Ok, scratching my head on this. 2004 R53. I was getting the typical occasional stuck window on the more heavily used driver side. When it's working, it works fine. Auto up/down works when you open and close the door, and the auto down feature works when you hit the switch once. I tried some grease on the tracks and it still had a bit of a hang up at the bottom of the travel.

I did find someone had adjusted only one side (the rear) of the in/out adjustment screws at the bottom of the door, so I returned that to factory position thinking it might have been cross enough to get sticky at the bottom. No such luck. Rather than coming to a solid, consistent stop, it seems to travel a bit more, get hung up and then resist going up every time. The passenger side comes to a firm and sure stop and has none of the hang up issues the driver side exhibits.

Is this a symptom of the window regulator cable about to snap? Something with the motor? Just looking for any adjustments I can make before throwing any real money at the situation. I mean, it more or less works, but I'd like it to work as smoothly as the passenger side does.

 

I think it's time to replace the regulator. I know since I'm on my 4th! I make 4 U.S./Canadian border crossings daily when I'm working so the driver's window gets a real workout. It's not difficult to do if you're handy with tools. You'll need to mark the bottom adjuster/retainer screw holes or else you'll spend some time adjusting the bolts for the best fit. You'll also need the special tool to unscrew the window retainers. I made my own from some 1/8" aluminum I had laying around. The Mini mechanism is a real piece of crap, design wise, and BMW should be ashamed of ever making it. My old Ford Explorer has a simple, fast mechanism that has worked steadily for 30 years now.

When you have the old regulator out, you might want to replace the motor as well. I've had good luck disassembling and cleaning the brush dust from my motor and it's still the original.

Best of luck.

 

Thanks for the response. That would seem to mesh with other comments I've seen online about the regulator. The motor itself does seem to be running strong, so I think I could give it a disassemble and clean during the regulator replacement process. I've seen a few horror stories about using anything other than Genuine Mini for the regulator. Has that been your experience as well?

 

I'm using an aftermarket regulator (eBay) on my 2004 and it works fine. I also bought a rebuilt motor but the polarity is reversed because up is down and down is up but that doesn't bother me because otherwise it's working perfectly. You do not need the special tool to remove the window. You can simply use a screwdriver and a hammer to tap off the gear that holds the window to the regulator. If you decide to replace the regulator be sure that you disconnect the two white plastic cable holders at the top inside of the door because they are NLA (unless you find an original hardware kit at a dealership for $50+). Don't attempt to pry them from the door. They snap in at the bottom to hold the regulator cables. Simply unsnap from inside the door and remove the cables.

 

+1 on removing the cables from the white retaining clips. A mirror and light will help see what you need to do inside the door. I've been using the non-Mini regulators from Pelican Parts and they've worked OK, except for one. Had a problem with #3 regulator in that it would work perfectly but if I had the window in the down position and opened/closed the door, the window would jam and would not rise! I looked at everything possible inside the door and never did find the problem. Eventually, the cable broke (as usual, thanks BMW for a shitty design) and regulator #4 is working perfectly, window open or closed. I still can't believe any modern auto manufacturer could build such a poor design. As an engineer it makes me sad to see it.

Eric

 

Just thought I would update this as I got around to cleaning the motor and replacing the regulator. I did the motor first because it flat out stopped working. Looking at reviews of regulators, I think some people actually have motor problems and replace the regulator without actually cleaning or replacing the motor itself. Then they gripe when the motor stops working again a month later.

After cleaning the motor, the regulator managed to get even worse. I must have been at fault somewhere in the removal/install procedure. But at any rate, it was still working but had a nasty click at the top and the stickiness at the bottom of the travel was even worse. I have been trying to keep repairs at a minimum cost as I seem to be constantly getting the next bit of parts. So rather than go with a $200+ Genuine Mini, I rolled the dice on an Evan-Fischer branded part for all of 47 bucks on Amazon. And honestly, it worked great. It does not come with replacement clips, but I was able to slip in some zip ties between the two holes for the clip mounts and fix that problem. I reused the old motor that I had recently cleaned. So far so good. We'll see how long it lasts.

As far as the old regulator, I finally saw where it failed. The upper left corner of the assembly had broken the plastic ferule keeping the cable housing in place. This pulled the housing into the wheel that the cable rides on, causing the sticky travel at the bottom and the pop/crunch at the top of the travel. This is my first time diagnosing one, but I could see those plastic ferules being a frequent weak point. It would appear the OEM regulators have the same problem. I will see how this one holds up over time as it's not my daily driver.