Subject: E34 work Author: 77320i : member since August, 2004 : 113 posts Posted on: 2010-08-31 09:04:02

So it turns out my brother's wife is in need of a car and they are looking at getting a house so money is tight and I decided to be nice and fix up the E34 and let them use it.

Sunday Steve and I ran back out to upull and grabbed some strut mounts and a window regulator and a BRAND NEW coolant tank reservoir. I don't need the coolant tank but I figured at that price, it's worth having a spare and if anyone needs one... I just couldn't let it sit and rot.

So, anyway, anyone who has ever done this before all I have to say is I'm sorry and I feel your pain. This is a 2 person job minimum if you don't want to break anything or upset your neighbors with cursing. I'm as stubborn as a mule and was bound and determined to get it done last night after working for 13 hours.

Basically, the first trick was to punch out the rivets, yes rivets you E30 folks. I used a small thin phillips screwdriver and a larger hammer and wound up breaking it in the junkyard (it's a craftsman so no biggie). After you get the pin out of the rivet which looks like it's forged or grade 8 or something crazy, you can then use a pry bar to get the regulator out of the door. Of course, if your junkyard allows power tools it would be WAY easier to just drill it out.

Well, I got the beast home, unbolted the old regulator (hmm, someone's been here before...) and then fitted the new one up. I thought getting the regulator out was bad but this was far worse. If I had a special alignment tool and special clip tool and whatever else I'm sure it would have been easier but for one guy in his driveway it sucked.

So you have to lower the window halfway and then tilt the front forward, align the regulator just right then slide it in and work it back just right to get the window back up and the regulator in a certain spot you can work with but you have to keep the window in the track. If you don't keep the window in the track you have to slide it back down and do it all over again. I think this took me the most time and is where a second set of hands would have been helpful. I thought I had it all set and so I went around to the backside to bolt it up and bam, the regulator fell down and wound up pulling on the stupid plastic (whhhhyyyyyy???) tabs and cracking them a little. This is of course, exactly the point at which they fail and is how the last regulator failed. It also didn't have the metal pins in place to hold the clips to the regulator either so that may have something to do with it.

I can see where it would be easier to remove the pin that holds the clip and pop it off the metal ball end of the regulator and slide the clip into the window and then pop the regulator back on and install the pin. Looking at the door however, I didn't think I had enough room to get a tool in and force the clip back on after I popped the regulator's metal ball end back into the plastic clip (which already takes some force) so I decided to try it this way since at the junkyard it came out quite easily by just sliding out.

Well, after all that mess and fussing for 30-45 minutes I got it up and in and could barely get a single bolt in one hole. It turns out, both regulators (1989 and 1990 535i) had the same part number but the holes didn't fit on the new regulator? Well, it was close enough and with some adjusting of the arm and some finagling I was able to get all of the bolts in and tight.

Turned on the car and guess what, nothing! ugh. Looked around at what would be the issue, oh yea, I didn't plug in the mirror buttons yet because, well, they're for the mirror. Turned off the car, plugged those in, turned the car on and woohoo. Window go down....window go up.

Long story short, I wound up covered in grease and it was not fun. If you do a window regulator, buy your friend a 6-pack and have them come over to help.



1977 320i
1990 325i
1989 535i 5-speed
1988 735i (Parted)
1997 318i (Parted)
1985 325e (Sold)
1985 735i (Parted)
1989 325ix (Sold)
1984 318i (Sold)
1989 325i (R.I.P)

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