Lotus Europa Community
Lotus Europa Forums => Garage => Topic started by: cazman on Monday,May 09, 2022, 08:13:52 AM
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Does anyone have a "tricks" on getting a side window to move freely? I have been fighting with mine for a while. I took the complete assembly out thinking that the molding was bent. It probably was / is, but not greatly. I have moved everything every which way, but the window is too tight for the motor to move it after I reassemble. I can do it by hand. It's not the motor power, it's definitely getting too much friction half way up. The felt is original.
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When I assembled mine, I put talcum powder on my new felt - which probably did nothing. Other than trying to gently bend the frame to match the curvature of the glass and get new felt (though I might expect worn felt to offer less resistance), I got nothing.
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Mine have the same symptoms as yours….halfway is the tight area. I tried some white lithium spray lube on the felts which seemed to help a little….I’ve also read that dry lubricant spay helps on the tracks.
Best fix is probably to put in relays so the motors get more power.
74 TCS
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[Looks like my previous answer failed to arrive]
There is a rivet on the side of the vertical rail. Is its head interfering in any way?
BDA mentioned bending the frame to match the window curve.
The motor arm has a small wheel that rides in the bottom track. Mine was gummed solid with old grease. Worth freeing if yours is lkike that.
[Something I failed to do] Disassemble the motor and clean/grease the bearings.
Same with the motor gears.
If you are disassembling things, remove the motor/arm and see if the window moves freely by itself.
New felt does help.
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My tcs has a tight right side window and always has. I don't know how to fix it. Mine goes up and down though because I have relays, and lubricate the felt.
A word of caution. I tried to bend the track reaching inside the door. I got a glass shower.
After a few choice words, I did find the last new side window in the world in England.
My solution is to live with it and lubricate the tracks 3 times a year..
Btw, the relays speed up the motors a lot and save the switches.
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As the arm on the motor rises, it pushes on different parts of the bottom of the window glass, rocking it slightly in the frame.
You say it goes up freely by hand, but when the motor is pushing it up, it sticks halfway. This could be due to this rocking.
If you fit new seals, the window should run truer in the frame. Just my thoughts.
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In my case, The new felts made it worse until they "bedded" in.
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Thanks for all the answers. It seems like it is one of those things. Sounds like I should try the relay.
For those that used a relay - did you did you run new power from the battery?
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I ran power from the fuse box and and mounted the relay in each door.
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How did you mount the relay? Glued to fiberglass? Riveted to the floor? ??
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Since the window motors work by reversing polarity, I think you’ll need more than one relay. A while ago a fellow (if he sees this, I hope he won’t be offended that I didn’t remember his name)posted a wiring diagram. When I get to my computer, I’ll repost it.
If I’m wrong and only one relay is needed, I’m interested in how that is hooked up.
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Before installing relays, first try using a direct jumper from the battery to see if it actually sorts your issue. Not against relays, mind, just unnecessary work.
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For those interested in relays (I think the main advantage is less wear and tear on the switches), here's the wiring diagram.