Power window repair

Three things move your window, and each fails differently.

The switch is the button in your door. When it goes, the window usually stops responding from that button but still works from the driver's master switch, or the other way round. It is the cheapest of the three and the easiest to test.

The motor is what drives the mechanism. A failing motor often sounds slow, laboured or intermittent before it stops altogether, and sometimes you hear it running with nothing moving.

The regulator is the track and arm assembly the glass is bolted to. When a regulator breaks you usually hear a bang or a grinding noise and the glass drops into the door. On many vehicles the motor and regulator are sold as one unit.

We test rather than guess. Power at the switch, power at the motor, whether the motor runs when the regulator does not move, and whether the glass moves freely by hand once it is disconnected.

That matters because the parts are not interchangeable in price or in labour, and replacing the wrong one is a wasted visit for both of us. We tell you what failed and why before we fit anything.

Nothing at all from one button, but it works from the driver's side: usually the switch.

A clicking sound with no movement: often the switch or a relay rather than the motor.

A slow or laboured window that eventually stops: usually the motor, sometimes a binding track.

A bang, then the glass drops into the door: almost always the regulator.

The window moves but is crooked or comes off its track: the regulator, or clips that have let go.

These are patterns, not a diagnosis. We still test before we replace.

If a regulator fails suddenly it can drop the glass hard enough to chip or break it. If that happened, we replace both in one visit rather than fitting new glass onto a mechanism that will break it again.

It works the other way as well. A window broken in a break-in leaves fragments in the door cavity that jam the track, so we vacuum the cavity out properly as part of the job.

There is no standard price, and we would rather say that than quote a number we cannot stand behind. A switch on a ten year old sedan and a motor and regulator assembly on a newer SUV are different jobs with very different parts.

What we will do is tell you what failed, what the part costs and what the labour is, before we order anything. Call us with the year, make, model and what the window is doing, and we will give you a range on the phone.

A window stuck down is an open car. If you cannot get it seen straight away, tell us when you call and we will advise on securing it. In many cases we can get the glass up and held in position as a temporary measure until the part arrives.

Workmanship is covered for the life of the repair, and it stays with the vehicle if you sell it. Parts carry the manufacturer's warranty and we handle that claim for you.