Today when I put my top down my rear window did not go all the way down. Now the window is loose and can be slid up and down. Removing some parts and looking closely at it I can see the cable is loose, tangled, and off the pulley. I want to take the window assembly out of the car for repair but am not sure how to do this. I see two adjustment bolts that have nuts on them which may mean they also server as mounting bolts and removed them but the assembly is still not budging.

Has anyone else tackled this? If so does the assembly lift up and out of the window cavity? What is the order of removal? Does the glass need to be removed prior to removing the other parts? Do I need to remove the outside window fitting at all?

I already have the rear seat, side cover and inside rubber window fitting removed? I don't see anything easy to remove to go forward. Any help is greatly appreciated.

---------Edit---------
Right after I posted this question i found this guide (http://www.jagrepair.com/images/Auto...lacement-2.pdf) . It looks really great. I will check it out and update this thread after trying the method detailed in the guide.

 

The guide linked to above is really great. It explains everything. I was able to start and finish this in one day. Didn't see any damaged parts, just tangled cables which slipped off the pulleys. I carefully rewound the cables and it seems to work perfectly. It's a little scary that I didn't find or fix anything, just reassembled. If it derails again I'll have to replace the assembly, as it's a lot of work to get at and remove this part.

 

What you likely did not see was the spool is cracked which causes one cable to get slack, which of course causes the other cable to become slack and one or both cables come off their pulleys. You are fine until you lower the rear windows again,
There are kits all over ebay for these. I got one but found the "box" that the cable ends go into is not designed correctly such that the cable ends will pop out...and then you are back to where you are at. I was able to re-use the "box" for my repair.
There are complete new window regulators available, tad bit expensive, whereas the "kit" are $20.
And I agree, A LOT of work involved in getting the window regulator out and back in. I had to do it twice, hope to never, ever have to do it again.....

 

@Lannyl81 That may be what is happening, I didn't see any crack in the spool, but maybe.

It could have been another issue that I was able to "fix" (in quotes because it is less than ideal.) The cable came lose again about 10 window cycles in. I was watching it each time and did notice that as the window went down it seems to bump something on the way. I pulled the whole thing out again. It was much easier this time at about 30 minutes to get the part out and back on my bench.

It went back together easy enough. One note is that it is possible to wind the cable backwards. If you can't get the window to go to the extremes of the track then that is likely the case.

I tested it several times with a current limiting power supply I have for electronics tinkering. This was very helpful. To get this to work I used some pins in the connector to allow for connecting the power supply.


I then moved the whole setup out to the car and as I installed each piece I used the leads and power supply to test the window movement. This is about a million times easier than using the power roof control in the car because it can be done with the top down and looking directly at the movement. It also helped me identify where to tuck a foam flap in the inside seal mounting bracket so it didn't contact the window. (This was probably installed incorrectly before but was not likely the cause of the issue.)

When I installed the inside seal I found the bump I saw before the window came off track. It was caused by wear on the inside seal. The seal has a fur coating on the surfaces in contact with the window; however, in the rear of the seal the fur was worn away and the exposed rubber was sticking to the glass on the way down, sucking the seal into the window compartment. Over time the seal had developed a bend that made the sticking more pronounced. I suspect this increased friction is the real cause of the failure and could have lead to broken plastic parts inside the regulator. If you are replacing the regulator (motor assembly) take a good look at these seals to see if they need replacement.

Both times when the regulator cable came off tract the outside temperature was above 100°F (38°C) and the car had been sitting in the sun for a while. This would have made the window seal rubber softer than normal increasing it's grab on the glass.

Since, presumably, the seal is just there for looks and possibly to stop rain and dust when the top is down, I cut away the worn parts as shown in the photo. My hope is that the seal was the main contributor to the failure, and now that the seal is out of the way, it will work reliably. Maybe I also need to replace the cable, or more. We'll see.


The above picture has the inside of the car at the bottom and the outside rear quarter panel, just behind the drivers (USA) side door, at the top.
If the window continues to work with this fix, I may replace that worn, and now cut, part.

 

Good job man... And thanks for the explanation!

About that seal.... When I have a part that is not urgently needed but I know replacement is in my future,,, I set an eBay SEARCH that alerts me as soon as items are posted - and I ****** them up. I think the seal can be pricey - if I'm thinking about the same thing.

3 days ago, thank heavens, I was alerted to a rare XJS instrument cluster (with a pristine ribbon circuit) for the 1990 model which has the speedo pick up sensor mounted in the differential... 130 BUCKS! Took it and of course the seller was also selling the diff sensor (rare and usually expensive) so I grabbed it as well. A good eBay day, lol. Just wish I had had the sensor when I had the rear axle out of the car 2 weeks ago. But, I ain that lucky. Maybe someday I will have a working speedometer in the v12. Maybe next week, NOT, lol...

Also, with these cars (damn cars) I have started trying to identify PARTS that will inevitably fail, wear items that are getting harder and harder to find. It's amazing how the "market" knows what is rare and prone to failure and highly sought after - and how that effects prices. In that, I have a few eBay search terms set for parts like this (rare, expensive,sought after) and I have been extremely lucky. The unsuspecting SELLER who puts up an item for sale not knowing the world is chasing it, or will be. I ****** those up as well when I see them. Lol,,, now to figure out how to organize the stuff in a small NYC apartment. Good grief,,, anywho

Thanks for posting your fix!

 

First of all, thanks to all of you who have posted comments and information, particularly D. Jensen for his detailed disassemble instructions.

My 2002 XK8 recently developed the dreaded problem with the rear quarter windows so, armed with Mr Jenson’s instructions, I decided to tackle the job today. It took me about two hours to get the regulator assembly out and was pretty straightforward.

Inspection revealed that the cables have come off the spool but no obvious signs of damage to the spool or plastic linkage. The cables themselves are pretty mangled so will need to be replaced so I have opted for one of the repair kits sold on Amazon as a first attempt.

The part where I could use some help is with how to correctly wind the cables. Does anyone have any diagrams, pictures or drawings that they would be prepared to share with me please?

All help and support greatly appreciated!

 

I'm sorry Man, I don't have ANY experience with the spooling of the cables,,, but I would LOVE to see some photos of what you are looking at. With a total of 4 of these window sets, I'm sure this is in my future... If you have,,, and it's not too much ah hassle... Thanks!

 

Check out this post from rothwell's working thread:
https://www.jaguarforums.com/forum/x...8/#post1710384

 

Ha! Thank you, Mike!

 

Hi JJJ, there really isn’t much to see but I took these pictures to show where I am with the repair. Hope this helps…

 

Great, Man. Thanks!
They help, they really do.
Everything does...

I know this job (or something like it) is somewhere down the line for me. One of my quarter windows act a little bit funny (slow/struggles to go up at the very top of it's travel) which I think is to do with the shape of the frame out where it meets the top and moulding... Lol, I sit there and watch it kinda struggle, everytime. Gotta do something about it. Anywho,,,

Thanks again!

 

Update. The assembly failed again and again nothing was actually broken. I reassembled it again, but this time I bought an oversized plastic washer and using very delicate tools I attached it to the pulley that the line was slipping off of. I really wanted to get a pic but forgot (doh!). I drilled little holes and put in little screws then epoxied it in place. The idea was to make it impossible for the cable to slip off again, and if it broke into pieces I would replace it anyway. So far so good.