FJ80 Power Window Regulator Motor Swap

After almost 20-years of service, the motor of the driver’s door window regulator gave up the ghost. It still worked sometimes if you knocked it around, but the operation was halting, indicating the brushes had been ground down to their wear limit. I took the door apart and removed the regulator to make sure of this, and indeed, when the motor housing was removed, the brushes were bottomed out: The flexible, braided conductors connecting the brushes to the external power wires run through slots in the sides of the brush channels, so when these reached the bottoms of the slots, the brushes were held away from the commutator, and conductivity was lost. There was no “evil intent” on the motor subcontractor’s part to make the motor have a limited lifetime – the location of the braided conductors on the side of the brush was to keep the top of the brush clear for the brush springs.

I’m almost certain Toyota doesn’t sell the brushes as service parts, and fairly sure they don’t sell the motor separate from the regulator assembly, so to get the window working again, I had to trade the worn motor for one with some life left in it. The magnesium motor gearbox housing was held to the sheet steel regulator by three screws, so it got my hopes up that I could switch the motor for another one from within the same vehicle. Since the front windows had large pantograph-type regulators, I figured the passenger’s side door would have a mirror-image regulator with a motor with a reversed gear housing, so I took the driver’s side rear door apart to examine the regulator and see if it had the same motor unit as the front. I was relieved to see that the motor and gearbox looked the same and had the same three screws, but the driver’s rear was reversed, so I had to borrow the motor from the passenger’s rear door.

The electrical connectors were different, so I had to switch those also. The connectors have snap-in blades, so the blade retainers can be lifted with the tip of a tiny flat screwdriver and the blades withdrawn from the plastic connector without having to cut wires. Take note of the polarity before removing the blades, as the orientation of the blades in the two connectors is sort-of opposite, and the front connector has three slots although only two are used. The wire harness on the front motors is a couple of centimeters shorter than the rear motors, so there will be extra slack in front and it will be a bit of a reach in back. There is a little play in the main wiring loom in the rear door, so that sort-of makes up for the shorter motor-side wires.

With the regulators cleaned and reassembled, I tested the operation; regreased the pivots, gear teeth, and sliding assemblies; then reassembled the doors. The driver’s front window works like new, and the passenger’s rear window works well enough that it could be closed. It was working fine in the morning, but now in the hot afternoon, it won’t roll down. It might work if I knock on it, or “help” the window at the start. I’m not really concerned. If I luck out, I might find some compatible brushes from some Mabuchi R/C or airsoft motor, otherwise maybe I’ll see if SOR has a used rear regulator. I’m thinking a new one from Toyota will be a couple to several hundred bucks.

Note that if the motor is completely inoperable, it will be considerably more difficult to remove the regulator and window, and to reset the window that he motor is scavenged from. It would be easier to prop the rear window shut rather than to try and get the regulator in the precise orientation to hold the window closed when it is installed.

Here’s a step-by-step:

