Re: Does it "try" to open?

Need some help with my 2000 986S. I have noticed that the passenger side window doesn't always go down that small amount when I pull on the door handle (from inside or out). I tried disconnecting the battery and resetting, works fine on the driver side but only slight or no movement on the passenger side. Any Ideas, thank you.

IOW, when you pull the door handle, can you hear the mechanism trying to move the window or is it silent?

It's silent on first pull. However If I pull on the handle three or four times I can hear some noise and see slight movement. Thanks

... window regulator.
Try this test:
Open the passenger door and with a screwdriver close the door latch (so the car thinks the door is closed).
Raise the window completely.
Pull on the door latch to "open" the door.
Put pressure on the top edge of the window with both hands. Apply 10-20 lbs of pressure.
If the window drops the desired amount when you push on it, the regulator is bad.
This is a very common occurrence on cars that are over 10 years old.
Age and heat make plastic pieces inside the door very brittle. The regulator has such a piece that just cracks with age.
Happy Porsche'ing,
Pedro

Pedro Bonilla
1998 Boxster 986 - 314,000+ miles: [www.PedrosGarage.com]
PCA National Club Racing Scrutineer - PCA National HPDE Instructor - PCA Technical Committee (Boxster/Cayman)

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Edited 1 time(s). Last edit at 06/27/2018 10:21AM by Pedro (Weston, FL). (view changes)

The cable that runs the window regulator can get stretched. When that happens, the motor pulls the cable to move the window down but most or all of the movement just takes up slack. The cheapest solution for that is to install a bicycle cable tensioner ($1-2 from a bicycle shop) to take up the slack.

When the motor doesn't make a peep that can be the microswitch in the door handle. But if it happens the same way from both the inside and outside, chances are it's the window regulator, as Pedro said.

Thanks for all the tips everyone, I will check them out this weekend. Have a great Independence Day next week

I did Pedro's test and it's a bad regulator. Is there a video on how to replace a regulator and where is a good place to buy one? Thanks

Can't point you to a video but I am pretty sure one exists.

As for where to buy the window regulator, when I had the car in at my local dealer service department to have the regulator replaced the tech just ordered one via the dealer parts department. I do not remember the cost but it was not gruesome (or I would have remembered). With my PCA club membership discount of 15% (possibly even a larger discount as for a long time the dealer parts department only charged me its cost for parts) I got the regulator for about what I would have paid buying it from some discounter (with the shipping cost). And I did not have to worry about getting the wrong one shipped.

With a 2000 MY you probably should consider doing both sides. About the time you get the one that's currently acting up replaced the other side will start to act up.

Also, with a 2000 MY you should consider replacing the door membrane, especially if you have to disturb membrane to get to/replace the regulator.

Quote
Naples986
Need some help with my 2000 986S. I have noticed that the passenger side window doesn't always go down that small amount when I pull on the door handle (from inside or out). I tried disconnecting the battery and resetting, works fine on the driver side but only slight or no movement on the passenger side. Any Ideas, thank you.

Window regulator.

When the windows of my 2002 Boxster could only manage a twitch when the handle was pulled -- yet appeared to work fine at other times, that is going down all the way or up all the way when the lower/raise button pushed (and a reset of the window limit was of no help) -- the tech diagnosed the behavior as a bad window regulator. When he got the door apart and removed the regulator it fell apart in his hands. It was just worn out. Then later when he did the other side its window regulator was likewise just worn out.

Based on my experience I'd have both window regulators replaced and ask the tech about replacing both door membranes. It was not that long after the regulators were replaced the door membranes started to let water from the wet side over into the dry side and the door bottom carpets were wet. This after a wash or after the car sat out in the rain.

I believe the door membrane gets disturbed when the regulator is replaced and the aged door membrane is just not up to the task any more. A re seal of the old membrane just doesn't last very long. So you might as well save yourself a second expedition to inside the door at some later time to address a bad membrane and have it replaced along with the window regulator at the same time.