Oh Oh... Driver Side Window

O

oo7ml

Active member
I was driving along last night and i went to put down my driver side window... all of a sudden out of now where... the window started to make grinding sounds and the window suddenly came to a halt (when it was half way down). I tried to put it back up and it kept jamming and making the grinding noise. It sounded like small pebbles were caught between the window and the door.

I finally managed to get it back up (by pulling the window up manually along with using the button)

Has anyone ever experienced this before... any help would be greatly appreciated, thanks in advance...
 
Almost certainly the window regulator has gone. If you pull the door card off I'm sure you'll find a ragged wire wrapped around things.

A few have had this go and ther are posts about it.

Pull the door card off first for a looksee
 
Thanks CJ... are they self replaceable / expensive? I will search the forum now for the info, Thanks again for your help
 
oo7ml said:
Thanks CJ... are they self replaceable / expensive? I will search the forum now for the info, Thanks again for your help
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can be done relatively easily yourself.. and from a dealer they weigh in at £147 inc vat, as of this week.

(Oh.. and welcome to the club :()
 
oo7ml said:
Cool, thanks for the advice... not a very reliable car for such a high profile car
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Window regulators will go on any brand or type of car so not sure this sweeping statement is fair or accurate. Personally I think they are more prone to going in the Z4 due to the air seal window drop/rise that they perform everytime the door is opened/closed. This will undoubtedly put more pressure on a working part and it will fail sooner.
 
I did mine not so long ago.... was relatively easy probably took me 2 hrs or so in total. Best to have somebody to help you and get the instructions from BMW TIS (I can email you them if you want).

I got the part from Joe @ Sopers (see this thread: http://www.z4-forum.com/forum/viewtopic.php?f=2&t=16592) came in at just over £100 delivered.

Ali
 
3.0 Si Anderson said:
oo7ml said:
Cool, thanks for the advice... not a very reliable car for such a high profile car
Click to expand...


Window regulators will go on any brand or type of car so not sure this sweeping statement is fair or accurate. Personally I think they are more prone to going in the Z4 due to the air seal window drop/rise that they perform everytime the door is opened/closed. This will undoubtedly put more pressure on a working part and it will fail sooner.
Click to expand...

I tend to agree with 007 on this one, this has been reported far too many times on here, and while the Z4 is not the only car these go on, BMW in general have lots of these go across their entire range. For something as simple as putting up and down the window you would not expect it to be a regular event that these fail. The fact that so many go inside 3-5 years means the products was substandard to begin with.
 
I am not sure of the business persona in the car industry but could it be a case that some manufacturers purposely build cars with certain parts that only have a particular life span... this would then generate further revenue in the line of parts for the company.

I do know that a particular computer manufacturer purposely fit a weaker battery in their laptops if the customer does not buy the extended warranty from them.

Then again, this type of practice in the car industry could actually damage a company's reputation in terms of reliability... would be interesting to know if their is any truth in what i am saying...
 
sp3ctre said:
3.0 Si Anderson said:
oo7ml said:
Cool, thanks for the advice... not a very reliable car for such a high profile car
Click to expand...


Window regulators will go on any brand or type of car so not sure this sweeping statement is fair or accurate. Personally I think they are more prone to going in the Z4 due to the air seal window drop/rise that they perform everytime the door is opened/closed. This will undoubtedly put more pressure on a working part and it will fail sooner.
Click to expand...

I tend to agree with 007 on this one, this has been reported far too many times on here, and while the Z4 is not the only car these go on, BMW in general have lots of these go across their entire range. For something as simple as putting up and down the window you would not expect it to be a regular event that these fail. The fact that so many go inside 3-5 years means the products was substandard to begin with.
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As a BMW driver (s) we are also probably much more aware of it going on these cars and it is not generally something that you discuss when out with your mates who may own other marques. This debate is not dis-similar to the rear spring one that generally pops up here every other day. My Dad has owned his own Indy Garage for over 30 years and to be honest he sees window regulator issues and rear spring problems on a weekly basis from all brands of cars - they appear to be pretty crap across the board (the spring issue is definatley worse with the advent of speed bumps everywhere). I personally stand by the fact that the fact that BMW has many cars that do not have their windows framed and as such having the air seal drop has an impact on the longevity of this part.

Bearing in mind 007ml's car is 03 he has done alright.

PS Mine went 3 months ago - 06 Coupe!!
 
3.0 Si Anderson said:
PS Mine went 3 months ago - 06 Coupe!!
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Same here buddy 56 Coupe!!! Its a poor design though...the wire looks like it could easily get tangled on something and thus snap. But like you say I am sure it happens regularly on other cars!!
 
3.0 Si Anderson said:
I personally stand by the fact that the fact that BMW has many cars that do not have their windows framed and as such having the air seal drop has an impact on the longevity of this part.
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Ok,the debate over whether other cars have this issue or not aside, it's not exactly a rocket-science part... it's not like it is a clutch or an engine component. It doesn't take a hammering really and as such I don't feel that it should be acceptable to expect the consumer to pay nearly £150 to BMW to have it replaced when it goes within 5 years.

Just because other cars are just as poor is not really an excuse for BMW, is it?
 
What are the chancse... the passenger side window regulator has now gone to... my friend was putting the window down at the weekend and all of a sudden we heard a "snap". The window went back up but it won't go back down again now... so much for the "Ultimate Driving Machine"...
 
I think it's due to the part not being lubricated, and it's under high torsion constantly.

But it's got nowt to do with the driving experience oo7ml; I had the best driving experience of my driving history this weekend gone, and that was had with my mate having to constantly pull up the passenger window so as to stop it dropping into the door completely (which he failed at miserably).

When you look at it, it's only £30 a year, which is no more than other parts that you end up replacing (exhaust, brake discs, window wipers, oil, etc).

meh :/
 
I have had windows regulator fail on almost all BMW's I owned (2 e46 + 1 e36). Didn't fail on my e39 and Z4 though, but I sold the z4 with just 21000 miles on it so maybe that is the reason. I used to have a really beat up Audi coupe (the only Audi I ever had) and I think window regulators were the only bits that didn't fail on that car, everything got replaced over 2 years of ownership.

Windows regulators seem to be one of the main things BMW can't seem to get right the other is suspension bushes.

Its typically easy DIY job though cant say about Z4.

Cheers

P.S. its typically passenger side that goes first, probably because the regulator doesn't get used as much as the driver side so it doesn't get lubricated.
 
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