**Please Help** Window Grinding

Hello to my 996 friends! I need your advice. Took my 996 to the mountains on Saturday and dropped the top because the temperature was perfect and scenes were too beautiful to pass up this time of year. However, when I got home, I started closing the convertible top and when the passenger window began to rise up, a sound of grinding could be heard. It almost sounded like a small amount sand rubbing up against a mechanism or something. The window wouldn't raise completely at first, but with some careful effort, I was able to get the window to close. In your opinion, is this problem associated with window motor or lifter mechanism? (see picture) Based on past threads on the subject, this seems like a text book case of the motor going bad. Your help is greatly appreciated.

window regulator. I replaced mine twice due to the same noise you described. about a 1 hour job.

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Are you referring to the motor (item#2) or the "window lifter" (item#1)? Do you know of a good video link for removing the door panel? Thanks man!

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Best that you NOT wait till it totally craps out (specially while in the down position). Good DIY on PELICAN: http://www.pelicanparts.com/techarti..._and_Motor.htm Try this vid (many more on youtube) You Tube

#1 I beleive theres quite a few videos out there. iirc, the one I referenced was for a porsche boxster and was well done.

maybe post a video of the sound. maybe it's not the same noise and the window regulator is very expensive part so I'd hate for you to buy it based on my input alone as others say it's the motor.

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Thanks man. I've read some recent threads where the window motor's safety clutch mechanism is made is self destruct under a certain amount of load and it's not uncommon for this section of the motor to go bad thus causing a grinding type noise. Basically, they say what you hear is plastic parts grinding inside the motor. But at $400, I want to make absolutely sure it's not the window lifting mechanism.

Um, why don't you just remove the door cover, roll the window and try to pinpoint if the noise is from the motor. It should be pretty obvious. (Note airbag light will trip though if your power the window with the airbag disconnected but that could be reset by Durametric).

here's my regulator that was making the noises you describe. 20161010_112650_zpstkdalfzx.jpg 20161010_112659_zps8u6ls0sj.jpg 20161010_112711_zpshqsjgfje.jpg

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+1 Also, looking on ebay, I see cheap window regulators as low as $56 with free shipping. Used window motors are as cheap as $80 and reman ones as cheap as $175. So, either way, this should be a sub-$200 fix for you. Agree that you should just take the door panel off and take a look. Although I've never replaced a window regulator on a 996, I've done it on at least 5 other cars. They are all basically the same setup. I don't think I've ever replaced the motor on one - it's always the regulator. Based on that and there seems to be about 5 regulator ads for every motor ad on ebay, my money is on the regulator. So, since the regulator is cheap and is normally the culprit, then order one of those if you are in a situation where you can't pull the door off to look. Even if it turns out to be the motor, the regulator is probably going to crap out on you at some point in the not-too-distant future anyway.

Thank you all. I appreciate it!

Both of my windows are making the sounds you describe... But my windows roll up and down with no real issues. That said the passenger door window "tries" to drop when the door is opened, but it does not drop enough to clear the roof upon closing the door as it should. I have also noticed that the tint in the upper rear quadrant are of my front windows is getting new damage from rolling up and down since the crunchiness started... The noise and the window tint damage were not present during my PPI, so I'm thinking the increased use since purchase has caused this particular weakness to come to light. I've simply not taken the time to dig in and investigate further. Part of me wants to have the parts here to fix it before I dig in, just so I don't have to do the disassembly/reassembly twice or leave the door guts exposed while I wait. Problem is, I don't know if I need the full regulator or just a small part? When I was looking around, I saw this EPS product, which seems a bit opportunistically priced... However if you look closely at the photo with the finger pointing to that section of the regulator, it makes me wonder if that broken piece of plastic could be the cause of your noise and mine...? http://www.ebay.com/itm/Porsche-911-...ZW3zMs&vxp=mtr At $60 each, I'm probably just going to by new aftermarket regulators for each side and swap them out. I was shopping for this stuff before reading your thread.

This may help https://rennlist.com/forums/996-foru...ir-sleeve.html http://www.renntech.org/forums/topic.../?_fromLogin=1

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Thanks for posting these links... there's a really cool bicycle shop about 2 miles from my house I've been wanting to check out... I'm heading there as soon as I get off of this conference call I'm supposed to be listening to! SWEET!

Same thing happened to mine recently and it was the lifter (there was a wire that was ripped up) not the motor.

My bet is its the window regulator. Just replaced mine on the passenger side. Not a bad job to replace. My advice is if your keeping the car for a while spend the money on an OEM regulator. I've put cheap ones on my BMW and they haven't lasted for me. Also the video I watched, one on YouTube, showed the guy marking the position of the regulator attachment points on the bottom two bolts as well as the position of the glass in the regulator. Marking helped from having to make adjustments. Good luck.

