Rear window halfway down

VTNomad · **Posted:** Wed Aug 10, 2011 8:30 pm

Walked back to my Jeep today after a long day's work and my rear passenger was half rolled down. I don't know if something broke, or if someone tried to break in. I work in law enforcement and park in the police lot, so someone would have to have gigante cojones to try to break in, but its possible. At first, I could hear the motor attempting to work, but not anymore. I could easily raise or lower the window by hand. The door was extremly hard to open, but once I got it open I noticed an orange spring/pipe clearer looking thing stuck in the latch (see picture below). I popped the panel off and have the window taped up from the inside to keep the rain out.

So did someone try to break in? Did something break? What needs fixin' and how much is it going to cost?

JeepinJarhead03 · **Posted:** Wed Aug 10, 2011 8:37 pm

broken window regulator most likely - which is kinda like telling someone who has a growth covering half their face that it's probably a tumor 0_o

two or three options

depending on the year and a bit of your luck and pushyness, chrysler will replace the window reg for free with stock parts

or you could replace it yourself with stock parts

or you could replace it yourself with upgraded mopar parts that aren't much of an upgrade but require a new window

or *probably best option* replace it with an ACTUAL upgraded part from steiger

can't get to the thread with all the info on the steiger stuff due to how i'm logged in but a quick search for window regulator upgrade or steiger *sp* should lead you right to it

kjstinga · **Posted:** Thu Aug 11, 2011 2:45 pm

First I would call Chrysler and be pushy about it being a known problem and get them to cover the cost.

This year they came out with a different lift plate that I have had put on both rear windows and they are holding better than the standard "replace regulator" that was being done.

If you can't twist Chrysler into doing it for free; then I would go with the Steiger replacement and do it yourself.

The new window/regulator was only used on the 2006-2007 models to change the attachment to the window of the regulator in hopes that it would hold up better and it didn't. They were being retrofitted back to the original regulator when they broke which required a new glass as well as the regulator.

I have had 14 regulators replaced and have never had to change out the window; the last 2 now have only a new liftplate on the repair.

SavageUrge · **Posted:** Mon Aug 15, 2011 8:39 pm

I don't want to rub it in, but I can't help but wonder if the reason I've never had any issues with my windows, was because I sprayed silicone on the tracks as soon as I got my Jeep home from the dealer. My dad taught me that one. Every vehicle I've owned, I silicone the rubber seals around the doors and the window tracks. I've never had a problem with either of those items. I also spray white lithium grease into the locks, hinges and any metal to metal contact point (door strikers, latches, e.g.) on the exterior of the vehicle.

infernicus · **Posted:** Mon Aug 15, 2011 10:12 pm

SavageUrge wrote:

I don't want to rub it in, but I can't help but wonder if the reason I've never had any issues with my windows, was because I sprayed silicone on the tracks as soon as I got my Jeep home from the dealer. My dad taught me that one. Every vehicle I've owned, I silicone the rubber seals around the doors and the window tracks. I've never had a problem with either of those items. I also spray white lithium grease into the locks, hinges and any metal to metal contact point (door strikers, latches, e.g.) on the exterior of the vehicle.

I've heard that as well, But take the millions of vehicles that are on the road that probably never had the window tracks lubed up and they work just fine many, many, many years later. For the Liberty's to fail within the first couple of years, is just ridiculous. The original window regulators are just a terribly designed cheap product..

JeepinJarhead03 · **Posted:** Mon Aug 15, 2011 10:42 pm

i still stand by my orig. assumption of what does it

the swelling / shrinking under stress of being in the up position during hot/cold swings and not being used

the reg i have failing is the same reg i had fail when I had all 4 of my regs replaced, and that window simply never gets used, only time it gets used is when I accidentally hit the switch for it and low and behold.. CRACK..

and I smoke when I drive so my front windows get used to some degree regardless of outside temp, and verily.. No crackycrack..

JeepinJarhead03 · **Posted:** Mon Aug 15, 2011 10:50 pm

but i will have to agree with you and ya pops..

lil bit of lith never hurt any of those moving parts

kjstinga · **Posted:** Tue Aug 16, 2011 1:20 pm

Not to burst your bubble, but my tracks are lubicated twice a year along with my other vehicles and it obviously has done nothing to solve my 14 occurrences. We also never use the rear windows which are most often the ones that drop while it is sitting in the driveway. Take a look at the lift plate... inherently bad design and choice to make it plastic by someone trying to save 20 cents per part.

Jeep has finally changed the lift plate and is replacing only it. So far it is holding up considerably better (knock on wood) than previous replacements of the entire regulator.

