E38 BMW 740i/iL Rear Window Regulator Removal
Originally posted at http://www.cifesystem.com/bmw740_window_regulate.html
Warning - I wrote this to help other E38 owners, I assume no responsibility for
any damage, failure, and/or person injury from
following the procedure below.
Do this at your own risk. -Author
E38 BMW 740i/iL Rear Window Regulator Removal
Photos and Description
Removing Door Panel
The window regulator breaks quite often in our car and it is somewhat pain to
replace one. It involves many tedious steps to get to the window
regulator and its related parts.
A broken window regulator, a faulty wiring or blown fuse, and/or a broken
switch can cause the window lifter to not work. Be sure to identify your
problem first before replacing the expensive parts.
Removing Outer Door Panel
Start from (1) and separate the door panel from the door by prying it open with a flat screwdriver. Be sure to
cover the screwdriver tip with some towel to prevent any scratches. The door panel is held to the door with many
plastic clips and with some force, you can pop them out quite easily. Don't worry about breaking them,
they are very cheap from your local BMW dealers.
Undo the (2) screw and the door should come apart. I removed the wood trim (3)
by pulling them toward to me. I removed it so I don't accidently scratch it while working on
the door, but it is not necessary to remove.
Removing Outer Door Panel
Use this picture to locate where the clips are. Once you unclip-ed all of them, you can lift the door
panel upward to seperate. Be sure to pull the door panel to undo the door handle clips (1).
Taking out the air filter housing and AMF (air mass flow) sensor
The picture does not show the rear door speaker (1) which I have already removed. Unclip all the wiring harness
and remove the speaker at this point. My cat (2) is checking out my work.
Removing Door Trims
Accessing Window Regulator
To get to the window regulator (2), you will need to remove the door barrier matt. The matt is
attached to the door by sticky glue and you won't be able to reuse them later once the matt is off.
BMW sells the matt and the glue, but I didn't want to replace more than what I need, so I decided to cut out an opening (1)
and repair the opening later with a tape.
Once you get this point, we will need to remove the window before removing the
window regulator. And in order to remove the window, the rubber window
trim must come out as well. Finally, to remove that rubber window
trim, we need to lower the window to all the way down. I hope the procedure steps are confusing enough!
Don't get mad, it's fun!
If you can lower the window all the way down manually (by pressing the window down with bare hands),
you are already ahead of me. But for those you are unlucky, your window
is probably stuck tight. Let's free the window by cutting metal wire which positions the
window. You can find the metal wire by reaching behind (2). Now you should be able to
lower the window slowly, be careful not to drop it and shatter the window! "You break it, you buy it my friend! - Gone in 60 seconds"
Window Gasket
This (1) needs to come out before removing the window. You can pull this gasket out from
the outside of door.
The Window Gasket
Here is what you are removing. See how long the gasket reach under the door (1)? Just remember this
when you are putting the gasket back into its original place.
Removing the Window Regulator
Taking Window Divider
Let's make more room to take out the window by removing this divider.
Matter in fact, this step is necessary. This divider also contains a small sun shade (an E38 option) which
you can pull out to cover the small rear window. To take out the small
blind unit, you will need to pull the unit upward and detach the bottom. If this doesn't make any sense,
I will show it on next picture. Once the small blind unit is out,
take out this divider by unscrewing bunch of screws (1).
Removing the Small Blind Unit
This is the little clip on the bottom of the blind unit (1) which you will need to lift to detach!
If you are still lost on this, I give up, sorry; I can't help you anymore...
Window Divider
Another picture of removing the divider, note the screw holes (1) and you do not have
to remove this chrome piece (2) before taking out the window as some source indicates.
Removing Window
Finally, now you should be able to take out the window by unscrewing this Torx bolt (A). Your will need a Torx bit set, probably T30?
Once this bolt is out, pull up the window carefully to remove. Undo the window regulator motor connector (1) and unscrew
three window regulator (2) bolts and you are done! See next two pictures for the three window regulator bolts
location. You can use a 10mm open wrench / socket for these bolts.
Window Regulator Bolt Location
For one of the top bolts(1), you will need to cut a clear film to get to the bolt.
Window Regulator Bolt Location
This is the window regulator, yours should look the same. For your reference, (1) is the metal wire that I had to cut, and
(2) shows the bolt locations.
If you can get here fine, you should be able to put the new window regulator and window back without any trouble! Good luck.
-SSY
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