Window loose in door/ slack in cable

Ok, this has nothing to do micro switches or broken cable or regulators..my passenger door window has always been loose when not fully up. I could always pull up the window glass about 1/2 an inch. Up until recently this hasn't been an issue because gravity always allowed the glass to drop when opening the door. Then it would go up when closed like its supposed to. Now its been sticking so it will not drop unless I give it a push down. I can hear the regulator drop it down,but no window drop. I Assumed the glass was loose in the clamps. So I took off the inner panels, etc and found the glass firmly clamped in place. If I Grab the glass and lift it, it just takes up slack in the cable instead! So, how do I remove excess slack? It appears the original design was to adjust slack by lengthening or shortening the sheath. The cable outer sheath is spring loaded at one end, at the regularor, and has 4 retaining cotter pins that allow you shorten the sheath and lock it in place. The spring allows a load on the cable to compress the sheath until the microswitches engage. But mine is fully out. Any ideas??

New regulator? From experience that is the only way. Sorry, no other ideas.

What does anyone think of the cheaper Dorman regulator for about $110 vs the OE for about $265. Anyone buy the Dorman and think it was junk??

I remember reading some old threads about this and yeah, the aftermarket regulators are total junk. For the work/cost involved it is better to just get the OE one and move on. I replaced my driver door regulator 2 years ago with OE and it works perfect everyday.

There is an updated/upgraded regulator available for about $125. I don't remember the brand off the top of my head but I got it from Rock Auto...

Thanks! If I need one, I'll look there. I Took out the regulator and inspected & greased it. It looks pratically new. I mean, I figured, how many times do you think the passenger window could have been up and down? How could it be fubar already? It spends more time in the garage than outside! Someone had been in there before, or it was a crappy install to begin, but I think the former. The window was not correctly angled in its parallel to the fixed glass and it appeared to go too high compared to the drivers side. I realized from the design, that the spring on the one end against the regulator IS what causes the window to drop when you open the door. The spring is compressed when the door is closed and the window is up. When you pull the door handle, the motor simply reverses slightly and the spring forces the window down. By adjusting the height and angles correctly, untwisting the cables, (one of which was tyrapped stupidly to prevent it hitting the window on the way down) & lubing everything, it now works exactly as it should. Having the moisture shield mostly pulled aside made observation of the mechanism and corrective action easy to evaluate.

If you've already got the door apart you're 90% there. The manual pulling it up and down I think is what really stretches it out and ruins it. Just replace it with a new one. I did it on the driver side recently and got the URO part from I think Autohaus AZ. It looked identical to the original when laid side by side. I believe it was marked as the "updated" design as opposed to whatever the original was. Even if it turns out not to be as good as OEM it's your passenger side, you already said you rarely use that door/window so it should hold up just fine. The one thing is BE SURE to remove the small rivet/stud thing in the new track, otherwise the window only goes down to Boxster level. That stud WILL be in there so don't install the part it until you know where it is to remove otherwise you will be doing it all over again...

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Good advice, thanks, would have missed that. I know now, I should keep the windows cracked down while the car is in the garage. I think the little bit of cable stretched was because the mechanical stops were not engaging to stop the window at the top, the glass did, which is normal on a coupe. While there is nothing wrong with that, it depends on whether the front or the back hit first. Ideally, they should hit at the same time. On my car the glass was canted so the front hit first, which twisted the glass and did something to the cables over time. Straightening all that out and letting the stops do the work, instead of the glass seems to have prevented jamming, which allows the window to drop easily now. Also, the spring being compressed all the time weakens it, which reduces the effective length of the sheath. It works better now than it ever did, and the window has very little movement when manually moved. Repositioning the stops, greasing everything, then going up and down a few times, and it is fine. Odd how the passenger sides have more problems. The door panels and such are easy to get off, so if down the road I need to replace it, I know its a very easy job.

Well, after just one day, the window is barely clearing the upper edge. So while it technically still works, it is far less than the drivers side, and there is no real air gap, so more force is needed to close the door. Looks like a new regulator will be needed soon. Oh well!

I just did this over the weekend and I believe your only option is a new regulator. I grabbed a new/upgraded one from Warehouse33auto.com for a great price. And there's plenty of "how-to's" on this procedure as well if you search a little.

This thread? http://986forum.com/forums/general-d...hed-cable.html

Decided to go ahead and replace the regulator with the "improved" URO ball bearing version from rmeuropean. $125, shipped. My cables seemed all taught, but I guess I should have at least tried the bicycle brake barrel adjuster trick first. But I had ordered the regulator before I saw that trick. Thanks for posting it for future! I'm keeping the OE regulator in case the new one craps out, then I would do the trick on the OE one first. Replacing the regulator is easy. Properly adjusting the glass is a royal PITA! And then I snapped in half the insanely delicate white electrical connector that provides the power to the yellow LED in the door handle, when putting the door back together and it slipped out of the top groove. So eventually I will have to source a replacement white connector now!!! Window does work perfectly now, though. Any ideas where to source that connector??

That same white connector is close to breaking on mine too. I wish they had build more slack in to the wiring, it's tough to undo that one and the black one nearby as is. RE: Window Positioning - I drew a line with Sharpie along the weatherstrip and also used masking tape to guide me to position. Then I took pix of the position of the tape for good measure. Worked first time, no adjustment needed. My biggest issue was the little purple clip on the airbag. I somehow broke a chunk of it off. I think it holds the yellow connector in place but it's so snug in there anyway I don't see it moving.

The problem is that mine was not properly positioned to begin with. Once I did a side by side comparison (as in passenger and driver side), I realized how far off it was. The glass was canted such that the front hit first, and when up, the glass did not bottom out towards the rear. I now have it so that the top edge appears to hit front and rear simultaneously, and the gap between the back edge of the window and the fixed glass in the rear is the same as the drivers side. The old window position placed the window edge within 1/4", or closer of the fixed glass. The drivers side is more like 3/8" to 7/16". Really! Would it have killed them to add an extra 2" of wire on an $85,000 car?? The connector is such a weak design. There is very little plastic where the openings for removing the connect tabs on the connector are, and it just snapped in place there. NO hope of fixing it. Just need to splice in a new connector dyked off a donor somewhere.