Window won't roll up

[JerryEdgington]

The watts are not even worth mentioning over the course of even a week of use. The issue is not manual or power it's an build issue. I would never go to manual windows, it would be the last feature to give up for many reasons.

Maybe so, but this thread is about a sticky window that jammed. With cranks you don't get balky motors and loose wiring connections, you just roll them up.

 

[davewill]

The watts are not even worth mentioning over the course of even a week of use. The issue is not manual or power it's an build issue. I would never go to manual windows, it would be the last feature to give up for many reasons.

Maybe so, but this thread is about a sticky window that jammed. With cranks you don't get balky motors and loose wiring connections, you just roll them up.

Been a while since you've had manual windows? They have gears and levers that can get jammed up...and of course, the handles break. No free lunch, I'm afraid.

 

[JerryEdgington]

Been a while since you've had manual windows? They have gears and levers that can get jammed up...and of course, the handles break. No free lunch, I'm afraid.

True, gears similar to the powered version, but no motor or wiring to fail, so simpler, less to break down. Never broke a handle myself, but very simple to change out, in fact, if you did break one, you could temporarily use one of the others.

 

[derkraut]

Just a thought . . Why not go back to window cranks and save whatever little power the window motors use?

Crank? Did someone mention a "crank"?

Well...has anyone here ever cranked an ICE automobile to get the engine started? I did; when I was about 11yrs old, I used to have to crank my dad's 1927 Buick by hand because the old 6V battery didn't have enough juice to turn it over. But you had to be really careful for a "backfire" because it would break your arm in a flash. Now, cranking a window is a piece of cake, I think.

See? I've been telling you guys/gals that I was older'n dirt.

 

[DaveinOlyWA]

reading this post probably jinxed me. today while doing the quick charge, i rolled down the passenger window to say hi to someone wandering up to see what I was doing. we chatted a bit and he wandered off and i rolled up the window and i thought it was going to stop on its way up.

like everyone here, it has always been slower but only by a second or two. this time, i rolled down both windows. started the passenger window, counted to two, then started the driver window and it still won by at least 2 seconds.

in contrast, the Prius windows close in about a third of the time as the driver window

 

[JeremyW]

I had a 1997 BMW 318ti with the worst window regulator design ever. In the two and a half years I owned the car, I had to replace the drivers side regulator three times. I had to replace the passenger regulator once. The stock regulator is riveted in, requiring drilling them out and replacing them with bolts. The design is from the coupe model with much smaller front windows- the TI was a two door hatchback. The failure was not that the window would get stuck, but that the glass would fall off the regulator into the door. I rarely rolled my windows down *all the way* because they might not have come back up! :lol:

Even if the Nissan design turns out to be pretty bad, that doesn't make me want to go back to cranks any time soon. The motor was never the issue in the disaster above.

 

[GerryAZ]

With all of the vehicles I have driven over the years, I have had a total of two window mechanism failures--one motor-driven and one hand crank. The motor-drive failure was caused by wires breaking between the driver door and body due to damage caused by the dealer cutting into the wires to install an alarm system while it was on the lot. The alarm system was removed when I purchased the vehicle (it already had a factory alarm and I did not trust the aftermarket add-on system) but the damage to the wiring harness remained. When the wires finally broke while on a long trip, a few minutes with wire strippers, crimp tool, and splice connectors in the motel parking lot solved the problem. The hand crank mechanism failure required me to order the replacement mechanism from the dealer, take the door apart, drill out rivets, install the new mechanism, and reassemble the door (took an afternoon after I received the new part). On top of the inconvenience, the parts manager said they have many more failures of the hand crank mechanisms on that model than the power mechanisms. From now on, I will always opt for power windows. I hope the problems with the LEAF window mechanisms are not widespread and that those who have problems get them taken care of without hassle. I will probably regret saying this, but so far I have had no power window problems with my LEAF.

Gerry

 

[DaveinOlyWA]

wow, I must have bad luck or something. in my lifetime, i have "enjoyed" at least a half dozen window failures. granted, not always the newest car on the block but had a Toyota Corona that was only 4 years old and the hand crank broke. in fact, have had a few of those. a few where the clip thingy on the window broke (this is where only one side goes up but you can still make window work by pulling up on the bad side while cranking)

and also had one where the toothed thingy broke.

 

[Boomer23]

I had a 1997 BMW 318ti with the worst window regulator design ever. In the two and a half years I owned the car, I had to replace the drivers side regulator three times. I had to replace the passenger regulator once. The stock regulator is riveted in, requiring drilling them out and replacing them with bolts. The design is from the coupe model with much smaller front windows- the TI was a two door hatchback. The failure was not that the window would get stuck, but that the glass would fall off the regulator into the door. I rarely rolled my windows down *all the way* because they might not have come back up! :lol:

Even if the Nissan design turns out to be pretty bad, that doesn't make me want to go back to cranks any time soon. The motor was never the issue in the disaster above.

