Rear Window Issues

So I’m having some major issues with my rear window. I can’t get it to roll up all the way. I live 2 miles up a dirt road so the dust accumulation is probably the cause but no matter how much cleaner I do I still can only get the window up about an inch shy of closed. Is there a way to manually roll it up? I have the hatch apart and everything looks fine. The rails the window slide on are pretty dirty but still have white grease on them. I’m fed up and just need to get the damn thing rolled up. Once it’s up I’m just going to unplug the window motor. We almost never use the window anyway.

Any help would be greatly appreciated!

 

Try cleaning the felt-like weather stripping in the channel the glass rides in. I’ve only had mine a few years, but noticed after a lot of dust accumulation, the window seems to roll up slower.

Somebody here mentioned rolling down the window, taking a damp rag, pushing into the channel, and wiping and down. Rinse and repeat until it seems cleaner. Use a mild detergent if it’s really dirty. It seemed to work for me. Worth a try!

 

I've seen this on a couple of different YouTube channels, I believe Scotty Kilmer is one of them...

There is a way to reset the travel distance. The sensor inside there might be saying that the window is all the way up to prevent damage while it isn't really all the way up. If I recall from the videos, you're supposed to hold the up button for 3 seconds, go all the way down and hold that button for 3 seconds or something in that manner.

If everything is clean, no loose bolts or anything, that is likely your problem, just a calibration of the sensor.

 

I’ve tried that. Used silicon lubricant on all the window weather stripping all the way around. Washed out all the dirt to make sure the drain holes are clear. That worked to get it to roll up as far as it is, but it still stops 4-5 times on the way up. I have to bump it up little by little to keep it from going all the way down.

What I’m talking about is inside the door there are two tracks the window rides in. They are about 10 inches in from both edges of the glass. Those still seem pretty dirty so I’ll try cleaning them out too.

 

I remember reading that somewhere too but haven’t tried it yet. Is this what you mean?

https://www.4runners.com/threads/automatic-window-travel-distance-reset.20333/#post-250187

From everything I can find online the window still needs to go all the way up before setting the limits. Is there a way to clear the limits first?

 

What a shame it would be if it also shattered and needed to be replaced. Kids these days not paying attention to anything throwing a baseball around…..

 

You know anything could happen. Thank goodness for the glass coverage on my car insurance.

 

When you have the interior trim panel off, can you watch the glass going up from the inside? If it stops on the way up it sounds like something in those glass tracks is interfering with the travel.

 

Yes, I can see the glass travel. It doesn’t seem like there is any interference more like excessive friction. Could be dirt build up in the tracks themselves. It’s hard to see in there.

 

Since your short term goal is getting it up (ha!) have you just tried holding the switch up while someone else pushes the window closed from the outside?

 

Yes that was the first thing I tried. I was able to get it up most of the way by pushing on the bottom of the glass from inside the door while using the key to roll it up. It’s not a conventional roll up roll down. The soft start and overload limits are screwing me. I need a way to manually roll it up without power

 

Since you think it may be related to dirty tracks, why not use a pump up sprayer and, from the inside, just blast the hell out of those areas? The electronics are all waterproof. Wash it all down, let it drain from the drain holes, and let it dry - maybe with a box fan overnight. Or leave it in the garage with the tailgate open and let it drip dry. Then hit those areas with silicon lube or whatever is best and see if that helps. Can't hurt to try.

 

Just cleaned it all out and relubed. Still acting the same. It’s about 1/2 in from fully closed now

 

Dammit. Sorry man, I have no ideas at this point. If it's on the tracks, nothing is binding, and the window is not going up crooked, I'm at a loss.

If it were me, my next step might be to remove the motor from the regulator mechanism and see if I can manually bring the window all the way up. If so, that would point to a motor/gearing issue rather than a track/regulator issue.

 

Now that I got it up this far it looks like it might be ever so slightly crooked. Driver side is about 3/16 in lower than the passenger side. I can physically wiggle the window into straight but like I mentioned before everything looks good inside and nothing is loose. I also see no way to adjust anything. The glass isn’t binding on anything. Re lubed all the seal and the plastic cover is off so the bottom of the window isn’t even touching anything.

 

See my edit which I think you missed.

 

Thank you. That’s what I was wondering if I could do. That was gonna be my next move.

 

I got this fixed for now. I got the window rolled all the way up by pushing up on the window from inside the hatch while simultaneously activating the switch with the key. I had to go up to where it would stop, come back down just a little, and try again. It went up a little further each time until it was all the way up. When time and money permit, I will dig in further and figure out what’s causing the issue. For now I’m just going to consider it a window that doesn’t roll down.

 

Any updates to this issue? I'm having similar issues. It was stuck down a few months back, but got it up by using the key and forcing it up. I stopped using it and I accidently hit the down button on a nice drive home one day and not I can't get it back up. I'm going to try cleaning it out this afternoon, but curious if anyone has any other advice.

 

Does the rear window washer fluid sprayer work with the window at that position? It is not supposed to spray if the window is not fully closed. By doing that you might see if the window senor is out of whack.