Help! My Car's Window is Stuck! The CAR WIZARD shows how to pinpoint the exact problem! 

The Wizards neurosurgeon brother is probably the second smartest guy in the family.

"Calibrated hand"... No, Wizard, that doesn't sound dumb at all. As an amateur backyard mechanic who has broken many things, I firmly believe in the Calibrated Hand.

I want your brother to start a RU-vid channel. The Brain Wizard! Maybe get Hoovie checked out.

GM's two favorite interior materials: plastic and painted cardboard. They just claim it's leather, chrome and wood.

Drill the three holes where the rivets are located (diagrams easily found on a page like shbox.com) and its extremely easy to replace the motor.

I'm an old GM Line Tech of 28 years. I hate this era f body cars. Everything is a pain to work on. I really hated working on them when they were under warranty. The F stands for another connotation amongst us GM mechanics. LOL a little trick to save time I've always held the window motor switch and tapped the area around the window motor to jar it like a starter. That seems to get it moving sometimes and give you the answer that you got a stuck motor. I enjoy your show I'm too crippled up to work now I miss it. Keep the content coming!

I think the wizard uses these videos to take out his frustration about dealing with customers LOL

One time I replaced the entire regulator and mechanism on my Honda Civic passenger side window... it was the driver side window switch...

I replaced both window motors in my 98 firebird about a decade ago. I just replaced the motors. Cost me around 40$. You just need to put in a wood block or C clamp to hold the window up so it does not fall out after you remove the motor out of the speaker hole. The only hard part was lining up the nuts and bolts to bolt in the new motor. There are many write ups and videos on the process. A decade later they still work :) Best of luck.

love how he explains every detail, doesn't talk down just speaks from experience. Its a nice balance of not skipping over the "duh" stuff to new people and also has tips and tricks for experienced people too.

AWESOME, excellent coverage and care! I love my 2000 Firebird, its an underrated Sport Car!

4am here and I am watching Wizard trying to sleep. His voice is so soothing. Love from Pakistan 😍

Looks like Christopher (Junior Mint) got finally his own Omega AutoClinic uniform

I just love how "real" David is in all of his videos. No over the top "WHATISUP GUUUUYS" bravado, no clickbait. Just a genuine, soft-spoken guy who is a true wizard in his craft. I'm learning a LOT as a consumer and will hopefully get to use this knowledge when I finally get the proper tools to do more than just spark plugs and oil changes😂

These GM window motors almost always fail the same way - the thermal overload protector component inside them fails due to oxidization from age and use. This is a little metal strip that heats up when the motor is over loaded by an obstruction like a arm or a neck to break the circuit as a safety. This is located in the plastic end cap of the motor with the brushes and springs. This end cap can be removed by prying back a couple metal tabs. It is possible to replace just the end cap with one from a new motor instead of replacing the entire motor. On an F-body this does not make sense because gaining this level of access to the motor requires its removal and once you've removed it you might as well replace the entire mechanism just like the Wizard outlined here. But on other cars, like my daughter's 1996 Cavalier the end of the motor is accessible. On cars like hers it is possible to replace just the end cap of the motor without drilling out or replacing any rivets. The trick is to drill a small hole into each brush cavity for a paperclip to slide into to hold the brush and spring back as you install the new end cap. It is also possible to cheat and not replace anything... solder some copper over the thermal overload protector and bypass it. NOT recommended as it is a safety hazard.

Thank you for all the videos you post, the experience you provide is priceless. It really is a pleasure to look over the shoulder of a master technician, and I love that with the car wizard there are no half measures.

I had a 1994 Trans Am like this when I was in high school in the late 90s, the wondows were a problem even when the car was 5 years old. I cant imagine now. God, the time I spent digging around in those stupid doors. Big heavy glass and underpowered motors.

