Drivers window broken - need some advice

[abscate]

A window in Montana winter is no picnic indeed, that Safeway option is eminently reasonable

[E Showell]

This repair takes 1/2 hour to 45 min. including beer sipping time, i.e., at a VERY leisurely pace (one door only). I did mine in the driveway in January or February. You don't need to be able to do it inside and depending on your cold tolerance, it can easily be done in 40 degree weather. This is a simple, but quite satisfying repair.

[prwood]

Ugh, I'm feeling for you. I've had to replace the window regulator and sliding blocks twice on my '01 V70, both times in the dead of winter, outside. Just a few random thoughts from my experience:

In my observations, this tends to happen most during winter because:
- Window glass can freeze to weatherstrip, requiring more force from the motor to break the seal and leading to extra stress on the regulator arms
- The plastic of the sliding blocks gets very rigid and brittle, making them less flexible when the regulator arms move and more likely to crack
- Weatherstrip around the window gets more rigid, and yields less to the motion of window glass, which may make the regulator work harder if the weatherstrip isn't quite on track

The repair process is also a pain in the butt in the winter, if you're doing it outside. I tried to wait for the warmest possible weather to do it, but in one case I had to do it with 20F ambient temps plus wind chill. In addition to my fingers freezing (I couldn't maneuver with gloves on) the plastic tabs on the door panel electrical connectors became super rigid, which was a real hassle since I had to disconnect/reconnect them several times over the course of the repair, in order to raise/lower the regulator arms for various steps.

The sliding block breaking is so common that my Volvo dealer's parts department stocks tons of them in a drawer directly in front of the service window. They didn't even need to look it up - I just said "sliding block" and they reached down and grabbed a handful.

If your regulator arms weren't bent by the falling glass, and it's just the sliding blocks you have to replace, you'll have a slightly easier time than I did.

Using a big but not the biggest size channel lock plier was my best method for snapping the regulator ball into the sliding block. I supported the window glass from above and used the power window switch to position the regulator arms at the most accessible height, which was different for each sliding block - after doing the left side block, I had to raise the arms about 3" in order to properly reach the right side with the channel locks.

[E Showell]

Ding, ding, ding -- we have a winner. Pick any stuffed animal from the top shelf.