I was picking up my RFD mail and pushed the window button to send it back up and a pop and hum. No window movement. The drivers door window has been slow to raise or lower since I got the car.

Am leaving on a 600 mile trip so I take off the door panel and push the window up so that the midwest winter weather doesn't interfere with the trip. Making progress.

I stop for the night and take a look at the control. The motor hums good. All three mount bolts are either loose or out with the sheet metal around the upper rear one cracked several ways. I reach up inside and pull off a double gear above the motor and it's gearbox, it has the shaft stub broken off. Looks like the shaft is made from aluminum. I am careful to not touch the switch with my hand reaching blindly.

For now I am going to keep the window wedged closed and try to get the mechanism out to see if I can effect a long term repair. Perhaps a bolt on steel plate with a stub steel shaft. I have read about the lack of availability of the new window control systems.

Any advice will be considered.
Thanks.

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85 Merc 300D - Unwinding 31 years of wear
86 VW TD
Mahindra Diesel
Iseki Diesel

In 2007 I didn't own a diesel.

Here is my funky gear. Complete with a bit of the shaft still in it.

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85 Merc 300D - Unwinding 31 years of wear
86 VW TD
Mahindra Diesel
Iseki Diesel

In 2007 I didn't own a diesel.

I know the price of the Rear Window Regulators has shot up. So it could be more economical to repair it.

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84 300D, 82 Volvo 244Gl Diesel

A slow moving window is a sign that you should have cleaned (degreased) the tracks and applied new grease. A lot of dirt gets in there and the dirt sticks to the grease and parts that are strong enough to do the job, tend to break apart.

Although in your case, if the bolts holding the window regulator were lose, seems that movement of the regulator could have slowed down the window, so some PO replaced the window regulator and didn't tighten the bolts properly (or used lock tight)

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Closing the store
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I got it fixed. Was pretty easy. The support plate on the gear was twisted out of shape with two rivets broken off. the steel shaft for the loose gear was broken off. I replaced the 6mm shaft with a 1/4" bolt and then put in sheet metal screws where the plate was bolted on.


You were right, having it loose was causing it to bind. It runs 3x faster now.

I am off to finish my trip.

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85 Merc 300D - Unwinding 31 years of wear
86 VW TD
Mahindra Diesel
Iseki Diesel

In 2007 I didn't own a diesel.

Used to be a real expensive fix, with $200 motor, etc. Now that 300D's are showing up in the junkyard, it gets cheap. I pulled the driver's window reg out last time I was picking a 300D, for the future, ~$20. My reg. arm broke in two ~30K mi ago and I'm sure the replacement will break eventually since my company has security gates that requires 3 window openings each way, and 6/day is a more than the German engineers expected.

20 dollars would be a reasonable cost for sure. I don't have a parts car or junk yard that has any Mercedes within ~60 miles.

I spent about an hour digging out the part and repairing it. Took about 20 minutes putting it back. The actual gears were in great shape. I had some grease in a grease gun that I used to lube them.

I added washers under all the mounting bolts to help with adsorbing the stress. I didn't weld up the cracks. The 1/4" bolt got the end of it peened over to keep it together.

__________________
85 Merc 300D - Unwinding 31 years of wear
86 VW TD
Mahindra Diesel
Iseki Diesel

In 2007 I didn't own a diesel.