ChesterCRD · **Posted:** Tue Aug 16, 2011 8:51 pm

I have one of these that broke today. It looks like there was a change in the regulator design in 2/06, the month mine was manufactured. Last time it took me two trips to the dealer to get correct part. Mine attaches to the window with the pin and metal wire clip type connection (same as the front window regulators on my 2000 dodge caravan), not the plastic clip that the Steiger part appears to replace. Does anyone know whether I have the part for after 2/06 manufacture? I guess I'm asking whether the 2005 and earlier had the plastic clip or the pin/wire clip like mine.

Thanks for any feedback/advice.

kjstinga · **Posted:** Wed Aug 17, 2011 3:40 pm

There was a change in the window attachment in the starting in 06 model year; from what I understand the easiiest way to tell if you have the later change is if you window pane has hole in it down at the attachment point it is the 06-07 variety regulator. Both are prone to breaking.

As far as I knew, the last time I visited the Steiger site they sold replacements for both style of attachment and describe both in the pdf manuals.

Tokyojoe · **Posted:** Thu Aug 18, 2011 2:15 am

Keep in mind, he has a 2004. There have not been very many `04's with issues. It is mostly the `05-07's. Look on this forum and you will see that. If the door was having an issue opening, then I wonder if something else broke and was blocking the arm lever that slides when opening the door.

Did you notice any hand prints on your window? Maybe someone was trying to press down on the window somewhere else before you went to work and it weakened whatever broke and the drive to work assisted the breakage.

Don't you have security cameras for your parking lot? Check up on it.

JeepinJarhead03 · **Posted:** Thu Aug 18, 2011 3:00 am

lots of times when the regulators break it'll fall down and obstruct the mechanism, i couldn't open one of my rear doors at all

dgeist · **Posted:** Thu Aug 18, 2011 9:35 am

I can't believe no-one's mentioned Steiger in this thread yet...

http://www.steigerperformance.com/dif.cgi?sp13002

Long story short: you can complain to the dealer to fix it, but no matter what happens, if you use the OEM part (plastic) you might have it fail again. If you're mechanically inclined and have some basic tools, the Steiger kit takes about an hour or so to install. It's expensive, but it's aluminum and you won't have to ever replace the regulator again.

Dan

JeepinJarhead03 · **Posted:** Thu Aug 18, 2011 10:02 am

was mentioned in the 2nd post

dgeist · **Posted:** Thu Aug 18, 2011 10:21 am

JeepinJarhead03 wrote:

was mentioned in the 2nd post

I can't believe that that dgeist guy doesn't read the posts more carefully.... but at least he posted a link

JeepinJarhead03 · **Posted:** Thu Aug 18, 2011 10:26 am

i'm just rib pokin ya

we need to revamp a common links post that's easier to find and weed out some of the defunct stuff

TnRebel · **Posted:** Sun Aug 21, 2011 1:36 pm

digest wrote:

I can't believe no-one's mentioned Steiger in this thread yet...

http://www.steigerperformance.com/dif.cgi?sp13002

Long story short: you can complain to the dealer to fix it, but no matter what happens, if you use the OEM part (plastic) you might have it fail again. If you're mechanically inclined and have some basic tools, the Steiger kit takes about an hour or so to install. It's expensive, but it's aluminum and you won't have to ever replace the regulator again.

Dan

I replace both of my rear windows reg with them and sleep easy at night now , i replace the old ones twice with factory parts to have them go out again .

RogueCRD · **Posted:** Thu Sep 01, 2011 1:06 pm

+1 for Steiger Performance! It's the only way to truly fix the window regulator issue.

My first rear window regulator broke in 2008. I replaced it with a new OEM window motor assembly that cost me $150. Last year the other rear regulator broke and by then I knew of the main cause of the regulator problem (plastic clip) and had read about Steiger. I wasnt gonna pay another $150 for whole window motor assembly when the only issue was the plastic clip that attaches to the window. So I got Steiger's metal replacement. Problem solved.

Three weeks ago the regulator I replaced in 2008 broke again, just as I was gonna leave the country for two weeks. :furious:

Replacement window regulators from Chrysler WILL BREAK. It's only a matter of time. They are the same crap plastic piece that just broke on you. Chrysler has done nothing to address the problem and force uninformed KJ Owners to spend $150 because a 5 cent piece of plastic keeps breaking.

Once I some more money saved up, I'm going to replace the front regulators with Steiger parts before they break too.

ShoreRenegade · **Posted:** Thu Sep 01, 2011 1:42 pm

Mine went out last year. What a piece of junk that regulator is. I love when companies like Jeep know about a problem year after year and don't do anything about it.

Rear window halfway down

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