Where and how the mechanism is broken determines what you can or
can't do to fix it.

Both of my front door mechanisms have broken the bottom cable guide
rivet which holds the guide to the vertical bar with the lifting
bracket on it. If this has happened to you, it will be obvious when
you look at the foot of the vertical piece once it's out of the car.
If there's flopping cable and no plastic piece on the bottom, you
need to reattach it. Both of mine have both been replaced with pop-
rivets or small screws, one being done ten years ago and the other
being done last week. This kind of problem is, I think, the most
common as I know other people have done it. I would not buy a new
mechanism for a repair that can be done, start to finish, in about
half an hour if you have the pop rivets on hand and you've done the
removal and installation of the mechanism enough times to be quick
about it. If you know what you are doing, the motor and cable
assembly will come out in less than ten minutes. If anyone needs the
details, write me while it's fresh in my mind. My repair involves
clamping the slider rail to a table so both hands can pull the
plastic foot to lock into its notch in the metal. Once in place it
can be held in place with one had while the other hand clamps it with
a small vice-grip pliers. Then a pop rivet can be put into the hole
where the old rivet failed. This pop rivet can't be too long or it
hits the bracket, and can't be too short or it won't work. I think
these are 1/8" pop rivets. Another way is to get a small nut behind
the bracket and put a screw in from the front. This is probably a
better repair than the pop rivet as it will never give up.

The other problem I've had, failure from rusty and collapsed metal
tubes that house the cables, you can do nothing about. If this has
happened, order the new assembly. And while you're at it, order new
window scraper rubber. If you're getting water into the door when it
rains as a result of deteriorated rubber, you're wasting your money
buying a new assembly anyway as another failure is getting closer
with every rain.

Jim
On Feb 26, 2007, at 9:43 PM, Kim Brennan wrote:

> Replacing the power window regulators is not too bad a job. The door
> doesn't need to come off. Only the door panel. You've already done
> that once, so you're halfway there. The procedure is documented in
> the Bentley manual. There are a lot of little things to deal with
> (bolts here, tie wraps there) so it best to read the stuff over in
> the Bentley.
>
> I'd suggest getting the existing one out and examining it. It might
> be possible to repair. There is no "tensioning" involved as the unit
> is complete unto itself.
>
> When mine broke, I ordered replacement, installed it, and then fixed
> the "broken" one as a spare for the next time. Then again, I've got 4
> vanagons, so the next time for me is likely to be a lot sooner than 1
> vanagon owners....
>