Cannot roll down power window on drivers side of a 2002 Buick LeSabre Custom?

Answer 1

Odds are your Window Regulator has failed, since I'm assuming you other windows work just fine. Usually the window regulator fails one of two ways... The airplane or steel cable which pulls the lifting mechanism in the regulator breaks......OR The motor or it's gears, which are made of Teflon (I wish they were metal) decide to crack, break, or simply wear to nothingness.....either problem makes the window inoperable.

If you have some mechanical ability, replacing the window regulator is not a big deal.

You will need a window regulator for the driver's side front - www.rockauto.com

and some weather strip sealant (found at any local automotive parts store)

On the Buick lesabre you simply pull the window control panel off the driver's door GENTLY!!! The clips will release at a certain amount of pressure, and I suggest NOT USING any tools, only fingers. If you can't get under it, simply press the surrounding upustery down, to get a finger under the plastic. After you get that panel out, disconnect the wiring harness(es) and mark them for their proper location (for when you reassemble).

looking inside the door in the void you made from removing the control panel, you will find two steel clips that are holding the subframe of the upulstry to the frame of the car door, use a pair of pliers to bend the retaining clips inwards (BOTH upper and lower...the lower you cannot see but it's there).

Once you resease both of these clips, you now have to take out ONE screw, this is accomplished by removing the courtesy light located twards the rear of this door. Again try to use your fingers it doesn't take much, tools will scratch your car expecially if you have leather. Detach this light from its harness once you remove it, and put it aside. There will be one screw in this void, use a Phillips head screwdriver to remove it.

Once the screw is out, simply start pulling the upulstry from the door starting with the foreward port of the door near the hinges working your way to the back of the door around the edges. USING YOUR HANDS ONLY IS IMPORTANT, tools will scratch the paint! Pull sharp and hard without damaging the door panel, the panel fasteners will release eventually. Make sure to get your eye in there to watch what you're doing, you'll see the retainers/fasteners.

You'll notice the top of the panel will not release like the rest of the panel, this is because it hangs on the top rail of the frome of the door. Simply pick the panel up and away from the door, watching the door handle, which may or may not need to have its plastic panel removed also. (you'll see this clearly when you have the door in front of you) CAREFULLY separate your panel from your door, there will be a lot of wiring. Detach all the wiring from the panel, don't worry, you can't plug things in wrong places, all the plugs are different. There's a main connector and a few other connectors depending on the options you have on your Buick, detach them all and completely remove the door panel and put it in a safe place.

There will be a sheet of plastic that's covers most of the door, this is your weather barrier which prevents rust from forming in the door and preventing water from getting into the interrior of the car. Carefully, without tearing or cutting, separate the plastic from the door's lower half. The gooey black stuff just stretches and breaks at a certain point, and is normal, just move it around.

Once this is done, you'll see your window regulator in the door, there will be a 2 wire harness going to the motor and, if you get your eye in the door with a flashlight you'll see the top part of it attaching itself to the bottom of your glass window.

Disconnect the wiring harness that goes to the window regulator motor. Then using a 10mm wrench, remove the bolts on the door that hold this regulator in place (there are 3). This will allow you to move the regulator a small bit so you can get to the 2 bolts holding the window in the window regulator's cradle. REach up in the door to find these bolts, and either by shimming the window manually with your hands to a location where the bolts are accessable by sockey (there's holes drilled into the door structure for this), or by using an open ended wrench, get those two bolts loose so it reseases the window.

MAKE SURE to support your window with your hand, and helper's hand or a pience of wood in the door to prevent it fron crashing back into the door in case it's bumped or slips.

IT WILL TAKE some creative fanagling to get the regulator out of your door, it's a super tight space. HOWEVER, if you need to pull super hard to move it, you're doing something wrong, back up, try again, it should move freely. My suggestion is to knock the top of the regulator twards the front of the car so the motor comes out first then the rest.

The assembly is the reverse of the installation exactly. However, when you put your plastic weather stripping back make sure you put the weather stripping sealant on the back of the plastic first before you put it back. This will prevent, as said before, rust and moisture from getting into places it hsouldn't be.

One last not of caution, when tightending the two bolts that hold the window int he cradle of the regulator, only tighten them enough so that the window doesn't slip out of the cradle.

More than this will completely destroy your tempered glass window INSTANTLY!!

have fun, go slow, follow directions...you'll save a bunch of cash.