How do i fix my car window?

October 12, 2007 3:19 PM

How do I jerry-rig my rear window to keep it from falling down?

I drive a '96 Honda Civic that's worked quite well for years. About 4 months ago however, my right rear window stopped working. At first, it simply didn't respond to the controlls, so I had to push it back up. As time wore on, it started falling down while driving. Now if i go over a bump, it falls all the way down, and I have to manually push it back up. I know I could take it to get repaired, but that costs money, and I'd much rather just open up the door and shove something in there to stop it from coming down at all. How do I go about opening the door up and what should I put where to keep the window from moving at all?

posted by Kraki to travel & transportation (11 comments total)

Put wooden shims between the glass and the door at the base of the window until super tight.
posted by The World Famous at 3:22 PM on October 12, 2007

The shims will work up to a point. If you don't mind being white trash, take some tape, run it up the top six inches of the outside of the glass, then over the door frame, then (tight) down the top six inches of the inside glass. Do this at three or four points. YOu could probably get away with using scotch tape so it doesn't show as much.
posted by notsnot at 3:33 PM on October 12, 2007

If you're willing to spend $15-20 on the Haynes/Chilton repair manual for your car (which any local auto parts store should have), you could figure out how to pull the interior panels off the door, get at the mechanism inside, and find a way to jam it shut from in there (which I suspect is what you want).

You're gonna need to open it up before you can figure out what's appropriate to jam it shut with, but I expect you'll find a convenient place to jam a piece of wood or something. Window lifters are pretty simple mechanisms. Heck, depending on what's wrong, you might even figure out how to fix it.
posted by CrayDrygu at 3:37 PM on October 12, 2007

Put crazy glue on the top edge and then push the window up so the crazy glue holds the windows to the top edge of the door frame.
posted by Brandon Blatcher at 4:06 PM on October 12, 2007

If you don't mind being white trash, take some tape, run it up the top six inches of the outside of the glass, then over the door frame, then (tight) down the top six inches of the inside glass. Do this at three or four points. YOu could probably get away with using scotch tape so it doesn't show as much.

Or if you don't mind putting a large sign on your car that says "Break in to my car here! You only need to break the tape!".

I second the Haynes Manual version. It is a cheap way of doing it (or google the instructions from a Civic Forum) and with a couple of screwdrivers you should be in there inside 20 minutes or so. A decent piece of wood or something to jam between the bottom of the window and the base of the door, and Bob is your Uncle...
posted by Brockles at 4:09 PM on October 12, 2007

The same thing happened to the driver's side rear window in my Focus last year (although my case it came about suddenly, with a loud *bang* and the sound of parts bouncing around inside the door). I pulled the door apart, removed the broken window regulator, and replaced it with a slightly modified broomstick secured with zip-ties to prevent slippage.

Getting the door apart was the trickiest part. I found reasonably helpful instructions just by Googling. Removing the regulator wasn't difficult, but it does involve working blind inside the door. Be careful not to let the window slam down, it could shatter, and then the whole repair becomes much more difficult and expensive.

The whole thing was supposed to be a temporary fix until I could get a new regulator ordered and installed, but a year later and it's still working just fine.
posted by indyz at 4:27 PM on October 12, 2007

Is it jerry-rig or jury-rig, I always thought it was gerrymander and jury-rig
ju·ry-rig [joor-ee-rig]
–noun
1. Nautical. a temporary rig to replace a permanent rig that has been disabled, lost overboard, etc.
2. any makeshift arrangement of machinery or the like.
posted by Gungho at 6:13 PM on October 12, 2007

haha, well i'm not sure if it is jury or gerry, or whatever. I have an uncle jerry that would always mcguyver things back together so i guess I've been calling it jerry-rigged in his honor.
posted by Kraki at 6:50 PM on October 12, 2007

A butter knife with a big handle kept the driver's window up in an old truck of mine for a couple years. Any shim will work fine.
posted by gally99 at 6:59 PM on October 12, 2007

I don't know if a wooden shim will hold the glass in place. You might try to get a couple of rubber door stops and cut them to fit your needs (by wedging them inbetween the glass and the base of the window like World Famous suggested) if you don't want to take off the door panel.

Another idea might be to get some clear caulk instead of super glue. That might work also and you could go back and remove the caulk if you decided to fix it correctly. If none of this works maybe you could shoot Uncle Jerry an email and see what he suggests.
posted by bkeene12 at 7:27 PM on October 12, 2007

If you can get the interior door panel off, I'd bet it will be obvious what's wrong and the part will be cheap. You might surprise yourself and actually fix it!
posted by jon1270 at 3:43 AM on October 13, 2007