Lately my driver's side power window stops halfway down or up and I have to wait a minute or two until I can full close it or put it down. I believe the thermal circuit breaker inside the motor housing is cutting it off... but why ? Do I need to lube the tracks of the window ? Any reason why it would all of the sudden start doing this ? The motor was replaced professionally in Nov 99, so it's not TOO old. Any ideas ?

 

its on its way out

the age doesnt nessacerrily matter

i've put new power window motors in at work on cars that were 1 year young

 

yep, the motor is dying.
they're expensive little craps too.

 

thirdgen power window motors are inexpensive as far as power window motors go. same window motor is shared among dozens of general motors vehicles. (follow the link in my signature for more info on this topic)

can acquire a new motor for around $50 at autozone, perhaps even a little bit less if you opt for a remanned.

 

I had the same problem with my passengers power window, it would go down for alittle then stop and i would have to wait for it to go more. In summary i swapped the motor, cost 50 dollars, me and my grandfather, and 2 hours.

see electric motors wear down after a while, the brushes wear down and then eventually get so wore down that they start wanting more current to move and eventually blow the circuit breaker, from overheating.

 

If you cheap get some WD40 and spray down the motor's gears. If you slightly cheap go to a junk yard a bet on one of those motors to work. If you have money to blow just a get a new one.

 

I got an old door from an 85 Z28 behind the house. I think I'll probably try to remove that one. Good practice for when I have to remove the one off my car

 

It is possible that the motor is dying. However, before you replace it, try cleaning and lubing the tracks, and perhaps most importantly try adjusting the window guides at the top of the door frame. Should the window be binding at that point, the thermal breaker will kick in and cut the motor.

JamesC

 

Same thing happened to my dad's truck. The window would go down with no problem. But to put it up, you'd raise it, the motor would stop.. you'd have to wait a minute or so, raise it up another inch, it would stop. I tried cleaning/lubing the tracks, same deal. We bought a motor out of JC Whitney for $60, and we didn't need to send the old one in as a core, so I'm hoping it was new. Either that, or it was cleverly rebuilt- the case had "GM" and a part # stamped onto it.