Ontario

I needed to load something into the back of the Runner and as soon as I started to lower that window I knew that the window would not be coming back up.

Sure enough, the bloody thing stops short about an inch of completely closing. Any suggestions or tricks? - or am I looking at replacing the entire window regulator (motor and all)?

It's been a long winter and I had a feeling I would be in trouble if I tried using it again...

!@#$!

Thanks.
Ken

Godzilla

Best thing to do is get into the guts of the tailgate and clean and lube everything, and check for damage and etc. If it is right cold, go into a warm garage and wait a bit and try opening it again.. mine is fussy when it is below -20 celcius. By your user name; are you in ontario canada? if so where at? looking for some 4runners in my neck of the woods.

Ontario

I'm London, Ontario. I was thinking the temperature was the problem, but today the temp is near 0. I busted into the tailgate there was some rust but not a lot on the window regulator itself.

I'm worried that the motor might be burning out. If so - can I replace motor unit only, or do I have to replace the entire window regulator?

Godzilla

do a search on here for the motor and regulator, tonnes of posts. im pretty sure you can replace them seperately. check you wires that go into the motor.. that was my problem. they kept on becoming loose. my problem right now is that the window will not go all the way down, about an inch from the bottom when its cold, so the tailgate wont open. but i found this bracket that is meant for interior windows which solved the problem, so now i can open it even if an inch is left.

green91runner

you should be able to get away with just replacing the motor.. if that is the case.. im surprised you have so little rust, I know when mine stopped working i had a ton of places with rust and friction marks, good sanding and greasing made it work like a charm. the window is now starting to move a lil slower, just waiting for it to warm up before i grease it again.. along with the fact that my tumbler wont turn... have to use the button in the console with the ignition set to 'on', such a pain...

checked out your runner on cardomain, but i dont think ive ever seen it in town.

Ontario

[QUOTE=green91runner]you should be able to get away with just replacing the motor.. if that is the case.. im surprised you have so little rust, I know when mine stopped working i had a ton of places with rust and friction marks, good sanding and greasing made it work like a charm. the window is now starting to move a lil slower, just waiting for it to warm up before i grease it again.. along with the fact that my tumbler wont turn... have to use the button in the console with the ignition set to 'on', such a pain...

I did a search on tailgate windows - I'll start with cleaning out the rubber guides inside the tailgate. You're right - with very little rust on the regulator itself, I'm hoping that I won't have to replace the motor.

Thanks for the input guys...

Ontario

Well I busted into the tailgate again, cleaned out the tracks and hit them with silicon lube. Greased up the gears and checked the wires...

And then I reached down deep into the tailgate (in the closed position) just to see if there was any debris that had collected at the bottom over time... and ended up pulling / vacuuming out about 6-7 pounds of wet dirt and rusted debris!!!

Absolutely amazing... I'm assuming that this is what is left of the original regulator and upper tailgate portion that has since been replaced. Thanks for the heads up on the surprising lack of rust Green91... consider the rust as found.

green91runner

wait.. is that a good thing or a bad thing?

least its not the motor

Ontario

I'm just glad that rust is gone. Gone far away... I think I may have solved my rear sag problem... (yeah right)

Cheers...
Ken