Window adjustment never gets good

[Emil.ahnberg]

Hello! 

i have a 1988 518i, which both of the manual rear window don’t align good, the left is decent, the right is not as good.

the right is tilted down, 1cm on the left side(sitting inside the car) and all the way up in the right. I had the door card removed and tried to align the window in different ways, but nothing seems to work. What is the correct way of adjusting the window? I know it should align in the top, but it won’t seem to work. Is something broken? Maybe its myself?

the left is not that bad, it aligns good but its quite hard to pull up the window, stops in the middle, takes a bit of force and then gets unstuck and closes all the way.

appriciate all the help I can get, its quite hard to clean the car
 

[Aldo525]

The rear windows operate primarily by resting on the rubber guides, and the entire mechanism (manual or electric) only pushes from below. If it doesn't rise evenly throughout the entire travel, the first thing I would do is thoroughly clean the guides and lubricate them with silicone lubricant. It's very likely that the glass won't rise or fall freely on the sides (guides) due to dirt or hardened rubber.

[Federico]

First, I would check that the glass is firmly attached to the bottom rail. They can detach and cause issues:


 

Also check that the adjuster piece with the 2 bolts has its plastic sliders in place:


 

If all is intact, you only need to open the window slightly, loosen the screws in the adjuster and make the top edge of the window parallel with the frame.

And yeah, these cars are quite old now and I always lube everything inside a door when I have the trim panel off.
 

[Emil.ahnberg]

First, I would check that the glass is firmly attached to the bottom rail. They can detach and cause issues:


 

Also check that the adjuster piece with the 2 bolts has its plastic sliders in place:


 

If all is intact, you only need to open the window slightly, loosen the screws in the adjuster and make the top edge of the window parallel with the frame.

And yeah, these cars are quite old now and I always lube everything inside a door when I have the trim panel off.

 

Thanks alot both of you! In thinking its probably a combination of both old guides and miss aligned window, well I’m 100% that it’s not aligned!!

when I last checked everything was okay, the window was in place in the holder and the 2 sliders was also good.

im going to take the door card and try again, how would I easiest lubricate the guides? Take the window out or spray some silicone grease and open and close?

Thansk again, much needed tips!

[Federico]

For the rubber/felt window guides, silicone spray is all you need. No need to remove the glass unless you want to go the extra mile to clean/lube the lift mechanism on the bench.
You want to use grease for all the sliding/pivoting parts. Also, you can use spray oil to flush the rust and muck out, and then add fresh grease.
Finally, gently pull the glass and metal rail apart to make sure the glass is attached and not just sitting there by gravity.

[Emil.ahnberg]

For the rubber/felt window guides, silicone spray is all you need. No need to remove the glass unless you want to go the extra mile to clean/lube the lift mechanism on the bench.
You want to use grease for all the sliding/pivoting parts. Also, you can use spray oil to flush the rust and muck out, and then add fresh grease.
Finally, gently pull the glass and metal rail apart to make sure the glass is attached and not just sitting there by gravity.

ill give it a shot! Thank you so much!

[Emil.ahnberg]

For the rubber/felt window guides, silicone spray is all you need. No need to remove the glass unless you want to go the extra mile to clean/lube the lift mechanism on the bench.
You want to use grease for all the sliding/pivoting parts. Also, you can use spray oil to flush the rust and muck out, and then add fresh grease.
Finally, gently pull the glass and metal rail apart to make sure the glass is attached and not just sitting there by gravity.

Now i have tried to adjust the window, lubricate etc.

The problem is still that it won’t sit straight, what I did notice was that the whole window and frame moves pretty much, as it’s not tight all around.

The glass is attached to the metal rail, but the whole thing wiggles, thus not letting it adjust correctly. What could be wrong now? The whole arm thing? It’s reakky hard to see what’s loose or what it could be that’s broken.

[Federico]

Try grabbing both the front and rear channels (the ones that hold the rubber guide) from inside the door and wiggle them. They should not move