W124 Rear Window Stops Short

[Friz]

Vehicle is a 1995 E300D. I searched the forum posts and am leaning towards a window regulator problem. I didn't find anything exactly like my problem so here is my problem. Window goes up and down smoothly. When raising the window it stops about 2 inches from the top. When lowering it it disappears about 2 inches into the door. Looks like the travel distance is correct but the travel has moved about 2 inches down. I have the door panel off. The cable looks okay. Upper cable is tight on the way up, lose on the way down. Lower cable just the opposite. Has something slipped out or a plastic piece broken? Or does the regulator have to be replaced? Any help appreciated - Friz

oops! I see I posted this on the wrong forum. My car is a diesel. I would imagine though that the windows are the same. When I figure out how, I will move it to the Diesel Discussion.

[duxthe1]

Bad regulator. Soon it will likely break worse.

[Friz]

Thanks for the help.
Found a post from 8/08. lalan64 had the same problem. Suggestion was it could be the sliding/guide jaw on the regulator - plastic piece which breaks. Available at Peach Parts $4-$16. The regulator w motor is $100. I suppose I will pull the regulator and see what the sliding/guide jaw looks like. By the way, anyone know how to post images? Oh yeah also, anyone know who is/was Phastlane Phil? He is mentioned as a parts guru in several posts.

[kylegregg]

check the jaw. its a pain to replace with regulator in the car. i suggest removing it so you can hammer (peen?) in the new one.

[Walkenvol]

Originally Posted by Friz

Vehicle is a 1995 E300D. I searched the forum posts and am leaning towards a window regulator problem. I didn't find anything exactly like my problem so here is my problem. Window goes up and down smoothly. When raising the window it stops about 2 inches from the top. When lowering it it disappears about 2 inches into the door. Looks like the travel distance is correct but the travel has moved about 2 inches down. I have the door panel off. The cable looks okay. Upper cable is tight on the way up, lose on the way down. Lower cable just the opposite. Has something slipped out or a plastic piece broken? Or does the regulator have to be replaced? Any help appreciated - Friz

oops! I see I posted this on the wrong forum. My car is a diesel. I would imagine though that the windows are the same. When I figure out how, I will move it to the Diesel Discussion.

This happened recently on my W201 which I think has the same regulator design as the W124. Had the regulator out twice before I noticed the problem was where it attaches to the window the piece had rotated 180 degrees. I attributed it to having a son driving the car and he probably rolled the window down with the radio on and didn't release the button as soon as the window hit bottom such that the electric motor torqued it around. I was able to rotate it back to the proper position and its been working fine since, althouth not a lot of window rolling with the recent cold weather. Didn't take pictures, but if you remove the regulator and its not obvious to you I could probably point it out from a picture of yours.

[Friz]

Muy frio gentlemen! Now I am getting somewhere. Thank you for the help.
The picture is part of the regulator in my rear door. Is that the sliding jaw? It looks as if the metal piece is in the wrong position? I guess I could pull the panel off the other door but I will ask here first.

[vstech]

Originally Posted by Friz

Thanks for the help.
Found a post from 8/08. lalan64 had the same problem. Suggestion was it could be the sliding/guide jaw on the regulator - plastic piece which breaks. Available at Peach Parts $4-$16. The regulator w motor is $100. I suppose I will pull the regulator and see what the sliding/guide jaw looks like. By the way, anyone know how to post images? Oh yeah also, anyone know who is/was Phastlane Phil? He is mentioned as a parts guru in several posts.

I'm not 100% positive, but I'm fairly certain that fastlane phil was our own Phil Reinhardt who passed away in 2012... In Memoriam: Phil Reinhardt 1951-2012

posting images is accomplished in one of two ways, either host the image on our site, through the advanced post method, (when starting a thread, you are in advanced, but making a quick reply you have to click advanced) either way, scroll down to the "manage attachments" button, and link, or upload the image from there.
alternatively, you can host the pics in a photo hosting site, like photobucket, or flikr or similar, and link to the image from there, using the yellow square above the post text window.

[Walkenvol]

Originally Posted by Friz

Muy frio gentlemen! Now I am getting somewhere. Thank you for the help.
The picture is part of the regulator in my rear door. Is that the sliding jaw? It looks as if the metal piece is in the wrong position? I guess I could pull the panel off the other door but I will ask here first.

Yes, its rotated like mine was. Don't know that I could have rotated it back with it in the door. Was pretty easy to see where it belonged after the light bulb came on as to what was wrong.

[Friz]

Thanks vstech et al. You are probably right about Phil Rhinehart aka Fastlane Phil. He is repeatedly referred to as "our Fastlane Phil". God rest his soul. As you see I figured out how to post an image. Thanks again.
Now, I want to pull the regulator but how do I get the window and it to part? I see the possibility of cracking the glass.

[jay_bob]

This is harder to describe that do.

The piece that is attached to the glass, stays on the glass.

There is a little retainer clip in the slider assembly that rides up and down the rail. Once that is removed the slider can be moved side to side on the window piece. It can be moved enough sideways to free it from the glass.

It is shown in FSM job 72-181. I had to do the job on my W210 and it looks similar. I found a tutorial on YouTube.

Comparing the W124 mechanism to the W210 is like comparing a Rolex to a watch from the dollar store. No kidding.

[Friz]

Thank you VERY BIG Jay_Bob et al. The regulator is out and it is a bad sliding jaw. I just ordered a new one. If any of you guys are ever around Melrose, drop me a line and I'll spring for a cold one (or two).

Thanks again, Friz

[Walkenvol]

Friz - if I'm viewing the picture you posted correctly, you don't need anything new. You should be able to roatate it back into the correct position. My theory is this happens when you hold down on the switch after the window has reached the fully bottom position. There's no cut off on these power windows and you need to be really careful when rolling up or down that you come off the switch immediately when reaching fully up or down.

[Friz]

I see what you are talking about. I did try rotating it back (before your post) and was successful in breaking the plastic part of the jaw. So, on Sunday I ordered the part (wrong part) and the next day got an email from Peach telling me the part was for a newer vehicle and my order was on hold. I called them and ordered the correct part at 1/3 the cost of the one I originally ordered. Now that is good customer service. Thanks for your help!

Best regards, Friz

[Friz]

So the sliding jaw arrived yesterday. Unfortunately it doesn't look like the one I have. The one in the Peach Parts catalog (1995 E300D) is not the same as the one that came off my regulator. There is no way I can see getting it on the rail and there is no where to attach the two cable ends to the sliding jaw. The one I originally ordered, which I was told was for a 1996 E300, looks very much like mine. Not exactly but very similar. I checked a few other on line vendors and sure enough, they show the same part as Peach does for a 1995 E300D. Curiously enough, if you look at the picture of the whole regulator assembly in the catalog, you see the sliding jaw I pulled off my regulator. I checked regulator assemblies at several other vendors and their regulators also show my sliding jaw and not the one they sell as a replacement. So I talked with Mike the parts guy and he checked the Mercedes catalog. The one Peach sent me is the one in the Mercedes catalog. Go figure. I ordered the one for the 1996. Any ideas about the discrepancy? I was going to post an image with the two sliding jaws but I my camera is kaput at the moment. If I get it going I will put up an image.

[jay_bob]

That really surprises me.

The 1995 E300 is a W124
The 1996 E300 is a W210

Totally different body styles.

Does your part number for the regulator begin with 124 or 210?