Within the course of a couple of weeks the windows in both of the rear doors have quit working. By "quit working" I mean that the windows powered down correctly, there was a "snap" followed by the sound of something plastic falling to the bottom of the door interior and glass won't power back up to the top. I get some unhappy sounds, but no motion when the activating switch is depressed. The glass can be gripped by hand and moved back to the top (or nearly to the top) but will fall back to the bottom if released. This is apparently a regulator failure in each door.

Question #1: How do I remove the upholstery panels on the rear doors? All I see is a single screw retaining a plastic trim piece around the lock mechanism and a removable plug under the arm rest. What do I do to neatly remove the panel so I can inspect the regulator.

Question #2: I get the impression this is not an uncommon problem. What is most likely to have gone wrong? Note that these windows are very, very rarely opened and I'm guessing that it may have been 3+ years since they last were - if this makes any difference.

Your help is greatly appreciated

 

it is the window regulator mechanism. remove those screws and also one behind the plastic trim at the chrome interior door handle. pop that out and theres a screw behind there. and also one behind the SRS plastic badge if you have one. then use a wedge or screwdriver to pry the panel from the bottom out then pry out and pull up on the panel from the top to get it out of the window sill area. the regulator is riveted in there so you need to drill out the rivets and install new ones. also pop out the door light at the bottom of the door.

 

i actually had the same exact problem. my rear passenger side window stopped working. it went down but never came up, i will only hear the motor turn. so i began to unscrew the panel by myself and it took me a while, but i managed to find out that the cable that goes around the regualtor, snapped, due to just the time and wear of it. best bet is to order the motor and regulator and find a local window instaleer and he will do it for cheap, i will pay only 60 bucks to get it repaired on my benz. u might have to waste over 150 on those two parts, best if u order online at autopartswarehouse.com thats where i order stuff for my car