Another example of why BMW got the reputation of being a brand that you don't want to own out of warranty. No offense to your former whip, Jeremy, but that poor ti model was a real red headed stepchild of the marque. A trial balloon by BMW to see if Americans would buy a relatively inexpensive small engine hatchback from them. The answer was "not so much" back then. Come to think of it, the i3 will be only BMW's second small hatch in this country (aside from the coupe versions of the small sports series) since the ti, but it won't fit the moniker "inexpensive". I hope that it will be way more successful than the ti.

I had my own bad window crank experience with a cheap German car, a '75 VW Dasher wagon. What a piece of junk. The manual window crank mechanism failed from metal fatigue after only 3 or 4 years. Most of the metal in that car seemed to be substandard quality. It turned me against VW ever since, and they are still ranked fairly low on reliability.

 

[planet4ever]

Final resolution: The regulator and glass runner were replaced under warranty. The passenger window now goes up 5% faster than the driver side window!

Two little side benefits:

• For taking so long and making me come in three times they gave me a free cabin filter change. Way to go, Premier Nissan.
• Since they had to keep my car overnight I got a 2012 LEAF loaner for a day. I loved the seat and steering wheel heaters in the cold weather we've been having. (Well, OK, some of you will laugh, but for we Bay Area softies, low 30's at night and around 50 high seems COLD.)

Ray

 

[mig]

The watts are not even worth mentioning over the course of even a week of use. The issue is not manual or power it's an build issue. I would never go to manual windows, it would be the last feature to give up for many reasons.

Maybe so, but this thread is about a sticky window that jammed. With cranks you don't get balky motors and loose wiring connections, you just roll them up.

Maybe something like this is a good compromise?

http://ep.yimg.com/ca/I/sports-imports_2241_83074560" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;

One can assuage their guilt for rolling up/down the windows by cranking a hand crank just enough to replace the wasted power.

 

[dgpcolorado]

Nissan quality and engineering. How long have they been making cars? They can't even make an accurate LCD clock that can stay within 10 minutes of accuracy per month or two. I never had issues like this until I bought a Nissan product. They must all be right handed and early to work.

Perhaps the clock issue that you dislike so much has already been fixed: the "eyebrow" clock on my 2012 keeps perfect time and always has.

 

[TaylorSFGuy]

My driver's side has flat out stopped working (fortunately it was closed when it decided the time had come). Passenger window was slow and greased under warranty which helped for a bit but it too has slowed down again. I suspect it is the actuator on the driver's side.

 

[DaveinOlyWA]

My driver's side has flat out stopped working (fortunately it was closed when it decided the time had come). Passenger window was slow and greased under warranty which helped for a bit but it too has slowed down again. I suspect it is the actuator on the driver's side.

oh that sucks! my drivers side is more than twice as fast as the passenger side. just counting the days when the passenger side goes out

 

[Herm]

Could it be a weak 12V battery?

 

[TomT]

It's luck of the draw. They use a cheap ceramic resonator in place of a more expensive quartz crystal and they can vary all over the map. A friend's 2012 gains 2 minutes a month...

Nissan quality and engineering. How long have they been making cars? They can't even make an accurate LCD clock that can stay within 10 minutes of accuracy per month or two. I never had issues like this until I bought a Nissan product. They must all be right handed and early to work.

Perhaps the clock issue that you dislike so much has already been fixed: the "eyebrow" clock on my 2012 keeps perfect time and always has.

 

[TLeaf]

They use a cheap ceramic resonator in place of a more expensive quartz crystal and they can vary all over the map.

That's got to be the first time in my life that anyone has ever said that a quartz-based timepiece would be the more expensive option..
I guess when you make a few million cars a year that even a few nickels and dimes here and there can really add up!

This thread is making me look forward to summer so that I can really put the up/down switch to work; if the window regulator is going to break (fingers crossed it won't!), I definitely want it to go before the 3-year bumper-to-bumper warranty goes out in a year.

 

[RegGuheert]

They use a cheap ceramic resonator in place of a more expensive quartz crystal and they can vary all over the map.

That's got to be the first time in my life that anyone has ever said that a quartz-based timepiece would be the more expensive option..

The quartz crystal is indeed an expensive part in the bill of materials. They may be replacing them with ceramic resonators today, but there is a rather concerted effort to build quartz replacement directly on the chip in CMOS. Eventually I expect there will be neither a quartz crystal nor any other off-chip resonator in low-end electronics.

It would be nice if they simply received a signal from the atomic clock in CO and maintained corrected time that way. Or perhaps simply correct it through the cellular network.

 

[davewill]

It would be nice if they simply received a signal from the atomic clock in CO and maintained corrected time that way. Or perhaps simply correct it through the cellular network.

They already have accurate time from the GPS. All they'd need to do is SET the clock in the eyebrow from the one in the nav system.

 

[DeaneG]

...All they'd need to do is SET the clock in the eyebrow from the one in the nav system.

It would be cool if there was a way to do that through the CANbus, so plugging a gidmeter or Phil's new box into the car could keep the eyebrow clock synced.