I own a 1997 Honda Civic LX. About a couple of days ago I went to crack my window open (my car has power windows) and when I went to roll it back up, it made the noise that it normally would when rolling it up (the motor running I guess) but the window is not moving. I then pressed down on the window control and it made it's usual electric noise but the window wasn't going down for a few seconds and then all of the sudden the window started going down. I then press it to make the window go back up again but again it wasn't going up. It was making the motor noise that it normally makes but it wasn't moving and then after a few seconds it stops making that noise.

Now my window is stuck down (about 3 inches or so of the window is up from the base) and every time I press the up or down button on my power window it still makes that motor noise but nothing is happening to the window. It also kinda makes a crunching noise as well. I was able to get the entire side panel off and I was thinking maybe the window was out of alignment but it looks like it is perfectly aligned. I tried to at least manually move the window up with force so it would be all the way up just in case it rains but I can't get it to budge. I hooked the wires back up to the panel while it's still removed to see if I could figure out what is going on with it but when I press to raise the window I can hear the motor with a bit of crunching sound to it but it only does that for a few short seconds and when I then press to lower the window and it makes the same sound but also for only a few seconds.

I have no idea what could be causing this problem. If anyone has any ideas I would greatly appreciate it. Thank you!

 

I think that the motor might be good but it looks like it could be one of two things. either the window regulator is bent or damaged, or the track that the window glids on up and down is causing the window to get stuck and not move. Let us know what you come up with

 

Sounds like a bad window regulator, but first try spraying some silicone lubricant into the rubber side channels where the glass slides to see whether this frees it up.

 

Yeah, I had the same problem, especially during rainy weather. used the silicon lube spray all up and down the run channels, and no problem for several months. this would be the cheapest fix, so try that before replacing anything.

 

Yeah, I talked to my father about it and he is good friends with a mechanic and told me that it sounds like the motor is good but that the regulator is bad. I'm at work now but I'm going to try the silicon lube later just to see if it will work and if not I'll just have to get a new regulator which he told me would be about 60 dollars but that includes the motor so I don't know how much it will cost but I'll let you guys know what happens and how I was able to fix it so anyone else with this same problem in the future will know what to do. Thanks a lot everyone for your responses. I really appreciate it!

 

I also agree, the window regulator itself sounds suspect. When one of mine went bad, it made that crunching sound after trying to move the window up or down.