Here's another suggestion:

Drill an access hole through the guide rail that allows you to insert U-shaped wires that pass through the plastic assembly and lock the cable in place.

Since the white plastic piece has a metal core, the wires form a complete metal assembly that should last a long time.

This is a bit different from the fix discussed here so I started a new thread ( https://www.clublexus.com/forums/sc-...-not-easy.html ) that shows some more pics of the procedure.

 

Thanks Thanks Thanks
You are awsome guys.
Could not fix it. The two little weels broken.
I bought the win-reg for 150cad-tx.
COULD NOT DO IT without this thread!
Since this club lexus experience I decided to restore my Lexus sc400, 1992.
It's not very stable and I want to upgrade the breaks. Any suggestions?
Thanks a lot

 

I found myself with the same problem many people on here have had; all of a sudden my windows stop going up. For me it happened on a frosty December day, I think the partially frozen shut window was enough to break the plastic.

I know that there are write-ups describing a fix using JB Weld, and that's what I was going to try. But after a thorough reading of the procedure, and seeing that some people tried it but had the repair fail, I wasn't so sure. So, I thought up another repair that would be stronger than the original design.

Here's the culprit, which many of you have seen in your own car. Mine's a 1995 if that makes any difference... As you see, the top part of the plastic is gone, letting the cable with it's metal attachment slide upward without moving the window.

 

Rather than use JB Weld or epoxy, I decided to stick a bolt in.

After grinding off the little metal bump that was there, I drilled and tapped as shown, for a 1/4" X 1" bolt.

 

The bolt could have been used alone, but I decided to add the nut as well. The gap between the nut and bolt head allow for room for the cable to slip through. The nut was thicker than I wanted, I ground it to about 3/4 of it's original size as shown here. This is a grade 5 bolt.

 

Sliding the regulator back into the window slide, I've placed the cable through the bottom slot that still exists. Note that I didn't have to remove the vertical track, as the wrap-around guides were also gone on my plastic part. I didn't worry about it, as there is enough tension from the window to keep the part in place in the slide.

The cable was of course hidden behind the track, so I had to fish around for it and pull it out a bit. First, I had to re-attach the power window switch to slide the little metal block to the right height.

 

With the cable and block in their proper place, it's time to screw the bolt in. Slide the nut behind the cable, and thread the bolt through it, and then into the hole that was previously drilled and tapped.

 

Tighten the bolt head until it's flush with the original plastic block, or what's left of it, so that it won't rub on the inside of the slide. As you see, there's room between the nut and bolt for the cable to slip through.

After this, I just pushed the window forward enough to slip the regulator slide back into it's track, tested it and it worked!

If yours still fits properly around the track so that it won't pop on and off easily as mine did, you can still do this mod after removing the track to get the broken plastic slide off.

 

There you have it. Drilling into the metal framework within the plastic block allows for a strong enough anchor for the bolt. I actually drilled all the way through the remaining plastic as well, and threaded that, so the bolt is held in by a fair bit of material. Plus the fact that the plastic should act as a thread locker and prevent the bolt from loosening too easily.

I sprayed silicon on all the parts that I could reach inside the door, but the window still seemed a little stiff and slow. So I then went outside of the door and with the window down, liberally sprayed in tracks that the window slides up on at the window frame edge. That did the trick, fast and easy window action. My passenger window was fairly slow as well, so I sprayed that on the outside and got an instant speed improvement.

Hope this works for some of you. I didn't want to spend the cash on new parts for my car when I could get a workable fix for a few cents, and besides that, didn't want to go and order a part and have to wait for it to arrive. The hardest part here was pulling the door panel. The actual mod took me less than half an hour.

-=Photon=-

 

nice writeup, ive been trying to figure out a solution for my 95 also. im going to try this come springtime, while im at it replace the door lock actuator also.

 

very nice DIY. mine had the same problem on the day before Thanksgiving '08. i ended up buying a new regulator off ebay.

 

So your window just all of a sudden won't go up or down at all? My driver's window has gotten really slow lately and most times won't come back up unless I pull on it with my left hand.

 

A broken regulator will stop the window. Mine was broken on top, so the cable would pull the window down, but not back up again.

If your still moves, but slowly, then it's likely that you have dry or dirty window guides. The easiest improvement is to try to lube them. It's simple, just lower the glass to expose the tracks and spray away. They're directly behind the little plastic buttons on the outside of the window. The rear track reaches up to the top of the door, while the front track by the mirror is much shorter. Here's where to lubricate - be liberal with the spray and run the window up and down to spread the silicone down below.

 

Awesome! Thank you very much.

 

nice. i might just do that..