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.

__________________
1998 C230 330,000 miles (currently dead of second failed EIS, yours will fail too, turning you into the dealer's personal human cash machine)
1988 F150 144,000 miles (leaks all the colors of the rainbow)
Previous stars: 1981 Brava 210,000 miles, 1978 128 150,000 miles, 1977 B200 Van 175,000 miles, 1972 Vega (great, if rusty, car), 1972 Celica, 1986.5 Supra