Don't try to take apart your power window motor

[wtfisafleek]

Just don't.

My rear motor was making a bunch of grinding noise, so I figured I'd just take it apart and clean it up, then smack it back together. Wrong. I don't know how in the hell they got it together in the first place, with these teeny tiny springs.

As usual, it's super easy to take apart. There's just 2 screws holding on the armature housing, and it slides right off. Problem is, the housing seemed to want to draw out the armature from it's shaft's home. It only pulled out maybe a half inch or so, but it was enough to disengage the brushes from their slots. I found these impossible to put back in because there are springs behind them that push them up against the armature. I think ants put these things together.

I figured oh well, might as well investigate some more. Sure enough, the original grease, a cream color, was turned a dark, thick pasty grey that had managed to coagulate around the steel cable pivot points and other areas.

In the future, I'll probably just try and lube the hell out of them in an effort to knock some of the sludge out of the way.

[yh61r]

Good call. Right on time, too. This week, I was planning to empty the door, clean everything, and put it back together while I wait for my new interior, while it's at the upholstery.

I'll definitely try and avoid taking the motors apart!

[wtfisafleek]

If I can get to the junkyard this week I'm going to pull a couple for my car and lube them up REALLY well. It's really a shame they built them this way. I think one could disassemble and clean them properly, it's just hard as hell to describe and get pictures of for others to understand unless you're doing it as you go. I can't really reassemble again to take pictures of proper disassembly.