock connection (flathead screwdriver helps)
6. Remove plastic covering
7. On the top of the door, near the back of the door, loosen these two 12mm bolts. These do not need to be removed (12mm socket/wrench)
8. Raise the window near the top of the door, and remove the three 12mm bolts from the access holes within the door frame (12mm socket)
9. Tint the window downwards towards the rear of the car and pull the window out, avoiding the window catches that you loosened at step 7.
10. Remove the top two 12mm nuts (12mm socket/wrench)
11. Remove the lower two 12mm nuts at the bottom of the door, slight forward of the top two. They will be next to two 10mm bolts (12mm socket/wrench)
12. Loose the three 10mm bolts for the window motor (10mm socket/wrench).
13. Slide the window motor rearwards and pop it out of it's holes. While doing this, push the lower two studs for the regulator out, and the top two studs will fall down.
14. Remove the entire assembly thru the access hole in the rear lower section of the door.
Steps for replacing cable (for photos: http://forums.clubrsx.com/showthread.php?t=779940)
1. Place assembly on a workbench/table and note the cable layout. The longer cable sheath should be on top (to raise the window up), the shorter on bottom (to help lower the window)
2. The window motor has a metal covering, remove this by prying on the tabs with a flathead screwdriver.
3. Once removed, you'll see the cable reel. It's likely got cables all over the place. Remove the cable reel by lifting it out of the motor with a flathead screwdriver or other means. Its not glued/bolted in, just sits over a gear in that casing.
4. Remove the OEM cables.
5. Now the tricky part. The bike cables with the blocked ends, need to fit into the cable reel. Most likely than not, you'll need to shape them to fit. This is where the dremel/file comes into place. File the cables down until they fit into the blocked portions within the cable reel.
6. Once down, the second trickiest part. Routing the cables. The part of the cable reel that faces the gear on the window motor is the LOWER cable for the window and vice versa. What I found the easiest was, route the lower cable thru 70% of the reel and out thru the upper section of the motor.
7. Now, route the upper cable around the reel until you almost run into the other cable. They should create an X at some point.
8. Push the cable reel back into the motor and route the cables out the corresponding plastic junction.
9. Reinstall the metal covering on the motor.
10. Route the cable sheathing over the new cables, insuring you install the spring, then the plastic tip, and finally the sheathing, in that order. The longer sheath should be for the cable the raises the window.
11. With the window regulator, set the window bracket to the very bottom of the regulator, and route your cables around the regulator guides and lay loose on the window bracket.
12. With the vice grips, clamp the lower cable against the regulator, so that the cable sheathing is compressing the spring against the window motor. Make sure there's only minimum left for the spring to compress. With that, mark the cable, as you'll need to trim it so the cable is long enough to fit into the plastic piece in the window bracket.
13. repeat this for the upper cable.
14. Now, you have two options, crimping a cable crimp onto the cables and routing it. Or, doing what I did, put a bead of weld on the end of the cables. Both will work.
15. Connect the window motor to your car and test. The cable springs and plastic tips should never come out of the window motor, if they do, you'll need to shorten the cables. If you get can full range of the regulator, reinstall into the car and test with the window before putting the door card on. I tested it about 20-25 times before I was satisfied.
Overall, it took me about 2 hours to do. If I had to do it again, it'll be an hour. The most time was spent shaping the cable ends for the cable reel. Removing/installing the window regulator takes all of 15minutes, including door card removal.
Reviving this because it was a lifesaver for me! With a used regulator at 180 bucks and the supplies to DIY this one at 12 on eBay, it was a no brainer. Like a lot of auto parts, it doesn’t make sense to replace the entire assemble for just a broken component. This is working awesome for now, and hopefully for a long time to come! Thanks for the write-up!
1. I used some portions of metal hose clamp (think running the cable between the small metal slats) as makeshift “washers” in order to get the cable ends to make full contact with their respective locations in the spool and the part that directly raises/lowers the window. Rather than using a bead of weld as in this thread, I just used a aluminum crimped end typically used for bike brakes etc. I used the crimped end around the spool, as less direct force will be placed on that end, versus the end connected to the clip directly raising the window. I have more confidence in the end of the cable that was pre-welded to be used on the end of the cable experiencing more force.
2. The cable tension needs to be basically to the MAX in order for the window to go up and down properly. There is a way to route all of the cable properly and maintain full tension, and that is by leaving one of the springs and blue plastic cable covers detached near the white plastic “X”. It is designed such that one can route the cable around all pulleys and have maximum tension in the cables, before sliding the blue plastic portion and spring into the “X” clip at the end. By studying the two cables leaving the white plastic “X”, it is pretty easy to determine which can be left disconnected until this step. I believe it was the side going to the lower side of the window, but cannot say for sure. One would need to put the metal cover over the spool and clip after this is done.
