Both back windows were stuck when I got the car (04 ES330). Read a lot about slamming doors and didn't really want to do that. I pulled the door panel off on one side, loosened the bolts holding the regulator assembly, ran a credit card around the window seals, smacked the glass a bit and still nothing. Today I went out and tried the slam trick a few times on the driver side and the window came down about 8 inches and stopped. It was stuck, but a little while later I was able to raise it back up, then nothing again.
Should I just buy some new motor and regulator assemblies? Just the motors? The regulator looked ok, but I didn't pull it. Try fixing the current ones? Rock Auto has some for around $120, then I noticed these for about half of that price: https://www.carparts.com/details/Lex...EPL491733.html Too good to be true?

Any advice would be appreciated.

 

Hello,

Chances are, those Rear Windows were used only once in the entire history of this car, and even then it was likely at the factory. The point is, the chances of your Window Regulators failing on Both Sides, while not even being used all that much are slim to none.

Slamming a Door a few times for the Window to start working again is not something caused by the Regulator, it's actually a Factory Defect in the Window Seal Design, here is a thread about it, which is why so many of those cars struggle with the same exact issue.

In your case, however, it seems like, on top of the defect described earlier, the Rubber Tracks that guide your Window as it rolls up and down have also dried up as well, combined together, it causes the Regulator to stop working completely due to the extreme loads. Before ordering any parts, get some Dry Lubricant at any Hardware Store, lower the Window down just enough to get access to the Guides, and spray just a little bit of said Dry Lubricant on each side of the Window to see if that helps.

Hope this helps and best of luck!