Cable Broken On Drivers Side Window Regulator

[jp2417]

Hello,

I have recently bought a 2.5 1998 Boxster and my drivers side window mechanism has fell apart due to the cable snapping. I have removed the door casing and found bits of the mechanism lying in the bottom of the door.

My question is: can the mechanism be repaired or do your have to buy and complete unit including motor etc. If so, I have noticed them on ebay, is this the cheapest place to buy?

Is there a tutorial available on this forum to help with refitting and setu?

Look forward to your help,

Regards.

[quan717]

you CAN BUY it on ebay or carparts.com

new or used, prefer new. the new regulator is

the only way to fix it , there is no repair to the old broken one.

pretty much laid out on how to replace it, as it is held in by bolts on each

corner of the regulator, plus you have to remove your airbag in the door and

speaker , be sure to disconnect the negative and wait 5 min before working on it.

[N41EF]

An OEM regulator is about $100 from Sunset. Your old motor bolts to it, and it takes an hour or so to replace it. I would be wary of a eBay part for this, since it is a high failure part and though it isn't a bad job, but you don't want to do this every year.

[steve44]

Hi,

If you dis connected airbag wiring harness this will cause a fault and your airbag warning light will go on. If you get this work performed at a shop or dealership you must remind them of this so they can clear the fault. If you do the work yourself, you will have to have the fault cleared either by software you can purchase (durametric) or you will have to take your car in to a shop to have this done.

Steve

[Wayne R. Dempsey]

Definitely avoid used ones - they may be worn out and you wouldn't even know it.

-Wayne

[gschotland]

Hello,

I have recently bought a 2.5 1998 Boxster and my drivers side window mechanism has fell apart due to the cable snapping. I have removed the door casing and found bits of the mechanism lying in the bottom of the door.

My question is: can the mechanism be repaired or do your have to buy and complete unit including motor etc. If so, I have noticed them on ebay, is this the cheapest place to buy?

Is there a tutorial available on this forum to help with refitting and setu?

Look forward to your help,

Regards.

It cannot be repaired. Definitely replace with a new one, and don't buy from eBay. I just purchased new from Sunset Porsche, cost was ~$200 delivery in USA (likely cost prohibitive to ship to UK - but ask). This is an easy job, ~2 hrs if you have no idea what you're doing (like me). There's a very good 986 DIY section in the forums on PelicanParts.com that has step-by-step instructions with photos. Before I knew about that one I used this: http://www.bombaydigital.com/boxster/projects/window/

Good luck.

[timbo]

I've recently done mine, bought an OEM from e-bay and another cheaper make, both fitted without any problems and work fine. Dissconnect the battery befor doing the work yourself and you'll avoid any fault codes. Mark everything you take off so the new one can be fitted exactly as the old one was, particularly the 2 bolts in the base of the door which alter the angle of the glass. A good idea to mark the position of the glass held by the clamps.

[MikeMcMo]

The window on my 99 Boxster was crunching and grinding, as the regulator cable shredded itself. Took the regulator apart to see how it works, and saw that every part of the regulator was fine, except the cable. I trimmed the frayed ends and put it all back in, and it works fine, for now, but I should replace it, as the cable is at 2/3rds strength and more prone to shredding if I missed a strand here or there. Shame to spend $270-$300 for a new regulator to replace a $20 or $30 cable, and I'm reluctant to buy a used one online... Waiting to see if Woody on the 986 forum has a good used one for me. I see just now there is a cable replacement in the UK for $50+US...

 

Can anybody explain what these cotter pins are about, next tot he motor? Can you pull them out, one by one, to adjust the tension as the cable stretches? Just guessing... 

 

 

[radial]

I would also like to know about those cotter pins.

@MikeMcMo did you ever work it out or try removing one?

[MikeMcMo]

On 4/25/2020 at 8:04 PM, radial said:

I would also like to know about those cotter pins.

@MikeMcMo did you ever work it out or try removing one?

No, I never figured it out, and never heard from anyone about it. I ended up getting a motor and cable for the passenger side window from Woody, put it in, and it has been fine. And now I'm not sure of my theory about removing those pins to make up for slack, but maybe I should test it out: the cable on my driver's side window appears to have stretched enough that the window hardly drops at all when you lift the handle when the top is up. The plan was to install a bike cable barrel adjuster to shorten the effective length of the cable, but maybe I will try the cotter pin idea first. Thanks for the reminder!

[radial]

Good to hear from you @mikemcmo .

 

I actually had a play since I last posted.

Looks like when the regulator is new, that spring below them is fully compressed and the pin furthest from it will have tension (as well as possibly the others).

 

You can then release the cable cover a small amount each time the cable has stretched a bit. Not sure of the process as you only want to let out 1 each time not all of them.

In my case, My regulator was already all the way out.
 

The easiest way to tell where yours is in the series is that the upper pins will have no tension after they have been released and when you pull them you will see the cable in the gap not the cover. Mine only had tension on the last, so I’m already at max and it’s new regulator time.