Hello all, I've searched for this and found lots of problems people had with the rear window in 1st gen 4runners, but nothing like mine...

I just put on my hardtop last weekend (held out until December in NC topless/soft top...) and naturally, I needed to get the rear window up. As far as I can tell, the problem seems to be the motor. Funny thing is, when I pulled it out and hooked it up to a voltage source, it spins fine in both directions... If I try the same external voltage source directly to the motor while it is attached to the regulator, nothing...

The regulator was a little difficult to move by had at first, but I lubed everything up and it is relatively easy to pull/push the window up and down by hand (maybe 5lbf or so?). I'm thinking the motor may just be too old/weak and not producing enough torque to overcome friction in moving the regulator...

Do these window motors get old and weak like that? I recently replaced my driver window motor so I could always swap that in there for a comparison, but it was kind of a pain to get in/out.

Thanks!

 

I don't know about the rear window motor, but the door window motors will do what you describe. Hope that helps?