merc, c class elegance 1998. rear side windows
 

both rear side windows on my son's car don't work.
when you press the control switch for the left hand side window you can hear it trying to work but nothing does. on the right hand side window there is no noise or anything when switch is pushed. but can raise it manually by putting hands on both sides of window.
it is a 5 door automatic. c class elegance 1998 model
any help would be appreciated as we are both novices when it comes to cars.
brian.:)

I am guessing you are in Canada? I believe Elegence had the electric windows and otherwise had crank windows? Anyway, there are quite a few posts about bad windows in C230, C280, W202, so if you do a search you will find a lot of info. Basically there are 2 main ways they fail: Either the motor module goes bad mysteriously, or the mechanical part of the mechanism "regulator" goes bad. People seem to think the regulator goes bad more often. It definitly sounds like your drivers side is the regulator. You can get this part pretty cheap. If you search you will find the instruction about taking off the door panel and replacing the regulator. You need some skill level though, so you have to decide if it is a DIY job for you or not.