My window won't roll all the way up :(

[mackinaugh]

Only had her one week.. A few days ago, my driver's side window quit rolling up all the way. If I opened the door it would roll all the way up with no problem.

I watched it going up with the door closed, and it looked like it was pressing against the front rubber triangular piece attached to the top of the windshield pillar. I also noticed a small scar on the weather strip of the soft top where the front of the window was pressing into it when closed. Yesterday it would not go all the way up even when the door was open. If I hold the top of the window and pull, it will come all the way up.


then promptly tore my door apart. The stop seems to be in the right place, the metal plate-thing is just not winding up to it (of it's own accord). Again, when I pull the window up it does go all the way up. I used the adjustment screws at the bottom of the door hoping that would fix it, but it hasn't.

I also noticed someting else that might mean something: When my driver's side window is rolled all the way up, there is a bulge where the window is pressing against the rubber thing on the front of the door. This bulge is not present on my passenger's side door. I know that's vague, so I've got pictures.

The first is my driver's side door. Second is my passenger's side door, sans bulge. The last two are the scar on the weather strip of the soft top.


Edit: Changed the massive pictures to normal.

[rob13572468]

it looks to me like one of two things... either the window tracks are not positioned correctly; i.e. one is slightly off to one side or the other or the window glass is not positioned corrrectly in the mount at the bottom.

window tracjs often have a bit of play when it comes to adjusting them; the hole is either large or is a slot which allows the track to be moved to the right/left and then the bolt tightened to hold it there. the bulge in the seal seems to indicate that the track is allowing the window too much play to one side and therefore not in the correct position.

when you have the window up as far as it will go on its own and you pull on it manually, see if the window moves at all from side to side; there should be no play at all in the lateral direction and if there is, its an indication that one track needs to be moved closer to the window glass.

[Stan]

You might also want to play with the front and rear track tilt adjustments...they are the slotted fastener things you can see at the lower areas of the door when opened.

[mackinaugh]

Update 6-18-05:
When I took the door apart I tried to be thorough, hoping to provide as much information as possible for anyone that might have to go in there later (for whatever reason). It occurred to me that the fix was sometimes getting lost in all my ramblings, so for anyone here looking for just the fix, here it is: Go to the last picture in this post. It's a screw that you can get to through the window opening in the door. Tighten it.



---original post follows----

Thanks a million to rob13572468, ace3 and Stan. After a late night a work, I came home and tore into it again. Here's what I found:

- There are 3 screws that can be loosened to adjust the window left-right (from the side-of-the-door perspective).

- There are 2 screws that can be loosened to adjust the window's slant left-right (again, looking at the door from the side).

- There are some white window-stop things on the window. I believe the topmost window-stop thing on the rear of the window was part of my problem. I think it was hitting a part of the door, but I can't be absolutely certain because it's really hard to see what's going on all the way up there through the smallish hole.

- There are holes in the bottom of the door. This doesn't really have much to do with the problem OR the solution, but I noticed them and thought it might come in useful for somebody. I was able to position my flashlight in such a manner as to shine through the holes so that I could better see what was going on in there.

- The rear rail has a screw on the top of it that can be accessed from the top. It doesn't seem to adjust anything, but if it's loose it will cause you grief.

The pictures:

1 - The rear screw of the 3 that need to be loosened in order to adjust the window towards the rear of the car.

2 - The middle of the 3 screws, circled in red. The 2 screws circled in green can adjust the window's tilt.

3 - The front screw of the 3. You can see it hiding behind the door-handle-assembly-thing (can you tell I've never done this?). I almost turned back here, because I didn't think I could get to it. Right under the screw you can see the bar that runs from the handle back to the door latch. I lowered the window so that the screw was just under that bar, and got to it that way with some extensions on the ratchet. There's a U-shape carved in the black piece that you can see in the picture; that's where I lined it up.
You can also see in this picture that I took the window controller off of the door panel so that I could operate the window without having that huge panel in the way of everything I was trying to do. It's only 2 screws.

4 - The window-stop things.

5 - The screw that holds the rear rail to the door. This is what I had to tighten to fix my problem.

[mackinaugh]

[ace3]

excellent!

[rob13572468]

glad to hear that you got it adjusted; i had a feeling that it would be a simple problem hiding inside an impossibly small area. it is fun, though trying to squeeze your hands, a tool, and a flashlight, all in a space that barely fit the window mechanism in the first place.

you know you're a true lotus enthusiast when you have the scars all over your hands to prove it.

[Variable]

Wow...you guys are true enthusiasts. My driver side window stopped rolling up all the way about a week after I had my car. It wouldn't go up the last 1/4". I found that rolling the window down halfway and opening and closing the door and then rolling it up would let me roll it up all the way some of the time. I ended up taking it to my Lotus dealer and they said there was a screw that needed to be tightened.

[Ridgemanron]

Originally Posted by rob13572468

glad to hear that you got it adjusted; i had a feeling that it would be a simple problem hiding inside an impossibly small area. it is fun, though trying to squeeze your hands, a tool, and a flashlight, all in a space that barely fit the window mechanism in the first place.

you know you're a true lotus enthusiast when you have the scars all over your hands to prove it.