We could do that job in under 20 minutes on the repair line, when i worked in G.M back in the 70's. We just had the tools and rhythm to do that repair. I agree with the feel from your hands. That is a must . Good video, brings back fond memories

Car wizard is the man! I love how he’s always so calm when he works

I can't you recall you saying anything dumb! I appreciate you and Mrs .wizard making these videos because you easy to listen and you demonstrate how to do repairs and that . I think AWSOME is you don't talk down to us when are teaching

These videos are so mesmerizing, something about the calm demeanor and the clear instruction.

The car wizard would make for an AMAZING instructor, I hope new mechanics are shown your videos. Straight up honest, and filled with lots of "little" tips, that may seem small but a majorly important!

Totally get you on the feel. I’m always like “that’s tight but, little bit more, little bit more, little bit... damn it!!”

The diagnosis theme is awesome. Look forward to some more. You explain it so well and how to use your tools. Bought a couple items on your Amazon page to help me diagnose a couple home jobs. I have a parasitic drain on wife’s car and I have a door actuator with a mind of its own.

Mr. Wizard, I replaced the window motor on a 96 firebird, there are two or three spots on the inner door panel that you drill holes into to access the rivets on the window motor and drill them out. I could see that those holes had already been drilled by the mechanic who replaced the motor previously, so if you look through those holes you will see the screws that attach the replacement motor to the regulator (replacement motors have screws that replace the rivets) Hope this helps !

Heh... "Another WONDERFUL Wizard video'... Great self-promotion! ;) I bought an old Hyundai Sonata for $500 that the previous owner had traded in for $50. As I was replacing the window assemblies in three of the doors (plus a control switch), I found a stick holding up the driver's window that had 'Hyundai' (with the logo!) written on the side of it in black marker. The previous owner was SO MAD when I told him! Apparently he had spent months at the dealer with them giving him the runaround about the windows never working when the car was newer! LOL... Their mechanic must have been the one that installed the OEM stick!

Dear Mr. Wizard, your videos are so wholesome and I really enjoy watching them! Thank you!

same thing happened on my '95 Z28. i made a mistake, and rolled it down once, wow, took me almost an hour to get it to roll up in place. love your channel Wizard.

Great video, Car Wizard! I’ll probably never do this diagnosis and repair myself, but your instructions and what to watch out for were excellent.

You are 💯 on the feel after years of being a tech! I was trying to explain this to someone yesterday! You nailed it Dave!

Yes, this will be a great learning experience for Chris. Did one of these in the 90’s and learned my lesson about sliding panels.

You are literally working on my sons car in this video. 👍 It’s a pretty solid running ‘95

The Car Wizard's operating space is just a bit bigger than his brother's. Thank you David, it was a great video and I learned a lot.

I love the synergy between you and mrs. wizard. Safe the nicest mechanic channel on youtube

I own a 94 and 96 firebird and absolutely love them. 🦅 My 96 did have a bad window regulator on the passenger side and I had it replaced and now it's smooth as silk when opening. Thank you for doing these videos. Your channel is awesome!! 😎👍

Hey Wiz, I'm a mechanic in Ohio and watched your video about what cars to avoid. Man. You are spot on. I couldn't agree more, I was amazed how much we agree on everything! Keep up the good work and I will be watching...David Keller

Quite a large job indeed. This is a nice step-by-step review car wizard. I vlogged the same for the 2008 mkz. There are not a lot of window regulator vlogs on YT for certain cars. Thanks for taking the time and letting Junior Mint take a stab at it.

4th Gen window motors... I think I have 3 burnt out ones hanging out in boxes in the garage.. and one new one, because its just a question of when. GM's gift to the world. Love how the camera dimmed when you talked about taking those door panels off. Those things are a PITA and love to crack up top.

