Hi, I am new to the forum. I have a 1994 SL2 with 103,000 miles on it. The drivers side front manual window regulator has stripped gears. I found one from a salvage yard, however, it also has stripped gears!! Are there any interchangeable parts for this? I can find all other door regulators except for the front driver door!!! Please help, I'm getting desperate!!!!

 

I'm pretty sure 91 thru 97 will interchange. Maybe a slight mod will be necessary, but am not positive. Had you been here two days ago, I could have grabbed you one at my trip to the junk yard yesterday. Tons of 4 door S models. Which door you working on? I'm having hernia surgery Thursday and won't be making another trip for at least a month, but could always grab one the next time I go. No promises right now, but if you don't find one in the mean time, let me know and I'll be in touch once I'm able to "tinker" again.

 

The first gen sedans were 91 to 95 and the 2nd gen were 96-99. Don't know if the door designs changed between generations nor if the wagons and sedans had identical doors, respectively.

Where are you, Rj?

Sw2 prob knows.

 

Yep, the door designs did change just a tad. On recalling my experience with my 94 SC1, I had pulled the window crank assembly from a later model and I had to modify it to make it work. I don't remember what year it was, but one of the window guides had to be moved about two inches. It's somewhere here on the forum, but I'm too lazy to look for it. I think the one I tried to use and had to modify was a 97.

 

Do you mean 94 sl1? Didn't think you ever had coupes...those of course would not be a direct swap with sedan window regs.

Let me see if I can dig up a part # from a Saturn doc I have. Makes sense the driver one would strip first on a man window car, hence the AWOL status of any remaining useable ones

 

Nope, first I had a 94 SC1 then I had a 95 SC2. Sold and made money on them both and then got the 03 LW200.

 

That makes sense. 97 is 2nd gen coupe, 94 is 1st, so I wouldn't expect the window sizes/regs to be identical.

Back to the task at hand.

My review of the Saturn Collision Repair Parts ordering guide seems to indicate that there was only one manual regulator config for 1st gen sedans and wagons (1991-1995 SL, SL1, SW1) so you can expand your search to LF 1st gen wagon doors as well.

It is likely be that they used the same general design in the 91-96 1st gen coupes (same gearing) on the manual windows -- would save alot on production costs.

Therefore, you may also wish to expand your search to include 91-96 SC Sc1, SC2 doors. The rest of the regulator won't fit but if all you need is the gear at the **** end, you may be able to remove a good salvaged one from a regulator of an SC car and make a fully functioning unit for your SL2 out of everything.

Don't quite me on any of this. Never tried it. Never had the panels off on my 92 SL2 w manual windows so I don't know how that little gear is attached to the rest of the regulator assembly.

Just throwing ideas out there.

If nothing else, we now know you can expand your search to include the 91-95 SW SW1 SW2s as donor candidates.

And you can give the 91 -96 SC SC1 Sc2s an in-car looksie at the yard....

 

It's pretty much a frigging one piece unit. It has to come out of an opening at the bottom of the door and it takes some finaggaling to get it out. The winder is the center part of the mechanism, with a spool on the backside that the cable is wound around. Once you get it out, it's a bit of a challenge to reinstall. I started by putting it through the opening at the outermost part of the door then pushed it up and slid it over. If it wasn't for the length of the winder, it would be MUCH easier to install! LOL Anyway, with a little time and patience, it goes fairly quickly. Maybe 5 minutes to get it installed and the bolts back in place. I sent one to Unc last year. Maybe he could post a picture of it, if he hasn't installed it yet.

 

Duly noted. Thank you. Cancel the SC angle. I learn something from you every time you post, Rube.

So the 1991-1995 SL SL1 SL2 and 1993-1995 SW SW1 SW2 are the only candidates (wagon introduced in 1993--my bad on earlier post)

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Ok, riddle me this

I was poking around the net and now I see why you are so desperate.

Fellas, help me out on this one.

I found this

93 Saturn SW2 Front Passenger's Side Window Regulator Manual RH | eBay

Front PASSENGER, I know. Should be mirror image, though.
Spin it 180 horizontal ----gearing/k n o b's in the wrong place. (the word k n o b typed normally gets censored)
Could this not be remedied by removing the scissor arm rollers from the long rail, crossing the two scissors arms so as to rotate the k n o b/gear section to the front, then putting long rail back on?

The part that confuses me is that to cross over the two scissor arms there needs to be clearance. The shorter scissor arm looks to be a 2 piece assy with half mounted above the long scis arm and half mounted below the scis arm.

With gear assy to the top and left, it looks like you could rotate the small scis arm clockwise to get it on the other side of the long scis arm, rotate the gear mechanism to get on the other side of the midpoint of the long geared arm, then reattach to long rail. I haven't figured out which way would be up on the rotation of the k n o b.

The biggest question is -- will this even work?

What have I missed?

Please help, as I don't want the OP to blow $$ on a concept I came up with at 2 in the morning.

 

I don't understand what you're getting at, derf. The two brain surgeries I had really ruined my spatial thinking. I just have to put my hands on things nowadays and try whatever comes to mind to see how they'll work for me.