Window Motors

[marcbria]

Hi Everyone, 

Its been a few years since I've posted. 250H had a cracked windscreen which caused a failed safety inspection when I move from Quebec to Ontario, so the cars been sleeping for the past 5 years. It would seem French speaking Canadians don't mind a few cracks in their glass and the English speaking do, go figures. Would a cracked windscreen pass a MOT in the UK? maybe that's where it comes from, they are quite a bit fonder of the Queen in this part of the country. Regardless new glass was sourced, shipped and installed, quite the nerve wracking experience. The car is back on the road all safetied, registered and insured.

I've started working on little annoyances and have turned my attention to the driver side window lift motor. 

So far I've cleaned all the tracks and pulleys and re-greased them. I've pulled the motor, cleaned and re-greased it inside and out. Can anyone confirm if this is the correct motor, it fits and works but its got some sort of black coating all over it. Had tons of carbon bits all over the inside from the brushes I assume so cleaned that all out.

I reassembled it all and I think its now worse than before. See the video, the cars not running but I've got a 25amp charger on it, should have plenty of juice.

So next steps would be appreciated. I'm going to try powering it directly from the battery to see if relays are in order. I'm inclined to think the window frame needs adjusting but how?

Cheers,

Brian

Video after refitting motor: https://photos.app.goo.gl/xzXLh7LirKc8m9E1A

[CarBuff]

We have had issues with a binding pivot point on the segment gear.

 

When the segment gear was out of the car, did you try to move it through its range to see how stiff it was, without the motor installed?

Ours was almost impossible to move by hand at first, I was amazed that the torque of the motor could move it! Flushing with brake cleaner then re-lubricating while moving it through its range, made it SO much better!

[marcbria]

Humm didn't really notice, which makes me think it probably wasn't notably stiff. How did you lubricate it once you got it clean?

[CarBuff]

4 hours ago, marcbria said:

Humm didn't really notice, which makes me think it probably wasn't notably stiff. How did you lubricate it once you got it clean?

I couldn't disassemble the segment gear mechanism (as you can see in your vid, it appears to be held together by a giant rivet) so I sprayed copious amounts of brake cleaner into the pivot while working it against the floor of my garage.  GRUNT GRUNT 😆 Eventually the action became much easier. 💪

 

 

 

Then I sprayed just a little light oil into the pivot. Too much and I was afraid the oil would attract dirt and bind again. Works a treat, 3 years later.

[marcbria]

Hey,

So turns out it was an adjustment issue. I loosened all the nuts holding the window frame and track on and pushed the window up and down over and over carefully watching where it was getting sticky then added washers to some of them. It now moves fairly smoothly. 

Is this how smooth it should be: https://photos.app.goo.gl/bBjHyaqjvaSEh2KS7

Is this block of foam at the bottom of the guide standard? Seems a little improvised.

 

Cheers,

 

 

Edited October 26, 2020 by marcbria

[LOTUSMAN33]

Good effort, I will be happy if I can get mine performing like that when I get around to that task 👍🏻
Dave  

[CarBuff]

Good work.  Glad the outcome was acceptable!😎

 

Our window saga included shimming the glass's tracks (guides) right at the bottom as well, because our windows would bind and slow in the last 5 inches of travel. I DIDN'T want to tweak the upper door frames, for fear of causing wind noise from poor sealing.

 

+++++++++++++

 

The foam 'stopper' at the bottom was standard fitment. Originally when our window stuck at the lowest position, I thought that the foam had come adrift and the window went too far down.  But, other experienced multiple owners have said that the foam often goes missing, without consequence.

I glued our foam (which was still inside the door cavity) back into place, and protected it with a flat piece of plastic from an oil bottle. 🤗

[marcbria]

Yeah, I was nervous about tweaking the window frame and cracking something. I found a bit of new foam and glued it in there. 

Thanks for the help everyone.

[gvy]

Hi ,

Good work there. Still it can be better😁 I beat you with 1 second in the go up.... Yours is around 3 sec, I got it to 2 sec

Seriously, I had the same problem some years ago and I did the relais mod, meaning I inserted 2 relais in the door so the current does not need to flow through the lucas switches ( they are really bad). The difference was shocking. The window flies up with a lot of power. You can even hear it when it seats in its upper position.

 

Edited November 2, 2020 by gvy

[marcbria]

That is very snappy, nicely done. Maybe I need to investigate the relay mod. I didn't bother trying to tap it right off the batter after I got this done as it was such a huge improvement. Does it move even faster when you've got the car running?

[gvy]

Not that I noticed, but as you can see it is plenty fast.

tbh. I think your 3 seconds is fine, no need to actually do the mod, but on the other hand, the mod does give your switches a longer life. It is just the way lotus should have done it in the first place.

It is in another thred, but since it is relevant here, I post some pictures explaining how I did it:

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Edited November 2, 2020 by gvy

[whiskybob]

Just put a battery into my white 207H project (Not moved since 1980...).   I was amazed that both windows went up and down with no engine power...  My red 228H needs engine power to move at all...

Looking forward to making adjustments suggested above for even more power. 

Thanks.