I liked his analogy of the sense of touch that a good technician develops over the years. Besides intuition, It's muscle memory, and it applies to so many skills. I also like his logical progression through the trouble shooting procedure. I trained a lot of technicians during my career in maintenance as a Mail Processing Equipment Technician with the USPS, and one thing I learned early on is that you can't teach common sense, and it is essential for a technician to have if they are going to be a good trouble shooter. It's what keeps you from stumbling around in the dark and taking hours to figure out the problem. When you combine your knowledge with a common sense approach to logically eliminate the list of possible faults that could be causing the problem, you arrive at the answer a lot sooner. That saves your customer money in wasted labor time. Wizard has it, and that's why he is the "go to" guy in his area.

That calibrate hand thing you're talking about is very true.... It kind of reminds me when you drive forklift.... The new guys don't know when to stop when they go in... And the professionals already know where to stop because they can feel it....

Thanks for a thorough step-by-step on this. I have a bad window in one of my cars, and I've putting off going through it.

You are a master mechanic, and a master teacher. As a former science teacher this makes content is gold. Thanks Wizard squad.

Hi Mr and Mrs Carwizard, thanks so much for doing all the videos, they are informative, knowledgeable and fun. Nice one ! Massive fan from England.

‘93 Probe GT. It had a cable/winch system that worked, but the window lift connector was shattered from a prior collision and not well repaired. I fabricated a replacement, cleaned and re-lubed the cable and rollers and it worked great. It was a few years later that we got broadband internet and I found the procedure for the in-out glass adjustment. Wish I had known when I had it apart the first time.

Thanks for the blast of videos this week. It makes time go by faster.

Nice to see an old fashioned diagnosis and repair video. Thanks

Well, there goes your golden shop rule of always having the window down until the car leaves the shop😂. I know, I know, I saw the other window.

Just picked up a 95 V 6 CCamaro T Top, neither power window works, this is going to be a big help, Thanks Wiz.

Love the real hands-on diagnosis by a real pro.

i like these diagnosis exercise videos, where you pose us the question and walk through the diagnosis. i think this is the cream of the crop as far as content goes.

Thank you so much Dave for all your videos. You seem like a really nice guy. All the best and keep up the excellent work and advice.

Called window motor within the first 30 seconds of watching this, GM's of this vintage were notorious for window motors going. Absolutely no surprises here, but always good to watch Wizard do his diag.

The Power probe is a neat tool, I have the PPIV, it's fun to explain to friends and family that its more than a glorified test light, it is a special tool, it makes life easier, especially when you are doing a 2 way radio (ham radio) install and or sound system install, another use is chasing down shorts in circuits, but be mindful, to make sure you know what is supposed to be on the circuit before you hit the button and energize something like an ECU sensor input etc...

I'm an IT person and don't really know automotive that well, but this is very clear and concise instructions

Good tip about the rivets. I’ve had to grind those out before, they were harder than my drill bit, I had do use a Dremel with a grinding wheel. The other part that was a real PITA was the counterbalance coil/snail spring. It really requires a special tool to keep it from unwinding, all I had was vice grips, and if they would’ve come loose, the whole spring would have unraveled with enough force to cause a possible serious injury. I decided it just wasn’t worth it to do that job again in the future, replace the whole assembly as an assembly is much better.

I just kinda think it's funny how I hinted that it was a failed motor... and it was a failed motor... and I'm not exactly a pro like Wizard, but I am not a beginner to this stuff... I do this same thing whenever I encounter an issue with something when I'm taking my car apart. Now, I don't have as many tools as Wizard does, but I test each and every part I can test with the tools I have, and so far I've been able to find my problem! And I'm glad I'm not the only one that learned that a bunch of higher-load features (windows, sunroof, etc) would cause the dome light to dim!

Another great video. I appreciate you going through the diagnostic process, tips, and tricks out loud. I always pick up a trick or two in each video. By the way, I don't see the Power Probe on your Amazon Affiliates page.

Always learn something watching your videos, keep these coming. Thank you both.

Appreciate videos on diagnosing issues. One of the best things you can learn as a shadetree mechanic is how to keep from getting in over your head. Last thing you ever want to do is tow your broken car with a bucket of parts to a mechanic.

