power window problem

[Cagliostro]

The driver side rear window on my 99 Camry stopped staying up one day. I can manually pull it up but it usuall falls straight back down. I've taken the inside of the door off and can't see anything wrong with the mechanism. The motor whirrs when I press on the controller but it doesn't move the window at all. I see that you can buy replacement window regulators, regulator assemblies, or just the motor. Is there any way to tell which of these I need and how hard it the repair?

Thanks.

[Leighcm]

The driver side rear window on my 99 Camry stopped staying up one day. I can manually pull it up but it usuall falls straight back down. I've taken the inside of the door off and can't see anything wrong with the mechanism. The motor whirrs when I press on the controller but it doesn't move the window at all. I see that you can buy replacement window regulators, regulator assemblies, or just the motor. Is there any way to tell which of these I need and how hard it the repair?

Thanks.

Could be just an "alignment"...maybe it's not adjusted properly somewhere...you could take the door panel off and make sure everything is lined up properly and connecting. There's only about a million adjustments you could make in there, unfortunately. I think the motor's probably fine if it's making noise; it's just not able to apply power to move the glass.

[prof]

Your regulator is not moving the up /own mechanism even though your electric motor is spinning. Since the motor is making noise when you hit the switch, there is some sort of disconnect between your motor and your regulator that raises and lowers the window. Aftermarket motor and regulator assemblies are so innexpensive these days that I personnallly wouldnt fool with disassembling the unit to fuigure out what little part, which may be impossible to fix, is broken. The entire motor and regulator assembly can be swapped out in less than 30 minutes.

[groverlakshay]

if the window falls in you probably need a window regulator kit. its not the motor because you can hear the noise when you operate it by the switch. VWs are kinda complicated to replace don't know about toyota, never done one yet..

let's just say that if you are not a mechanic, you probably shouldn't do it

lakshay

[Cagliostro]

Your regulator is not moving the up /own mechanism even though your electric motor is spinning. Since the motor is making noise when you hit the switch, there is some sort of disconnect between your motor and your regulator that raises and lowers the window. Aftermarket motor and regulator assemblies are so innexpensive these days that I personnallly wouldnt fool with disassembling the unit to fuigure out what little part, which may be impossible to fix, is broken. The entire motor and regulator assembly can be swapped out in less than 30 minutes.

Thanks for all the suggestions. I took the regulator out today (and cut myself nicely in the process:)). I'm not sure what happened but the regulator somehow broke into two pieces so that the piece with the teeth that fits into the motor is no longer connected to the rest of the assembly that actually connects to the window. I'm going to order a new regulator assembly but I'm confused by all my choices out there. There seem to be two levels, one at $60-$80, the other at ~$160-$180. Is there any reason not to go with the cheap one?

[DFBonnett]

There seem to be two levels, one at $60-$80, the other at ~$160-$180. Is there any reason not to go with the cheap one?

I did the LF motor/reg combo on our wagon 3 years ago. Got the cheap one on Ebay. Around $40, IIRC. Side by side, it was virtually identical the the OEM unit that came out. Works just fine.

FWIW

YMMV