My original window motors had both stopped working and banging the door card did not help (took the door cards off and banged the metal at the motor and it worked for a week and quit again) so I ordered new motors. Today I got the driver's door motor on and when I got everything back together the window goes down in the up switch position and up in the down switch position and when it gets to the bottom it comes back up 1/4 inch. I tried connecting the original motor I had just replaced (which of course is working now) and looking at the gear side of the housing the up switch position turns the gear clockwise and the down switch position turns the gear counter-clockwise. Anyone know if this is the correct direction? The connector only goes on the motor one way so I could not have reversed the connector on the new motor and the original motor worked in the correct direction when it did work.

So is the new Chinese motor wired backwards? Or is it possible for the window computer to lose track of which way to go? Any suggestions besides spending another half day tearing this thing back out?

 

Have they sent the wrong side motor perhaps?

 

Scudder44, probably a good guess. The front facing on the driver-side motor would be the rear facing on the passenger-side motor. That would reverse the gears. That would only happen however if the mountings for both right and left side were universally aligned. Other than that, I would guess reverse polarity on the window motor.

 

I don't believe the assemblies are interchangeable; in other words, not possible to install the passenger side motor on the drivers side window, and vice versa.

 

I bought new motors for both sides because both of the originals had failed. The motor I installed on the left side (driver side) matched the layout of the original motor on that side and the other one is a mirror image. I would agree that they are not interchangeable side to side and apparently not country to country, unless my problem is in the window computer rather than the motor.

Anyone know which way the motor gear turns for up and which way for down? So I can tell if the original motor is turning correctly or backwards? My brain is not quite up to reasoning that out right now.

Does anyone sell new cable clips to replace the ones that broke when I "carefully" pried on their bottom sides?

 

 

There is a note somewhere in the 'fonz' threads on here that, if I understand it correctly, you can reverse the motor.
Just unscrew the 4 torx (?) screws around the motor housing & rotate it 180 degrees.

 

I did connect the original motor (which of course is working again for now) and looking at the gear side of the housing, the up switch position turns the gear clockwise and the down switch position turns the gear counter-clockwise. The new motor is installed so I could not check which way it's gear turns to compare, so I was hoping someone would know which way it should turn so I'd know if the window computer was OK.

Rotate the motor housing 180? Interesting idea. Can I just search for "fonz" in the archives to find that thread? I'll try that on the old motor to see if it reverses the gear direction and If that works It could save having to make jumpers to reverse the leads (I don't want to hack the wiring harness itself), although the new motor would probably have to come back out to do it.

 

Yes, try Fonz, Fonzy or Fonzie too - there are dozens of posts.
You might also try YouTube for Mini Window Motor or Regulator.

 

OK, now I see that the "fonz" refers to the whack-the-door-card-above-the-speaker method. I tried that when both windows first stopped working without success, but I later got them working with a remove-the-door-card-and-whack-the-heck-out-of-the-metal-at-the-window-motor-screws-with-a-big-dead-blow-mallet method, but that lasted less than a week and they were dead again.

I did watch a few you tube videos before starting on the driver side including the one where the fellow tried to loosen the glass-holding screws with the window down via the little T15 Torx socket in the inboard end of the screws and shattered his tiny Torx bit. Not sure what BMW was thinking with that tiny little socket, but I had a hard enough time loosening them with a five inch long 5mm Allen wrench on the back side - they were that tight.

Searching further I found a link to this guide on refurbishing the window motors at https://www.mini2.com/forum/first-ge...ing-guide.html which says in the reassembly section, "Important note, mark which way the casing goes in, if it is out by 180 degrees your motor will function the opposite way !"

So......now to see if I can reach up and un-bolt the new motor casing in place to rotate it 180 degrees and see what happens. Thanks again to MVPeters for the 180 degree tip, and thank goodness for internet forums and all the folks who willingly share their hard won knowledge for us newbies - hope it works.

EDIT: I practiced removing the motor housing on the new passenger side window motor and then the original driver side motor, and the motor housing can not be withdrawn without pulling the rotor part way out with it and pulling the commutator out of the brushes, so I'll have to remove the window regulator again (Thank you, you little Chinese devils). I did clean up the original motor's rotor, commutator, and brushes and there is enough brush length left for it to operate for some time, so I am thinking of putting the original motor back in. What do you think? OEM cleaned or Chinese?

 

 

I ended up taking the easy way rather than take the new motor back out and risk breaking something else.

I tried using small alligator clips to reverse the leads from the connector to the old window motor and up turned the gear CCW and down turned it CW, opposite to connecting it directly. So....I made up jumpers of 12 gauge wire 10 to 12 inches long with blue wire splices that would push onto the motor pins with a little friction crimped on one end and tinned the tip on the other end for a friction fit to push into the motor connector and I put them on the new motor in place. The window slides then went up and down as they should and when I put the glass back in it dipped when the door was opened. I did the holding the switch in the up position for 10 seconds to reset the window, but I still need to do a final adjustment of the glass before tightening the holding screws, but darkness and mosquitoes drove me back inside for the night.

 

This is totally normal for the aftermarket window motors we see it all the time. Heck most of them have a note on the box that it is not a defect if it runs backwards and advise you to reprogram the car to make it work.
Unfortunately there isn't a programming fix yet to make them work. So we have actually just taken the connectors apart and swapped the pins. This way there is no added wiring or damage done to the motor to make it work.

 

I didn't see an easy way to reverse the motor's connector. Can this just be pulled off and turned around?

Turning the motor case 180 degrees did reverse the direction on the passenger side motor that I haven't put in yet, so that is a possibility but a little tedious to do. So reverse operation is not a defect? You would think the maker would check which way it turns when they build it rather than have it a 50-50 chance that it might work, but then who can understand the mind of the Chinese.

 

Somebody needs to develop a method to check correct motor rotation before installing in the door.

 

I can tell you that the driver door motor (left side) should turn clockwise for up when looking at the little gear. I have yet to check the passenger (right side) but you can bet I'll do that before installing the new motor.

If anyone knows which way the passenger side (right side) should turn for up I'd appreciate knowing as it is better to swap motors quickly so the cable disk doesn't pop out of the housing.

 

My guess would be that the passenger side would turn counter-clockwise for up.

 

That is my guess too, so I turned the motor housing around 180 degrees on the new one so it does - time will tell.

 

Reply
The casing for the electric motor which contains the magnets for the armature is symmetrical and can be installed either way either giving you proper operation or reversed operation (in your case) I have done this myself rebuilding window motors and have also seen this from aftermarket parts companys straight out the box. Either return motor for another (hopefully you'll get a properly made one) or buy a OEM unit guaranteed but costly, or 180 housing yourself( this is somewhat difficult due to holding brushed in and any ball bearings which like to pop out of shaft to housing magnets.) Sometimes you can can unbolt housing slightly lift without removing armature from contact with brushes and swing it 180 degrees. Or if dont care just cut n crimp wires reversed.