Window won't roll up

Our passenger side window has always rolled up more slowly than the driver's side one, and there was even a short thread on this way back when. But today it got worse. "How come I can't get the window to roll up?" my wife asked. "Let me try from here," I suggested, and my button did work, though even more slowly than usual. "That's odd," I thought. Later she rolled it down again - she likes more fresh air than the climate control system seems to want to pump out. Naturally, after we pulled into our driveway, she told me, "It's not working again." This time my button didn't work either, even after I tried "rocking" it. It would move a little bit, like a power drill with a dead battery.

Since the car sits outside, and it's supposed to rain tonight, this began to seem like a problem. The window was sticking out a couple of inches above the door frame; I'm not sure whether she hadn't rolled it all the way down, or was able to roll it back up a little ways. We solved the problem temporarily by her pulling up on the window while I pulled up on the button on my side. Once it got about two thirds of the way up it went the rest of the way by itself.

I swear, we have never poured Coke down inside the door frame, or taken the panel off, or anything like that. I'll try to get in to the dealer in the next few days, but I'm sure wondering about the likely cause. Worn out motor? Bad wiring connection? Improperly lubricated? Sticky sealing goop that went somewhere it shouldn't during manufacture? Water that got inside the door and rusted something?

Ray

My passenger door window is also sluggish, but it still "works"...
Knock on object derived from trees.

I've noticed too that in the recent cold weather that my windows are very sluggish to open and close. Probably half as fast to open and 1/3 as fast to close. Mine is clearly cold-weather related and not a wiring issue. Can anyone recommend a lubrication (dry silicone spray?) on the window channels to make them slide easier and reduce load on the obviously undersized window motor?

My passenger-side window has always been slow. It still gets there eventually.

Same here. My passenger window is considerably slower moving up that the driver's window, and seems to struggle... maybe more when it's cold.

Likewise...slower passenger side window than any of the others.

Is the 12V battery okay?

Same issue here, a few months into ownership. At One-Year Service they lubricated the "glass run" (whatever that is), but also ordered a "glass run rubber". Installed a week later. Now works fine.

Let them fix this issue under warranty.

Hey everyone,

It's a known problem with the Leaf. Last winter in the UK, I had problems with my 2011 Leaf's windows.

The car went in to our local dealer, and they spent some time looking at it. It ended up needing warranty repair work, and a couple of engineers from Japan came over and looked at it.

I was told it was an issue regarding improper assembly at Oppama, but after being fixed -- and behaving most of the year -- the problem is back.

For reference, here's the UK forum detailing the issue.

Not just a LEAF issue... has been a known problem on many of Nissan's lineup.

aminorjourney said:

For reference, here's the UK forum detailing the issue.

Click to expand...

Heh, isn't our driver window their passenger window? Can I get two driver windows? Oh and two right hand windshield sprayer nozzles? :lol:

I lube them with silicon spray.

Update: I'm not sure the dealership knows what the problem is, but they agree something is wrong. They didn't take the door apart today, but pointed out that the problem was worst when the window was 1/3 of the way up. They think the regulator is binding, and are going to replace it and the door channel under warranty, but they have to order parts. I didn't know what a regulator was, but apparently it's just the mechanism that converts the rotation from the motor shaft into up and down motion. I guess even old fashioned crank windows have a regulator - nothing high tech there.

Ray

I had the same problem, brought it in and they replaced the regulator, it is better now. it took a few weeks to get the regulator in, I just didn't use the passenger window much during that time. If your window is stuck, you will have to have another person help, you can push/pull the window up while pressing the up-button at the same time and that should help as long as it wasn't lowered all the way into the door.

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

Thank you, but no...

JerryEdgington said:

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

Click to expand...

JerryEdgington said:

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

Click to expand...

A $35,000 car with crank windows. :?

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.

kubel said:

A $35,000 car with crank windows. :?

Click to expand...

OK, not what buyers expect at the $35k price point, but then 99.9% of car buyers in the US don't buy Leafs, because it's a $35k car that they can't drive anywhere. Like a gas car that gets great milage but only has a one gallon tank, and if you can find a gas station, the fill hose is 1/16" diameter, 1/8" if you're lucky, and the gas can take hours to drip in. What a value. Takes two days to go from Boston to NYC, so I doubt wether the windows are powered or manual makes much difference to them.

I'm just saying that crank windows don't use watts and are reliable except when iced up, but even powered windows can get iced up. Course you can't roll em up and down easy from the drivers seat, but we didn't have that for years and it didn't kill us. You young'uns are so used to luxery.

Maybe Nissan could put cranks in a future "S" trim, as long as they're eliminating all the unneeded bells and whistles.

But as for the OP, thanks, I'll keep an eye on mine, the passenger side does seem slower.

JerryEdgington said:

kubel said:

A $35,000 car with crank windows. :?

Click to expand...

OK, not what buyers expect at the $35k price point, but then 99.9% of car buyers in the US don't buy Leafs, because it's a $35k car that they can't drive anywhere. Like a gas car that gets great milage but only has a one gallon tank, and if you can find a gas station, the fill hose is 1/16" diameter, 1/8" if you're lucky, and the gas can take hours to drip in. What a value. Takes two days to go from Boston to NYC, so I doubt wether the windows are powered or manual makes much difference to them.

I'm just saying that crank windows don't use watts and are reliable except when iced up, but even powered windows can get iced up. Course you can't roll em up and down easy from the drivers seat, but we didn't have that for years and it didn't kill us. You young'uns are so used to luxery.

Maybe Nissan could put cranks in a future "S" trim, as long as they're eliminating all the unneeded bells and whistles.

But as for the OP, thanks, I'll keep an eye on mine, the passenger side does seem slower.

Click to expand...

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.