window mechanism lube

[simple]

Warning: long ramble about cleaning window mechs!

At the beginning of the year, my drivers side window raiser cable
snapped. Once everything was fixed up and nicely serviced/lubed, I
realised that my passenger side window was binding horribly too -
hadn't really realised the extent of it before because it was pretty
much the same on both windows.

Last week I finally got around to servicing the passenger window -
it's a lot of work for something seemingly so simple. This is what I
found:


It took about this long:

30 min - remove stuff from door
45 min - disassemble & cleaning old lube off
45 min - lube & assemble
30 min - reinstall

I'm sure you can do the job more quickly than me (but it won't be as
thorough). Getting the old lube out is quicker if you have an
appropriate solvent to wash it with. I used Contact Cleaner when I
did my drivers window, but had run out this time.


Disassembly instructions can be found on www.miata.net - the only
thing I found which I don't recall being mentioned (assuming you have
power windows, which I do) is that it helped to detach the connector
which provides power to the winder motor - I mean the connector which
is part of the loom (rather than the connector attached to the
motor). This connector clips into the door metalwork and it gets in
the way slightly when you're trying to extract the motor from inside
the door.


For the two slider rails inside the door which the window is attached
to, I used Rocol MX22 silicone grease (recommended by a place that
sells lots of different lubes, so hopefully they know what they're
talking about). I paid $14.40+GST for a 120g tube. Details of the
lube can be found at http://www.rocol.com if you're really interested
(it's now called Sapphire Aqua-sil instead of MX22).


For the bowden cables (the things that look like bicycle brake
cables) I used Inox (http://www.inox-mx3.com) - it's a penetrating
lubricant like CRC/WD40 but supposedly it doesn't dry out, gum up, or
wash off easily.


As an indicator of the lube effectiveness, I timed the window going
up and down, before and after lubing. Before, it took about 5.5s -
now it takes about 3s - as far as I'm concerned, this pretty clearly
indicates that the job desperately needed doing.

(Note : my electric windows have standard wiring - no special relays
or heavier gauge wiring. The switch contacts got cleaned a while
ago)

(Note2: I believe that manual windows have virtually the same
mechanism - just a winder instead of a motor)

(Note3: I took some pictures of the process when I did my drivers
door, but there's not much to see that can't be seen already on the
existing miata web pages)


Karl.

[Mathew]

Hi Karl,

I know what a time consuming process it is to remove the motor and slides. I have done both doors in the last 4 months, but I made the mistake of just replacing the cable and not renewing all the lube and now I have two functioning but sluggish windows. Afterwards I tried graphite powder but that only seems to work for a day or two. I then went in search of some silicon grease but was instead persuaded to get some CRC silicon spray which made a very slight improvement. I'm now resigned to the fact that I'll have to completely disassemble both doors and re-lube them properly.
It looks like silicon grease is the only way to go.

M@