Taking Ahsai's advice, I went to investigate the noise further and sure enough, the sound was not radiating from the motor alone, but was coming from all over the lifter mechanism; therefore, as others have pointed out, it's more than likely the regulator (i.e. window lifter). And so, that's what I'll replace. Of course, I would love to put OEM in the car, but what are your thoughts on a aftermarket regulator? I've seen them sell on eBay for around $60. Is it worth the savings or should I take JGM's advice and purchase the OEM product from Porsche? I would love to save the money, if the aftermarket will give me many years of reliable service. Based on the car's history, the regulator are original to the car which means that have lasted for 13 years and 74,000 miles. That's not too bad, huh? Again, thank you you all!

I replaced mine with a $400 Porsche oe one only to replace it about 250km later for a rock auto one.

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Thanks! I presume the OEM failed or was making noises?

I bit the bullet and bought new (motor and regulator) so that I only had to pay my indy ONCE Plus, he would NOT touch any of the cheaper non-OEM options, too many fail too soon.

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the pic i posted above is the porsche oe unit.

My 2 cents is go wiith the genuine part (~$234 + shipping fom Sunset). It has a 2yr warranty if it breaks like AWDguy's. I had my driver's regulator replaced by the dealer 8yrs/40k miles ago and it's been fine. The aftermarket or OEM ones tend to have lesser quality based on my experience with bmw and audi. Oh, do not get anything by URO. Very poor quality.

In Germany they sell kits that allow you refurb your existing regulator and put in new gears and cables. They sell for around $30 Euros on German eBay. Unfortunately, they seem to be different for each side and I can only find the driver's side available at this time... http://www.ebay.de/itm/Porsche-911-B...item3d019c53bd I've reached out to the seller to find out if the passenger side is available as both side are making crunchy noises. Waiting to hear back. In the meantime, after reading this thread yesterday I went to a bike shop and sourced some bicycle cable adjusters for $2.99 each in the event I get into the doors and find that common plastic part which reduces the cable tension is broken. Now I have some motivation to remove the panels and take a look with a glimmer of hope that I might actually be able to solve my issue on the spot. I am really hoping I only have to go into the doors once. For now, I'm parking the car in the garage with top down and windows open and will resort to rolling windows up/down as infrequently as possible. This is a 3rd car for us, so I can leave it alone when the weather is iffy.

The crunching noise on mine was a precursor to regulator failure on the driver's side. This tutorial You Tube is a good one and includes worthwhile, time saving tips regarding marking previous mounting locations of the glass and regulator locations for easy reassembly. I used the cheap regulator from Amazon (about $60). It operates smoothly and quietly. It is a simple job to complete at home in a short period of time. And of course... now a rear one is making the telltale death rattle (crunching).

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Thank you so much! Normally, I would purchase the OEM regulator, I may take my chances and try the aftermarket solution. It's a fraction of the price of the OEM. We'll see.

You're very welcome. I chose the inexpensive route as a gamble not simply because of the large differential in purchase price among suppliers, but because the regulator is such a simple task to r&r. I wish I could share knowledge regarding longevity, but it has only been months since the install.

Excellent video, very helpful. That is the same noise my windows are making, and they still work too... If you closely look at the spring on the regulator coming out (@ 5:24) you can see it is not compressed and appears noticeably longer than the compressed spring on the new regulator (paused @ 5:58). Looks to me like it could have been fixed using the $3 bicycle cable tensioner mod previously mentioned in this thread.

http://www.ebay.com/gds/How-to-Fix-a...8758593/g.html http://986forum.com/forums/general-d...hed-cable.html

I don't remember if this video had in it (and I didn't want to watch it again) but at least on the oem part, there is a stop that has to be removed that allows for full travel for a 996. The boxter is shorter and uses the same part so this stop is set for the boxter. Removing that stop will save you a little time vs. installing and then wondering why the window doesn't go all the way down. Sorry I can't be more specific but my daughter actually did the regulator replacement on mine and I'm not sure what exactly she did but I remember she had to do this.

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Thank you Daniel. I'll keep that in mind. I plan to install this part next week and hopefully it won't be to painful of DIY project.

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Thanks for posting this. If only I had remembered this important point when I replaced the passenger side regulator in my 996TT Cab this weekend. Does anyone have a picture of the stop? Can I remove it with the regulator installed? Thanks. Also PSA. Though I was smart enough to disconnect battery before removing passenger side airbag, I reconnected the power before reinstalling it to make sure the regulator was working correctly. The result is I now have an Airbag light on my dash. Ugh.

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I've had that happen to me too when I removed my seat to have the backs repainted. The only remedy is to have the light reset using a diagnostic tool like the Durametric. There are cheaper tools on Amazon and eBay that will do the trick too for around $100.00. But regardless, it's frustrating isn't it? Especially, when you're trying to save money.

