I've had a slow passenger-side window for a while, so today I asked my father in law how to fix it. He's an old-school mechanic who just retired after 54 years (yes, FIFTY FOUR! He started working at 11 as an apprentice in a workshop, believe it or not).

He was a mechanic for the police, so he's worked on all sorts of cars, not only patrol cars: in Spain, where we are from, the police can use impounded cars with judicial approval, so he's worked on Porsches, Ferraris... if a drug dealer's owned it, my father in law's probably fixed it for undercover operations.

Anyway, I thought he was going to say "strip open the door", but instead, he asked me if I had a syringe... we filled it with motor oil (5W30, if you care) and dropped a couple of drops on the edge of each glass pane when it was rolled almost all the way down. That lubricates the guides and after rolling it up and down a few times, it made the window go 3x faster!

I bought the car used, so I don't know if it's as good as new, but it's definitely much, much better than before.

Thought I'd pass it along.

 

Wow, he's got a lot of experience! This would be a great fix. can you possibly post some photos of as a DIY? Specifically where we should put the oil? Thanks!

 

Thanks for the tip{

 

I've done the same fix several times using very little silicone lube.

 

Good idea. Probably cleaner than my method, too. How do you put the lube in? Isn't it too solid to drip it in?

 

My guess is that that may be a better approach so as not to attract/trap dirt. Are you saying spray silicone onto a rag and then wipe?

 

Would really appreciate a photo where to specifically add lubricant spray or oil, please.

 

Excellent suggestion! Have to remember this if I experience the problem.

 

The window has a U shaped guide at the front and rear of each door glass. It's the tracks for the window. Over time the seal that sits in the U shaped channel gets gummed up and additional drag is created. Lubricating this seal will help. I imagine he put the lube on the outer edges, not the surfaces you look through.

 

Here you go, Shawn. The idea is to put a drop of lube on each corner, then raise and lower the window, then another drop, and so on. Don't put it all at once.
You might make the glass dirty, but that's ok, just wipe it off and you'll be good to go.

 

I will try this as well. Thanks.

 

Sounds like a great guy. Thanks for the tip!