Just had my 02 Camaro SS driver window motor replaced. Pretty cool seeing what’s behind that door panel.

Wow. I had a 97 Firebird convertible with the same problem. I can remember sitting in the seat and doing all the same things. It’s so wild to see a video so exact to a problem I had.

Great stuff as always. I have the same issue with my 96 Caprice in addition to a non-functioning cluster and non-functioning headlights. Good times.

Fantastic video ! It was a pleasure to watch your tutorial. Thanks.

Funny u posted this vid, I’m having trouble with both of my front windows. Driver window only works when it’s warm or hot outside. Won’t go up or down if it’s cold. Sometimes even when hot it’ll only go up halfway then stop and go down a little as if the safety stop was triggered

These videos where you diagnose are my second most favorite. Favorite are when you actually grab some tools and do the repairs. Would have liked to see the repair being done. Maybe use fast forward to save time.

'92 Olds Achieva SL; drivers window regulator (crank, not power) broke, so I had to lock the window in the upright position until it could get fixed. Girlfriend at the time needed to use the ATM... So, we went thru backwards. The looks were priceless, not to mention she never wanted to borrow my car. It has long since gone to pick-n-pull, due to the Quad4 engine's pistons deciding to play pattycake with the valves. Shame too; it was a fun little thing.

The Wizard is the best! 👍 Thanks for excellent content :)

Thanks Wizard. I have one wonky window that barely works, and one that doesn't do anything. Just the video I needed

Thank you, David! I love your videos! Love you too, Mrs. Wizard.😎

And then there is a Mercedes W202, where the doorpanals themselves are glued to the door on the top part... Thanks for all your advice Wizard and the guidance for smart proceeding on these jobs. You’re creating some awesome content. Keep going ;-)

Here is a maintenance tip for these 4th gen Camaro's /firebirds from a previous owner: If both windows stopped working as well as your Radio, or would randomly stop and start working again. The issue is a crack at a soldering spot on the Body Control Module underneath the passenger footwell. Just take it out and re solder it and problem fixed!

Wizard is one of my fav RU-vidrs. Let Junior have the fun. 😀 I see they made 4th Gen panels just pop off easily. 2nd and 3rd Gen panels the window has to be down. A real pain if it’s stuck up.

same exact car I have, window just doesn't up up right, likely because of the track. awesome video. thanks

Also as always a smart thing to do on one of these door jobs if youre not familiar with a particular car - or this kind of job for that matter - is to look for repair videos on youtube or other pertinent sources such as online forums or sites that sell replacement parts and have helpful videos, many times youll find your model or one very close to it for R&R info. Of course theres always factory body manuals if your lucky enough to have access to one. One of my very first jobs as a young guy in the 70's was an old '63 Cadillac Fleetwood Brougham - neither front door window worked and the fuse was blown. Regulators were fine but no relay action nothing, in this case the wiring harnesses going from the body to the door in the hinged area was fatigue cracked on both front doors from years of bending every time the door was opened & closed and most of the wires were broken inside the rubber carrier sleeve. Turned into a major rewiring job but we got it done with patience, soldered joints and heat shrink tubing both on the individual wires and the harnesses. Very tedious work in a confined area almost like surgery, but it was a valuable learning experience for this then young wannabe mechanic and the experience proved valuable in years to come. Wizard is so right on being patient and developing a feel for how things come apart its a major skill you must develop along the way to avoid costly mistakes - the way a part or panel behaves while trying to remove it often will give small clues as to how it comes off and what to look for in the various ways things are attached and designed.

When I did these firebird motors under warranty, I would drill three 1/4 inch holes on the inner door right on top of the rivets, motor comes right off, then bolt up the replacement.

I recently replaced the rear hatch window motor in my Sequoia. It was a pain getting to it and it was all overhead work, but I got it swapped and now I have a working rear window!

Thanks for all the great content! Definitely useful information! Please keep up the great videos!