- I notice that my whereas my drivers side
window makes contact with the 'top' weatherstripping properly, the
passenger window does not. It needs to stop at its furthest 'up' position
about 1/4 or 3/8ths of inch lower so as to squeeze the weatherstripping bit lighter. Am I correct in assuming that I need only loosen the silver nut,
then move the 'white plastic' adjuster a bit (clockwise or counter clockwise?) and re-tighten the nut above it?

[mackinaugh]

Originally Posted by rob13572468

glad to hear that you got it adjusted; i had a feeling that it would be a simple problem hiding inside an impossibly small area. it is fun, though trying to squeeze your hands, a tool, and a flashlight, all in a space that barely fit the window mechanism in the first place.

you know you're a true lotus enthusiast when you have the scars all over your hands to prove it.

Rob - You've danced this number before, haven't you. I did have a snake light with a heavy battery foot that made it a bit easier, allowing me to postion it shining up into the door through the holes in the bottom on its own.
I still ended up dropping sockets and adapters into the door, which of course led to my fair share of battle scars. Try as I might, cursing alone never managed to produce the fallen object from its resting place at the bottom of that yellow fiberglass pit.


Variable - It sounds like the same thing that was going on with mine. Had I lived closer to a dealer I would have taken it in, but the 4 hour drive convinced me that i could do it myself.


Ridgemanron - Exactly. I didn't have to adjust mine, but Stan's post (linked above) has better photos of the thing. It looks like it loosens counterclockwise.

[rob13572468]

Im bumping this thread because this window stop problem is going to be an ongoing issue with the elise...

a couple days ago my driver side window started having the exact same problem that mackinaugh first reported in this thread; the window would not roll all the way up, getting stuck 3/4" short of the mechanical stop. the cause was the same fastener coming loose; the one that mackinaugh indicated as #5; the phillps screw that holds the top of the rear window track. this is the one that is visible when you look straight down through the opening that the window slides out of.

while the problem was fixed by tightening the screw back up, it appears that this is going to be a reoccuring problem because of the design; that point tends to resonate a bit more than the rest of the car and while the passenger window was ok, a quick check showed that the screw had worked its way loose as well but simply had not backed itself out yet.

the easy solution is to take some low strength thread locker (loctite blue), and put a drop on the screw on each side before tightening it back up. while i was checking out the mechanism, i looked at all of the bolts in the door and it does not look like there are going to be any problems with any of the others and indeed they were still all secure. since the elise is a vibration prone car and other key fasteners are prone to loosening as well it might not be a bad idea to start a seperate thread with a list of suspect bolts to check/tighten/threadlock. im sure that over time we will find quite a few more of these.

[JonOrangeElise]

Just replying to state that my window developed the same problem after about 400 miles.

[kibbles]

Glad I found the thread. Mine caught the disease yesterday. The fix of tightening the screw sounds easy enough, but how hard is it to pull the door panel off? Am I better off taking a stab at this or waiting for my first service (only 200 miles of driving away)?

[mackinaugh]

Kibbles - It's very easy to get the door panel off, but you shouldn't have to do it to fix this problem. If you look at my post with the fix, the fifth picture shows the screw that needs to be tightened to fix it. All you need to do is roll the window all the way down and move the weatherstrip near the rear of the door to see the screw.


If you do end up having to take the panel off, there are 4 metal allen bolts on the top of the panel that can be removed with the smallest tool in the tool kit that came with your car. There is a small plastic screw at the front of the panel, near the handle. I had to open the door all the way to get to it, as it faces forward. If you have winders, you can use an allen wrench to remove the winder. If not, you can reach in and unplug the window switch at this point (be gentle). The bottom of the panel is attached to the door with velcro. The last thing holding the panel on is a plastic button on the back of the panel near the bottom. Slide the panel to the rear of the door to release it from the door (the plastic button will stay with the door).

[John_Mc]

This is the exact reason I did not get the touring package. I did not want to have to worry about the power windows in a Lotus that WILL eventually break...plus I can roll down the passanger window from the drivers seat.

John
COM

[kibbles]

Mackinaugh,

Thanks for the advice - it took me about 20 seconds to get the screw tightened. The window closes properly now, and the rattle is gone.

I had read your earlier info, but missed the fact that the screw was so easily accessible.

Thanks again.

[Raindem]

My window's got the same problem. Boy do I ever regret getting touring. If I'm looking at the right screw it's set pretty far back in there horizontally. How do you tighten it without taking the door apart?

Thanks

[a squared]

As an assembly tip, you may want to go down to the local hardware store and pick up some appropriately sized nylon lock nuts. Or, assembly it with Blue Loctite. This way they won't back out due to use or vibration

[Raindem]

OK I got it. All you need is a long shank phillips and it'll angle in there just fine. Problem fixed. Thanks for posting this simple fix to a frustrating problem.

[mackinaugh]

I don't know that this problem is necessarily associated with the power windows..

The screw that's loosening itself holds the rail (which guides the window) to the door, so it's not part of the power winder assembly.