T-unit's 97 ecsb Drivers side window adventure!

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Sampuppy1

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Ok so to start this off on a good note I will say this. My windows and regulators were bone stock. Lasted almost 20 years and 268k miles in rust belt Michigan. Impressive.

Here's where the **** show starts. (I'll insert memes to make it more enjoyable)

Three weeks ago (Yup I've been fighting it for 3 weeks now) my drivers side window fell down into my door. The track on the glass rotted and broke apart. Scratched my tint all to hell. So I got a new window and had it tinted. That's as far as I have been able to get constructively.

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The window falling shattered the brittle plastic rollers on the regulator arm assembly. So I got a new one.......

After punching out the factory rivets I attempted to line the new regulator up. Only two bolt holes at a time would line up. So I tightened them and plugged it in. The regulator worked, but it sat up a ways higher when "closed" and as it "opened" it would tilt towards the hinges rotating on a 90 degree axis vs straight up and down.

wtf.exe

Since it was an open box item I gave the parts store the benefit of the doubt. Maybe someone bought the wrong part and returned it in the box for the right part. So I went and got another new unopened one. Same issue after getting it home. Two locations later (by now I could recognize the orientation at the counter) I was still getting the same part.....

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So I went straight to the source. I payed the regional warehouse a visit. Here I learned that for these trucks, the drivers and passenger side part numbers could be interchanged. (in other words the sides would be switched) I have no idea how this is even a possibility but I rolled with it. I bought a passenger side regulator and it was indexed properly.

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I got properly sized, matching hardware since it appeared I was going to be back in business. Oh contrare. Got the regulator in, plugged in and gave it a try before getting everything back together (learned this lesson the hard way). Hit the down button and it didn't move......

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Checked my plugs. Still nothing. Brought out the test light. Got power. Got ground. No movement. It's brand new. Not reman, not refurbished, not used. Brand. Spanking. Ass f*cking. NEW. hit the up button and it moved.... Down.....

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Since the plug has indexing tabs and the blades are some gypsy voodoo **** I've never seen before I got my trusty pick set out and repinned it. Simple enough solution. Problem solved! Plugged it back in and voila! The switch makes it do what it should now!

That celebration lasted all of about 47 seconds (coincidentally that's very close to my record for the most literal quickie I've had to date)

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I had some wires that were in the way of the regulator path so I tied them out of the way. Got the door handle rod back in place. Popped the lock rod back into the actuator and tilted the inner panel into the door. Got a couple screws in and went to hook the door handle up. Lock rod popped in, latch rod popped in and the handle absolutely will not even attempt to go into it's designated location.

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The lock rod and the little plastic bracket it clips into? Are hitting the window motor. After finding my factory motor and regulator assembly I learned the motor was mounted on the bottom of the assembly. This one is mounted on top. But it looks like it might clear if I fiddle around with the rod a bit and get it to push everything away from the motor.

Two hours later I have the rod twisted 180 degrees (completely inverted), the actuator now receives the lock rod from the bottom instead of the top, and I have it set so the rod engages the indicator on the handle from the opposite side. And it still hits.

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So over the course of three weeks now I've managed to get a new window, allowed it a generous two and a half week cure time, managed to somehow reverse the polarity of a lock rod and jack it up to the point it will never be right again, all while accomplishing absolutely nothing. Including totalling my Grand Prix last fall, the two deer hits, blown brake line, battery almost exploding in my face, recently blown fuel line and same window going in/op all on my Buick in the past month, I'm severely depressed about all this. To this day it has been the one thing I have not been able to overcome. I can rebuild transmissions, engines, wire up just about anything but I'm being beaten down by a God damned window regulator and motor. I'm at my wits end here.

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The parts stores in town know me on a first name basis now. One guy even knows me by my voice. He yelled from the back of the store to the new girl to put me under code 9 for a discount because I've been there so much and spent a ton of money in the past few weeks. I'm sure the one store that can see their lot from the counter watches me pull up like...

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I'm at a complete loss here folks. Anyone have any idea what the hell I'm doing wrong? I have literally tried everything aside from hacking up my perfectly good escalade handle in a miserable attempt to get my lock to work again with no guarantee it'll actually be effective. I'd be taking a shot in the dark and hoping it works. At best I need a new lock rod since I mutilated the original one trying to fiddle f*ck it to sorta work while inverted. It'll never be right again. I'm about to give up on it and sell the window and just put plastic over it and have a pile of **** truck.

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michael hurd

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Chinesium strikes again.

Sucks... but sometimes a good, working OE part is better than aftermarket may fit garbage. Any lots near you where you can 'pick n' pull'?
 

Sampuppy1

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Yeah but they're all in similar shape.

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Sampuppy1

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I'm going to a dealership tomorrow. If they don't have the part I have no clue what the hell I'm going to do.

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bow61509

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if all else fails let me know. i'll go snag one from one of the yards here.
 

Sampuppy1

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If I can't get a proper one from another store or the dealer I'm going on a junk yard run myself. I have some things I wanna get for the Buick as well.

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BowtieBrody

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You oughta take a little junkyard run south, there's tons of pristine sheet metal fading away or getting crushed in the yards around here, saw a mint Emerald green short bed get snatched up and tossed on a scrap trailer headed for the steel mill,
 

Sampuppy1

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Alright. So the story has come to an end finally. I went back to Napa today. The guy has a 95. So after telling him what's going on now, he's very curious. He's thinking maybe they got some screwed up parts since I've been to three locations already. He asked me if I could bring the truck by.

So I ran home and drove it over. He brings the original regulator I bought outside with him. Puts it against the inner panel and I about **** my pants. The holes lined up to the ones I had the passenger side regulator bolted to.

The inner door panel is punched for both manual and power windows. My dumb ass had it placed on two of each. They're only an inch apart so it was an easy mistake. In three people taking a look at it before I drove all over creation, nobody noticed I was attempting to use half of the wrong holes.

So I bought the drivers side one again, put it on again, plugged it in again, and it worked flawlessly. I ever so carefully put the glass in and scratched the new tint. (figures)
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Got the regulator in the tracks.

The lock rod I "customized" is FUBAR. So I went to the junkyard and got another one. Got everything back together, replaced all my Christmas tree clips since they've been used a good ten times now and aren't holding as secure as they used to and tried the lock.

Locks, unlocks, good to go. Until the clip came off the latch side. So it doesn't lock or unlock now. Awesome. But I have a window again. So that's a win in my book. Regardless of how much of a pain in my ass this entire ordeal has been.

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