I bought that Power Probe. Excellent tool. Thanks for sharing.

A lot of the old $300-1,000 beaters I've pasted hands with. I'd just put a screw through the mechanisms in the up position. Window is permanently up and all I spent was ~1-2 hours of my time (depending on vehicle and difficulty of door disassembly). When I eventually sell them. Cars in that price point it doesn't matter much as long as the window is up and the car is safe to drive. Also that water barrier sheet. Butyl rubber is great for re sealing them. Infact, majority of the manufacturer use it as the sealant. I do a lot of audio work so I have a "rope" of 1/2" butyl rubber on hand and just pinch some off and roll a thin string of it to re seal sections.

Nice diagnostic I need to get my self another power probe , I had the power probe 4 but it stopped detecting ground, so I might get the power probe maestro! Thank you for your videos

My favourite retired mechanic is famous around our area for diagnosing things over the phone. He’s saved people I know thousands cause he gets it right first time, every time. Diagnosed my grandads dash not working almost immediately over the phone by figuring out the ground to the power for the trailer lights was bad and didn’t charge a thing

10 seconds guess .. window motor is gone ! Replaced 4 in my old camaros / t/a

Mrs. Wizard is one smart cookie.

Excellent video. Thanks Mr. Wizard.

Marble sized hail, and the business reputation was built UP rather than torn DOWN. Gotta love it. Step one in the car business, don't allow injury to customer cars.

Mr wizard so wise. Yes balance is the key .

I've replaced so many window regulars for friends and family over the years I went and bought the large pop-rivet tools and 3/8" and 1/4" rivets off Ebay. Paid for itself on the first time using them, as opposed to taking it a mechanic. With RU-vid as your guide there's no excuse to not do this yourself.

the nylon glides on my '95 Impala SS were broken on three of the windows when I bought the car. I replaced the driver's door' window with nylon rollers. It's not quite as smooth as glides would be as the rollers are looser-fit than the glides, but it won't size-up and snap again. Some year I still need to replace the ones in the passenger's door and driver's rear door.

I never had the issue personally, and I don't know if it's still true, but early 90s Chrysler AC/AY body cars use a cable driven regulator that you can't buy anymore. They bind up and the cable breaks. I saw a few of them driving with the window taped in place. Got rid of my 92 Imperial before it could act up like that on me.

Comparing being a mechanic to being a neurosurgeon is probably the best analogy. Welcome to complex systems.

The dome light is the first thing I always use to determine weather or not the window is stuck or jammed. I've seen windows, especially rear windows that are rarely used, that were just cemented into place with dirt around the weather seal.

Great structured way of working.

Great vid, would've loved seeing the replacement process.

I used to own a computer repair shop and the calibrated hand thing is so true.

Use butyl tape to put the vapor barrier back on, not tape or glue.

when I was in the USA 20 years ago I helped a friend with an 86 Lincon TC. I cut out part of the inner panel (real metal) to allow motor removal and cannibalised the motor with a couple from a scrap yard cleaning the commutator and selecting brushes from my various motors with a little carbon left on them! Happy days! Sadly you can't really cut access holes in customer cars!

Every person who repairs things, even if they are not a pro, know the pain of someone calling wanting you to diagnose and fix everything over the phone. Then they wanna borrow your tools.

the gf had a mid 200s pontiac grand am with a window issue. after getting the door card off, i was greeted by the open and accessible motor. was able to pop it off, and simply pull the window back up, and re seat the motor, which would again take it down but barely upwards a quarter of an inch. was a fairly simple procedure for that one.

Thanks for these great videos for free!

Been there done that. I have the same car. Inside of the door is fiberglass and yes, damages very easily. Changing the motor our is a big pain the ass. Especially by your self. Done it 3 times. Motors went bad. Usually the windows go down slow and stop. You have to wait and do it again. Inch by inch. I wish l knew then about buying the motor and regulator together. And make sure that window fits all the way up to the t top or it'll leak.