What caused this window regulator failure?

P38 Monkey · Jan 5, 2022

P38 1997 4.0SE ex-Japan. I generally like to find out what caused a fault rather than just replace the item.
Working my way through the faults-on-delivery of my Japanese P38, the previous owner(s) toolkits consisting entirely of a pair of mole grips and a ball pein hammer.
The front LH (passenger) window has never worked, and taking off the door card showed why (pic attached).
The main panel has a major split, and the scissors mechanism is bent.
Anybody had this problem before?
Any thoughts as to why it might have happened?

biketeacherdave · Jan 5, 2022

Common failure point on the p38 it's just metal fatigue due to stress points

Datatek · Jan 5, 2022

biketeacherdave said:
Common failure point on the p38 it's just metal fatigue due to stress points

as above ^^^^^^

marjon · Jan 5, 2022

Yep had it

A quick squirt of hot wire and it’s been fine

.

J

tomcat59alan · Jan 5, 2022

Common problem, when you strip the regulator out make sure the window lifts and lowers freely in its guides.

kermit_rr · Jan 5, 2022

I need to sort mine out

the glass rotates back and forth causing it to bind

can't see why

tomcat59alan · Jan 5, 2022

kermit_rr said:
I need to sort mine out the glass rotates back and forth causing it to bind can't see why

Worn guides or needs adjusting.

kermit_rr · Jan 5, 2022

tomcat59alan said:
Worn guides or needs adjusting.

I'll guess at the guides then, assume that means glass and regulator out? I hate jobs like that, makes an engine rebuild look simples!

tomcat59alan · Jan 5, 2022

kermit_rr said:
I'll guess at the guides then, assume that means glass and regulator out? I hate jobs like that, makes an engine rebuild look simples!

Bit of silicon spray on the guides and with the door card off you can adjust the front guide frame to take any sloppyness out of the glass fit.

kermit_rr · Jan 5, 2022

tomcat59alan said:
Bit of silicon spray on the guides and with the door card off you can adjust the front guide frame to take any sloppyness out of the glass fit.

Had the card off before, couldn't see any adjustment

must look harder. Again

tomcat59alan · Jan 5, 2022

kermit_rr said:
Had the card off before, couldn't see any adjustment must look harder. Again

Nut and bolt at the bottom of the front guide rail slacken it off and you can move the rail forward or backwards,drop the window halfway down and hold it with wedges.

tomcat59alan · Jan 5, 2022

tomcat59alan said:
Nut and bolt at the bottom of the front guide rail slacken it off and you can move the rail forward or backwards,drop the window halfway down and hold it with wedges.

When I replaced my regulator I beefed up the pathetic spot welds on the new one as that's where the old one failed.

P38 Monkey · Jan 5, 2022

wow, top class feedback and info as ever - thanks guys...

Rubberknees · Jan 5, 2022

I had all the rivets fail, infact came out. Replaced with a self tapper with bolt head, cured the problem

brianp38dse · Jan 5, 2022

tomcat59alan said:
When I replaced my regulator I beefed up the pathetic spot welds on the new one as that's where the old one failed.

Those spot welds are rubbish, mine broke on the spot welds so i drilled them out and put some nice high tensile bolts through as i could not be arsed to dig the welder out

tomcat59alan · Jan 6, 2022

Rubberknees said:
I had all the rivets fail, infact came out. Replaced with a self tapper with bolt head, cured the problem

Stupid idea,the rivets eventually work loose then shear off I drilled mine out and replaced them with nuts and bolts to make it easy for the next time.

kermit_rr · Jan 6, 2022

tomcat59alan said:
Stupid idea,the rivets eventually work loose then shear off I drilled mine out and replaced them with nuts and bolts to make it easy for the next time.

could be why my passenger door rattles

tomcat59alan · Jan 6, 2022

kermit_rr said:
could be why my passenger door rattles

Probably.

dubbleRR · Jan 6, 2022

Many years ago ,A car that was in a parade had the passenger hanging out, sitting on the top of the door glass and bent the scissor bit and broke a plastic window guide,all because the window was not all the way down when it was sat on

.........

tomcat59alan · Jan 6, 2022

dubbleRR said:
Many years ago ,A car that was in a parade had the passenger hanging out, sitting on the top of the door glass and bent the scissor bit and broke a plastic window guide,all because the window was not all the way down when it was sat on .........

We know a story about a radiator that met the same fate don't we @synchro .

What caused this window regulator failure?

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