Update! This failed on me shortly after doing it. What happened was the crimped end wasn't holding onto the cable very well. One method to resolve this would be the bead of weld as mentioned in the original post. What I did however, is the cut the end of a new crimp off, so that you could stick the cable through it, and loop it around a second time before crimping. Hopefully this time it holds for good! Another pointer is when installing this again my window went up very very slowly... I initially thought this was due to excessive tension, but it turns out it was because the window regulator bolts at the top were tightened too close to the inside of the car. This caused scraping against the window seals and slowed the movement down considerably. When the regulator bolts were tightened while being pressed further to the outside of the car, the window now moves just like new! Or at least like my other old one
I've got to replace my drivers side regulator at some point this season. The auto down function stopped working. There is a TSB. It is a common problem that was covered under warranty - but no more. I could live with it I suppose. But I decided to fix it. I have the part. I'm not looking forward to the job. If anyone has any pearls of wisdom to share other then what is in this thread let me know. There is also a somewhat cryptic set of instructions in the shop manual. Here is the TSB.
I’m sure you’ve completed this by now, but for anyone else….
My passenger window failed, and I could hear the motor turning but no motion on the window…
So I opened up the door panel and found that the cable had snapped. I ordered a set of replacement cables and cable winding wheel on eBay for like $50. They were perfectly sized and manufactured as stock.
No big pearls of wisdom other than the way I assembled the new cables and then connected them to the frame.
The kit comes with a new winding wheel, “y”, cables, springs, and spring retainers. I assembled all these pieces outside of the motor assembly and frame first, then placed them into the motor assembly and held the cover on the motor assembly with a clamp (see below). Next I attached the cable ends to the cable retainer on the frame. It took a bit of trial and error to get the right amount of cable on the winding wheel such that the cable ends reached the retainer properly. I think I left 1 loop off the winding wheel. Finally, I looped one of the cables over its pulley, and then compressed the springs and looped the other cable over its pulley. It was definitely tricky, but it worked perfectly. You’ll see in the pic below the lower cable is NOT yet over the pulley, and the springs are not compressed.
[QUOTE=trpltongue;24885865]I’m sure you’ve completed this by now, but for anyone else….
My passenger window failed, and I could hear the motor turning but no motion on the window…
So I opened up the door panel and found that the cable had snapped. I ordered a set of replacement cables and cable winding wheel on eBay for like $50. They were perfectly sized and manufactured as stock.
No big pearls of wisdom other than the way I assembled the new cables and then connected them to the frame.
The kit comes with a new winding wheel, “y”, cables, springs, and spring retainers. I assembled all these pieces outside of the motor assembly and frame first, then placed them into the motor assembly and held the cover on the motor assembly with a clamp (see below). Next I attached the cable ends to the cable retainer on the frame. It took a bit of trial and error to get the right amount of cable on the winding wheel such that the cable ends reached the retainer properly. I think I left 1 loop off the winding wheel. Finally, I looped one of the cables over its pulley, and then compressed the springs and looped the other cable over its pulley. It was definitely tricky, but it worked perfectly. You’ll see in the pic below the lower cable is NOT yet over the pulley, and the springs are not compressed.
Maybe this helps someone in the future?
[/Q
my cables measured 32 1/2" and 32 1/8" i needed only to replace the longer cable and it fit perfectly. my cable snapped when my window was down. in the future i'm not going to leave all the way down. i'll bring it up 1/2" to take tension off the cable.
I had re-greased the whole mechanism at my Honda del Sol while i was working at the door for a speaker upgrade. Moly grease on the rail and the bearings of the window holder, silicone spray and grease for the cables. What ever you use, it should be oudourles. The windows worked much faster and more silent afterwards. I think its not a bad idea to lube this parts every now and then, it will ease the life of the cable. It´s on my to-do list for this year.
If you need a cable, there are cable shops around for motorcyclees and bicycles, they could (re)produce every cable with every connector you want.
Hi Driven and Reneau,
This is a coincidence as the passenger door window just went down today and the cable end that lifts the window has broken off. Your instructions came at the right time.
Today I got the assembly together, mostly with Reneau's advice. Knowing how it goes together is key, because the two small springs have to be completely compressed for the second blue plastic piece to go down into the slot, completing the assembly. The two sides are mirror images of each other and those parts are not interchangeable.
Larry
Last edited by larry resnick; 02-13-2022 at 10:08 AM.
Reason: With a replacemet cable for the one that broke, I assembled it.
11-17-2014, 08:59 PM
DIY Replacing Window Regulator Cable