• Remove mirror finisher. It has a ball-and-socket snap at the top and slotted tabs at the bottom, so start from the top and hinge it out
• Remove door latch handle finisher. There is one small screw. There is a stud at the front that engages a hole in the latch mechanism, and two notches at the rear that clip over the ends of the pin that the lever and lock toggle pivot on. After removing the screw, carefully pull the finisher off from the rear. The plastic will be brittle, so be careful. If it cracks, you can use Tenax or some other solvent-type plastic model cement to put it back together again.
• Remove the power window and lock switch panel. This panel has a clip at the front and a tongue at the rear that goes under the rest of the armrest. Use a flat screwdriver or panel tool centered at the front edge of the panel and carefully lift up, hinging the panel upward. Again, be careful, since the plastic is brittle. Any cracks here may require cementing and reinforcing with some epoxy on the back of the panel.
• Remove the armrest pad. This is clipped into the plastic part of the armrest and slotted into the door panel. Lift the edge by hand and the pad will come off fairly easily.
• Remove three screws. Two are under the armrest pad, and one is inside the cavity at the top of the grab handle.
• Remove door panel. This should be removable without tools. If there is a tight panel chip, use a panel tool at that location (I’ve never encountered this except on the plastic side panels in the cargo area).
• Remove the rear door panel. This is the same as the front, except there is no mirror finisher, and you’ll have to remove the speaker grille. The speaker grille is held into the speaker mounting basket with three clips, sandwiching the door panel. Before removing the rear power window switch panel, remove the ashtray by lifting upward. Since the rear power window switch panel is cut out around the ashtray, be extremely careful not to snap it in two when removing it!
• Remove the power window and lock control box.
• Remove the wire loom from the clips. Sliding the loom off the clip fingers will be easier than trying to pop the clips out of the door panel. The tape holding the loom to the clips is all soft and slimy instead of sticky, so if you just lift slightly it will come off.
• Peel back the weatherproofing plastic sheet. If the black adhesive gum is tenacious, heat cafrefully with a blow dryer or heat gun. Carefully stretch the sheet around the wire loom clips. You don’t have to completely remove the sheet – just roll it up far enough to get at all the regulator screws.
• Reconnect the power window switch panel to the wire loom. Turn the ignition switch to “on” and roll the window down to the point where the window glass screws are visible in the main service hole, and a small oval access hole toward the front of the door. Be careful not to guillotine off body parts while doing this. Turn ignition off. Note that the driver’s switch and rear door switch both need to be connected when operating the rear window regulator.
• Remove two window glass bolts. The window glass sits on a shelf on the regulator rail, so it shouldn’t fall out even with the screws removed.
• Remove window glass. Carefully lift the glass up by the edge still visible in the window opening. Rotate the back corner up and the front down, and lift the glass from the door outside the window frame. Be careful of the metal mounting clip on the bottom of the glass as it has sharp edges and points that can harm flesh or paint. Carefully set glass aside.
• Disconnect motor wire. You’ll need to pop the connector pin out of the door to do this.
• Remove six bolts that retain the regulator and secondary pantograph rail and remove regulator assembly from the door. Note that the rear hole for the secondary pantograph rail is slotted to allow the window to be aligned within the window frame. Mark the position of the bolt before removing it so the rail can be reassembled back into the correct orientation.
• Remove three screws that hold motor to regulator frame. You may have to temporarily reconnect power to drive mechanism to a position where all three screws are not blocked by the gear quadrant. It’s not really critical which way you go, but “up” releases tension on the regulator helper spring, so things don’t go unloading violently when the screws come off. Again, with all the moving bits, be careful not to guillotine body parts in the mechanism, or get stuff sucked into the gears!
• Clean the motor and regulator.
• Removing the rear window regulator is the same, but it is a simple arm mechanism with a single roller running in a rail fixed to the bottom of the window glass. You will only have to remove four regulator bolts, then slide the roller out from the rail and the regulator comes out. The rear window glass does not require removal, but slide the window all the way down so it doesn’t drop on its own.
• Switch the motors and electrical connectors.
• Regrease the pivots and slide rails. It may be easier to grease the pivots and gears first, then grease the slides after the regulator is back in the door.
• Reinstall the regulator. Realign the secondary pantograph rail to the marks made before removal.
• Reinstall window glass.
• Replace weatherproofing sheet, making sure to thread the wire loom clips back through.
• Slide wire loom tape back onto wire loom clips. Opening up the tape loops with a flat screwdriver helps, or just use some new tape or small zip ties.
• Replace door panel and trim pieces.
• Test. Since you have the spray grease out, you might as well hit the door swing limiters, hinges, and strike mechanisms while you’re at it.

I really can’t stress enough that since you will be dealing with a motorized assembly with exposed gears and scissor-like parts, be extremely careful not to get digits or other body parts caught in the assembly or drawn into the gears. Be mindful of the ignition switch position, and make sure none of the switches on the driver’s switch panel are being pressed when you are working on the far side of the car removing the rear passenger window regulator.

Required tools:

• #3 Phillips screwdriver (to remove armrest screws)
• #2 Phillips screwdriver (to remove door latch handle finisher screw)
• Flat screwdriver or door panel tool (to remove power window switch panels)
• 10mm socket (to remove power lock control module and regulator and window glass bolts)
• Socket extension (to reach window glass bolts)
• T25 Torx driver (to remove motor screws)
• Precision flat screwdriver (to remove electrical connector blades)
• Cleaning brush

Required supplies:

• Brake parts cleaner
• Lithium spray grease
• Rags/shop towels

Difficulty level – Moderate. Can be done in around 2-3 hours.

Sorry there are no pictures, but I was working against the clock in my driveway trying to beat the sunset.