Broken window motor? I'm sick to my stomach...

I had posted in another thread about my window auto-lowering with door opening behaving irratically. I took the advice of some rennlisters and tried to "re-teach" the windows by rolling all the way up, holding 10sec. and then all the way down holding 10sec. My pass. side window was already making a little bit of noise when the motor was rolling it up or down and after doing the down/10sec. hold it friggin broke! It was so out of whack making lots of grinding noise I had to work the window button while pulling upward on the glass with a lot of force. It is up for now but I have warned my wife not to try to lower it under any circumstances. I've been reading in my 996 cd manual and the removal/replacement of the motor looks like a huge hassle. What do you guys think? Does the window motor sound hosed? Should I try $$$Porsche Parts Hawaii$$$ or maybe try L.A.PorscheDismantlers and hope it works out? Any other ideas? At least my AC is working great...

The most common problem with 996/986 is the window regulator, not the motor. BTW is it your amp I'm bidding on?

I think I have both regulator and motor problems. It is grinding gears. There is no mistaking that noise. Anyway and it probably is me, I'm selling my amp on ebay.

get it replaced. either do it yourself or get the dealer. it should be 1-2 hrs of labor plus parts. not a big deal.

If you're sick to your stomach because of a faulty window controller, what's going to happen when the RMS leaks? I suggest you take it to your dealer. If you're lucky, they'll take care of it as an out-of-warranty courtesy fix or offer you a concession on the part price. Porsches are supposed to be bulletproof so don't be shy about contacting Porsche's zone manager in your area if the dealer isn't helpful. It's cheap PR for Porsche and it'll save you a few hundred bucks of needless expense. The dealer should be able to put you in touch with him/her. Tell them this wouldn't even happen in a GM vehicle!

All great advice guys, but there is no dealer on this island. I might as well be in Guam I'm on my own or I hire out to one of the two Porsche wanna-be mechanics that I do not really trust to work on my car. There always is that $700 round trip boat ride my car could take to Honolulu... ugh. I've read a diy how to on removal/replacement of the window motor. It doesn't look that bad. I may as well look at how much the regulators are since I'll already be pretty far into the door. And as to the RMS? I have a tip! If it ever starts to leak I don't have to worry about a fouled clutch. But *crosses fingers* so far so good. Not a hint of oil underneath @ 31k! I check everything on the creeper under there fairly often to see what might be going on. I'll call Porsche Hawaii on Monday and see what they will do on the motor. I'll also check the junkyards just in case.

No indy in your area?

My driver's side window works, but it sounds like it's grinding, and it is 75% the speed of the passenger side window. I've got an appt. with the dealer o fix it, but what irrritates me is !0 I've had the car 3 weeks now, 2) it's been back to the service dept. every weekend for silly items (broken visor cover, inoperative key remote), and 3) it's a CPO car. Don't they look at them before they slap on the CPO sticker? A blind chimpanzee would've spotted all this, and notoced that the front speakers weren't working. (I really liked how the sales guy told me it was my imagination, "they work just fine". Schmuck.

I think you already know the answer - Obviously there are good and bad dealerships, good and bad techs, etc etc CPO is worthless in many cases I'm afraid, just a paper exercise. Chris.

Also call PCNA and work your way up the ladder ("escalate"). At some point, a management level person will get involved and you will get more help. This kind of predicament gives PCNA the opportunity to be heroes, for a change.

I would guess window regulator as well - I had the same problem with mine some time ago. Found a great how-to for a Boxter somewhere on the net and it took about an hour to change the whole thing. Really an easy job.

Window regulator will grind and click when its shot. I would bet its regulator only and the motor is fine. I would definetly diy this. As the stealer banged me 700 and change to do mine.

'Twas no big deal, I just went slow and spent an afternoon on it last year: http://www.bombaydigital.com/boxster/projects/window/

Thanks for all the help, you guys. I usually diy just about everything myself, but this one was looking a little scary to tackle. It doesn't look that bad afterall. If you ever make to Kona and many do, drop me a note for a beer I owe you. Aloha!