My 2003 Pontiac Vibe (out of warrenty) has a drivers side window problem. As I was putting it up yesterday (electronic controls) I heard a loud noise and the window came out of its track, and became wobbly. I could successfully put it all the way up by guiding it with one hand while I held the switch, but when putting it back down, it once again came out of the track in the door, and would tilt, down towards the engine side. Once again, I could successfully re-track it and put it up by using my hand. Once up, it seems to be firmly in place and normal. Optimistically, I am hoping it is simpy off it’s track inside the door, rather than having something broken. Is there any easy way to put it back on its guide without removing the inner door panel, and if not, can anyone guide me to where an illustrated account of fixing it my be located on the web?
When the window is down and tilted forward, do you see a small hole in the glass near the back where it would ride in the verticle track? This is where a plastic guide goes. It might have broken off and is now stuck in the track. Use a light and look. Goto a parts store and buy the part and ask if they know how it fits. If they don’t, look at it really good and you can figure it out(I hope). Careful and pry the broken part out the track, snap the new one in the hole and push back into the track.
Good luck.
I don’t see any hole in the glass.
You need a Shop Manual for your particular Make & Model.
As an alternate one for a very similar model with details of getting into the door and how the window mechanism is set up.
With that information you may be able to correct the problem short of taking off the inside panel(s) which is a bit of a pia.
First off Do not continue to operate the window
Then to repair it will be necessary to remove the inner door panel, and access the window regulator. At that point you can assess the problem and gather the required parts.
Why stop using the window? Depending on what is wrong in there, you can tie the window regulator into a knot, bending the arms till they are useless if you keep running the window.
**Warning! Window regulator work is a pain in the ass, and not to be entered into lightly. Various bad things can happen working on window regulators such as:
Broken door panels (If you take it off wrong, you can destroy it.)
Blood (There can be very sharp edges in doors)
Impossible to see what you are doing.
You might wind up breaking the window.
The same thing happened with my 98 Civic Si, last winter… twice.
I had to open up the door panel, and re-adjust the front track the window slides in… once I popped the window back in place… the second time, it only took about 20 minutes or so to do the job… hasn’t done it since…
knocking on wood
Someone here at work just told me that he once had a similar problem, and what he did was roll the window halfway down, grab and pull up on the loose end (nearest the engine in both our cases) and was able to re-insert it without much difficulty. Anyone else have experience with this?