I will ask my daughter if she had to remove the regulator to get the stop out and if she can describe its location. I wasn't around when she did that part.

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It's really a pretty simple project - if a little "fiddly"... The main concerns are 1) Not setting off the airbag in the door (supposedly not very likely, but it would still suck) (2) Not breaking any of the old plastic bits (3) Not tearing the foam membrane in the door(4) Getting everything put back together properly so you don't have to take it apart again...

Paupie, I spoke with my daughter and she said she was pretty sure that she did not have to remove the regulator in order to remove the stop. She said on the right side (looking at the door) of the regulator there are two screws, one above the other. She just had to remove the top screw that is there as a stop for the boxter window (this is on the oem part anyway, not sure about after market). I didn't disconnect my battery doing this and forgot to tell her not to turn on the ignition without the airbag being connected and so she did as she was checking to make sure everything worked after installation. So I had an airbag light as well but I was planning to by a Durametric anyway so that just expedited that. Took all of 1 minute to turn off once I got the Dura. Maybe there are other cheaper products which can do that but I was under the impression that you had to have a Durametric or Porsche dealer to turn off that light.

I also agree with dporto, its not that complicated of a job. I asked my 21 year old daughter who has never worked on a car to do it and she just googled videos to find out how. Took her a couple hours.

I ended up replacing both front regulators in my car. Total cost = $124 and about 3 hours of my time. The aftermarket regulators seem every bit as robust as the OEMs that came out of the car. Only time will tell if that's the case. But, for now I'm happy. It was not necessary to unplug the air bag on either side to do this. The cable-crunchy sound is gone and passenger window drops and raises as is should.

Well, I'm going to just replace the one that's crackling on me. It's amazing how inexpensive the aftermarket lifters are compared to OEM. I hope they last. But it's worth a try since this is not a major DIY project. Anyway, the part is ordered and should be here by the weekend. Wish me luck! WeeeeeeeeeeeEEEEEEEEEeeeeeEEeEeeEEeee!

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I have a VeePeek Wifi and use OBD Fusion on my iphone which will reset MIL but doesn't "see" the airbag light. I do want a Durametric but coincidentally I just spent my fun money on a window regulator!

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Thanks. I will take a look this weekend. The good news is that now I have a reason to open the door panel back up I might as well put in some new speakers I have had hanging around

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Yea, it has to be able to read the airbag module in the car. Apparently, many of the OBD diagnostic units will read standard information from the car, but not be able to read all modules. I purchased an Autel 702 and it worked great for my 996 and Volvo cars. http://www.auteltech.com/Professiona...ools/390.jhtml

So here is a pic of the right side of the regulator (yes the pic is rotated 90 to the left, thanks apple and microsoft). Does anyone know which screw I am supposed to remove to get the height lower? It was not obvious to me and as everything is currently working (except height when window is down) I am not about to start pulling things out ***** nilly.

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How far off is the window? When you close it completely, does the window seal properly? If so, you may want to try recalibrating the motor. In other words, close the window completely. Shut the door. Lower the window all the way down, then raise it completely. Hold the window switch in up position for 5 seconds. Bing! Now see if it rolls up and down properly. You might have to fine tune the position of the window and the bolts that you need to adjust located to the right of the tension bolt (green plastic). Loosen it slightly and adjust the window. You will also need to loosen the other bolt too. (reference in the video link at the beginning of this thread.) Be careful and take your time! If you get it a hurry and force it, you could possibly crack the window. Hope that helps!

That part is common to 911's and Boxters. It has a plug that is used for the Boxster. The plug has to be removed for a 911 window to retract fully. Pelican has pix. It is located below that screw mechanism.

Thanks. I think I saw the pic you were referring to on Pelican. Will try that this weekend.

The video is what really helped me. Marking the spots on the windows is paramount. And recalibrating the motor is an important step or you'll be fightin' yourself the whole time. Since I used an aftermarket regulator, I had to make fine tuned adjustments to my window for it to seal properly with the car. But I'm happy it doesn't crackle and pop anymore... it's as smooooth as silk now. All the best!!!

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So in this picture is it the blue plastic piece that's furthest to the right (closest to the bottom of the door)?

The stop to be removed is the lowest plastic piece. It may be that blue piece but I can't see the whole part so I'm not certain. It is obvious once you know the trick about getting rid of the Boxster stop.

Can that stop be removed from the bottom plug/cover on the door? In other words, without taking the inner door panel off? Anyone ever tried this? I'm going to give it a try - hopefully it works... Otherwise, I'll have to take the interior panel back off...

Sorry, you have to remove the door card. Not even close.