Replacing rear window actuator in 2000 GP

[GPFred]

I had to replace the rear window actuator in the driver's rear passenger door when the cabling broke that operated the power window. My car is a 2000 Grand Prix with a 3.1.

Here are the steps that I had to go thru in order to replace the part. The part was ordered thru a parts company on Ebay for about $45 and it took approximately an hour to complete.

The first step is to remove the door panel. There are a couple of bolts that hold the door panel to the door that are accessed via a couple of pull out plugs. They are a fairly large star bit sheet metal bolt. Not sure of the size.

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After the bolts are removed the panel has about 8 pushin type holders that hold the panel to the door. I used a long screwdriver to slide in behind the panel near those pins and gave a tug until I felt it release from the door. The screwdriver helped get some leverage when I was prying.
Be sure to unplug the switch from the wiring bundle so that the door panel can be moved out of the way.

Once the door panel is off, the plastic covering has to be removed. Carefully peel the sheet away. It may have some resistance, but it is the sealant. This covering will go back in place without too much difficulty as the sealant will remain tacky.

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You next notice the styrofoam panel piece. This simply unclips from the door.

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Next I unplugged the actuator from the wiring bundle. You notice that I had accidentally pulled the plug from the old actuator.

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I then proceeded to disconnect the window from the actuator. There are two 10mm bolts that hold the glass to the actuator slide. Since the cable was broken on mine, I was able to manually move the the glass where I could get access to them.

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The other side was a little tricky. I had to move the glass again to allow access to the right side bolt where the actuator motor was located.

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I then proceeded to remove the four 10mm bolts that held the actuator to the door. There are two just below the door handle and two near the bottom of the door.

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I next reoved the bottom 10mm bolt that holds the actuator motor to the door and loosened the upper two 10mm bolts. These last two will slide out with the actuator motor mount. You can remove them now or leave them to take off later when you remove the assembly from the door.

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When you are ready to remove the assembly, slide the window all the way up. It must be up and out of the way to have enough clearance to get the assembly out. Mine stayed up this time. The last time I had to replace this, I had to use duct tape to hold the window in place.

The assembly will come out fairly easy. You may have to move it around a bit to get it to slide out.

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Everything goes back in the reverse way it came out. Just a couple of things to note. If the window slide is not located in an accessible area for the window to be attached, I removed the switch from the door panel and hooked it up which allowed me to adjust the location of the slide allowing me to reattach the window.

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The other thing I had an issue with was replacing those star screws back in the door panel. I found using white grease to hold the screw to the star fitting allowed me to put the screws back in the panel. If the screw should fall off, it will fall inside the door panel, in which case you have to pull the bottom of the panel loose again.

Well, I hope this helps. Good luck. It certainly saves money to do it yourself. If figured that if the dealer had done the repair, I'd be looking at least at $350. I was quoted $150 for the actuator from the dealer.