Power Window Motor Replacement?

[Dano58]

Any BTDT's on this? My son's Impreza passenger window stopped working
- no motor sound at all. haven't had a chance to look at it, and since
the driver's side works fine I am assuming it's not a fuse. How hard
is it to replace the motor?

TIA

Dan D
'99 Impreza 2.5 RS (son's)
Central NJ USA

 

[NHYankBoy]

Any BTDT's on this? My son's Impreza passenger window stopped working
- no motor sound at all. haven't had a chance to look at it, and since
the driver's side works fine I am assuming it's not a fuse. How hard
is it to replace the motor?

TIA

Dan D
'99 Impreza 2.5 RS (son's)
Central NJ USA

Are you sure its the motor, or could it be the switch? The switch on
the driver door of my 2000 Legacy wagon now works intermittently (I
probably spelled that wrong). To replace it I have to replace the
whole arm wrest assembly for $500. I will try to go the junk yard
route.

 

[Robert Rubenstein]

Big assumption here. Maybe a loose wire? Open up the door and check it
out. Need a diagnosis before working on the cure.

 

[S]

Hi Dan!

Any BTDT's on this? My son's Impreza passenger window stopped working
- no motor sound at all. haven't had a chance to look at it, and since
the driver's side works fine I am assuming it's not a fuse. How hard
is it to replace the motor?

TIA

Dan D
'99 Impreza 2.5 RS (son's)
Central NJ USA

It's a PITA, but do-able w/o special tools or anything. You'll
probably end up replacing the whole regulator assy, as that's what
you're gonna get from the salvage yard. Then you'll need to adjust the
window alignment as well. Email, and I'll see if I can find that
section of the FSM and send it along.

Before you rip into it tho, I'd check the master switch (driver's
side), as that is a common failure item. Probably the easiest way to
check, unless you have a known-good switch, is to pull the door panel
on the passenger side and attempt to power the motor directly. Use a
12V source and some test leads with pointy probe ends to poke thru the
insulation of the wires feeding the regulator. If the motor works from
here. you'll know it's a switch issue, plus you can get the window
into the up position this way if you don't feel like tackling the job
right away.

FWIW, a decent yard will generally let you "borrow" a switch to test
the circuit, on the assumption that you're gonna buy it (or a
regulator) if it fixes the problem. Having the original already out
and the plug exposed will facilitate this procedure. I seem to recall
that you could pop the switch out w/o removing the door panel on the
earlier Impreza's, but don't know about the 99's. Try gently prying up
at front and back with a butter knife or something.

Hope this helps. Ummmm, BTDT?

ByeBye! S.

Steve Jernigan KG0MB
Laboratory Manager
Microelectronics Research
University of Colorado
(719) 262-3101

 

[Dano58]

Thanks for the replies.

Robert - you're right, I AM assuming without having checked it out.
It's too dang cold out! Fortunately, the window is up, so no biggie on
waiting until it warms up a bit.....

Steve - BTDT = 'been there, done that'... ;-)

When it warms up, I will check the switches for sure, and see if that
might be the issue. I haven't done ANY investigating as of yet -
haven't even checked the fuse, although I'm sure that's not the issue
since the d/s window works. But have to go through the process..... It
may well be a loose wore, as we did remove the door panel a few months
ago when we were installing new speakers. But the window worked after
that. The motor has always been much slower than the d/s, which led me
to believe it was the culprit. I do have a CD manual for the car but
didn't have access to it when I queried yesterday.

Thanks again for the suggestions.

Dan D
'99 Impreza 2.5 RS (son's)
Central NJ USA

 

[jim shooz]

Thanks for the replies.

Robert - you're right, I AM assuming without having checked it out.
It's too dang cold out! Fortunately, the window is up, so no biggie on
waiting until it warms up a bit.....

Steve - BTDT = 'been there, done that'... ;-)

When it warms up, I will check the switches for sure, and see if that
might be the issue. I haven't done ANY investigating as of yet -
haven't even checked the fuse, although I'm sure that's not the issue
since the d/s window works. But have to go through the process..... It
may well be a loose wore, as we did remove the door panel a few months
ago when we were installing new speakers. But the window worked after
that. The motor has always been much slower than the d/s, which led me
to believe it was the culprit. I do have a CD manual for the car but
didn't have access to it when I queried yesterday.

Thanks again for the suggestions.

Dan D
'99 Impreza 2.5 RS (son's)
Central NJ USA

I had a similar problem on the R R door of a 91 Legacy and once I had
proven it was the motor that was faulty got the whole assembly from a
wrecker. Bit of a struggle to remove the old assembly but no matter how
I tried I could not get the new one in the door and facing the right
direction. (insert lots of swearing and bloodied knuckles)

Eventually got the local body shop to do it. Cost me a dozen of beer.

 

[Uncle Ben]

Any BTDT's on this? My son's Impreza passenger window stopped working
- no motor sound at all. haven't had a chance to look at it, and since
the driver's side works fine I am assuming it's not a fuse. How hard
is it to replace the motor?

TIA

Dan D
'99 Impreza 2.5 RS (son's)
Central NJ USA

Reminds me of the time the driver's window would go down but not up.
(Don't ask.) The local Subaru shop wanted $500 to replace the motor
and the "regulator", whatever that is.

I figured that if the door works one way, it should work the other
way. I dug out the switch from the door, managed to get it open,
scrubbed and scraped the blackened contacts back to bare metal, and
put it back together.

Worked fine and still does a year later. I've never been back to that
shop again and never will.

I learned this trick right here on a.a.subaru, but I don't remember
who posted it.

Uncle Ben