Eunos Roadster "Slow" Power Windows fix
The power windows of my Eunos have from the very first year been a great disappointment as they were slow in winding either up or down. Since the whine of the motors was quite alarming, I tried lubricating the window tracks and cable capstans a few times, using all sorts of lubricants including graphite grease (absolute crap as it blackens everything and slows the windows down even more) to no avail, as they could only temporarily alleviate the problem or worsen it (in the case of graphite grease).Therefore, last weekend I decided to try and remove the glass from
the regulator assembly in order to see whether there was anything
obstructing the window guides. The procedure is simple and is performed
as follows:
- Remove the door pull by unscrewing the three screws (two at the
bottom and one at the top of the door pull, concealed under a plastic
cap, which needs to be removed using a flat screwdriver.
2. Slide
the door lock knob to the “lock” position, unscrew the screw found
underneath it with a Phillips head screwdriver and remove the door lock
pod.
3. Remove the door panel by gently pulling on the edges of the
vinyl-covered interior board until the clips snap off the door shell.
Once you are done with the door clips, carefully lift the door panel
upwards and away, releasing it from the door shell. For those with
tweeters mounted on the door panels, do not yank the panel off, as it
may sever the wire harness. Disconnect the tweeter wires.
4. Slowly
and carefully remove the nylon that seals the door shell, being careful
not to get any of the black gunk onto your hands or clothes. The thing
never dries up, is impossible to clean off clothes, and once you get it
onto your hands you must go through all sorts of improvised (and thus
painful) cleaning procedures only short of chopping your hands off for
convenience. Depending on the spec package of your Miata, you might have
to remove some hardware to avoid ripping the nylon apart (i.e. the
inside door lock mechanism, power door lock actuators). Once the nylon
is removed, you should have access to the innards of the door shell, and
regulator assembly.
5. Looking at the side of the door, where the
lock mechanism that latches onto the car frame is (it is the same
location that the tire pressure sticker is situated) you will see a
small black plastic clip at the top that fastens the edge of the plastic
window weather-stripping onto the door. Carefully pry that off using a
flat screwdriver and pliers and then gently pull the weather-stripping
up and away from the door, taking care not to break any of the remaining
plastic clips that fasten it to the door.
6. Turn the ignition key
to start, and wind the window down about 1/3 of the way, to reveal the
three screws that attach the glass to the regulator assembly. Unscrew
all three using a Phillips head screwdriver or a 10mm socket wrench in
case they are too tight (you may need to move the window up or down to
enable you to unscrew all three).
7. Wind the window down halfway,
and unscrew both window stops (these are the white round capstans
attached to the glass on either side of the forward power window track).
You are now ready to remove the door glass from the door.
8. Whilst
holding on to the glass firmly (remember you are about to remove the
thing don’t let go of it otherwise it might fall out of the window
tracks and break) tilt it a bit to the back (pull the rear side of the
glass up and rearwards whilst winding the window up to remove its
forward edge from the front window frame) and carefully wind it up all
the way and lift it out of the door shell.
9. Have a good look at
the tracks to see if there are any visible obstructions in the tracks
(in my case there were a couple of mashed leaves and the remains of a
rather unfortunate lizard (!!!) caught in there). If you cannot see
anything, then try and feel the tracks for any obstructions using your
fingers. Once the tracks are cleaned, you can apply a bit of lithium
grease to the tracks and cable capstans, a process that is much easier
now that the glass is gone.
10. Check that the rear white Teflon
guide (this guide goes into the rear window track) attached to the
window is not damaged, broken or disfigured. In my case (on both doors)
the rear guide was disfigured (i.e. it was warped and looked more like a
crooked donut than a flat disc as I am sure it looked like when
installed at the factory 6 years ago). There are two choices available
to repair the problem. The first one entails going down to your local
Mazda dealership and making them richer by buying two new rear window
guides and replacing them (a rather cumbersome procedure) or reuse the
old ones after, of course, performing a bit of “cosmetic surgery” to
them. Replacing the window guide is rather cumbersome and entails taking
a risk of breaking the glass if the right precautions are not taken.
11.
For those who never chose the easy way out in their lives: First, the
glass around the window guide where you will be working, should be
covered with some army tape to prevent it from being scratched in case
your pliers slide off the rear washer whilst holding it fast. Next, the
rear washer should be sprayed with some penetrating oil to loosen the
bolt, which will almost certainly have seized from dirt and exposure to
the elements. After allowing the penetrating oil to take effect, use
safety pin removal pliers (insert the two tips of the pliers into the
holes on the washer) to hold the washer onto the back of the window
guide, whilst using a star wrench (T40) to unscrew the bolt. Make sure
your movements are slow and precise as any mistake could cause the glass
to crack or shatter. Once the bolt has been removed, replace the window
guide and reassemble in reverse order. Ensure that the bolt is not
overtightened as this will most certainly break the glass.
12. The
simplest, cheapest and most effective solution in my opinion is the one I
have chosen to adopt, which was to perform some “cosmetic surgery” to
my disfigured window guides. This will work ONLY if your window guides
are not cracked or broken. Looking at the top of the window guide, you
will see a narrow raised ring on either side, which I presume is for
eliminating any play in the window guide/track assembly. Since my window
guide was not so disfigured or cracked in any way to render it
unusable, I decided to “carve” the raised ring off both faces of the
guide, thereby smoothing the surface and making the guide thinner, to
enable it to move with less friction in the window track. This was done
using a sharp blade, and there was no need to remove the window guide
from the glass.
13. After the fix is performed, the window is
reassembled in the reverse way to disassembly. In order to make you
windows wind up and down faster, once the glass is mounted onto the
regulator assembly, loosen the bolts (not too much, just enough to allow
the assembly to move) that hold the regulator assembly onto the door
shell as well as the bolts that hold the rear window track onto the door
shell. Lower the window halfway down, and tighten the bolts of the
assemblies that you loosened before in the place where the window pushes
them after ensuring that the window is running straight in its guides. I
have tried tightening the bolts in different positions, including the
position where the window was wound fully up, but found that adjusting
the regulator in the middle position allows the glass to move more
freely.
14. Finally, replace the door shell nylon, the door panel and door pull in reverse order to disassembly.
15.
Repeat the procedure for the passenger side window. It is worth
mentioning that the passenger side window guide was warped exactly like
the driver side.