Door Window And Speaker Interference

[Comanche County]

Okay,

 

I briefly perused the severely lacking digital FSMs I have on file and could not locate the proper name of the offending item so I'll just show you a picture instead....and how I remedied the problem. This is not much of DIY improvement but just in case anyone else ran into the same problem I figured in my slightly alcoholic elevated state that I should snap a few pics and perhaps save someone a few moments of head scratching.

 

I have manual windows. The window mechanism uses a long spiral wound cable to crank the window up and down, kinda like a long linear gear. Someone who isn't consuming alcohol at the moment and knows more than I on the subject should feel free to interject with the proper name of said item to be pictured below.

 

Oh,,,I should mention the problem. I found it strange that the radio would work perfectly when the passenger window was down. But when it was 2/3rds the way up or all the way up, the radio would work (all buttons and lights) but would not put out any sound. Yes, I'm using a stock radio.

 

Anyway, after running the radio for a week or two and maneuvering the window up and down to keep sound coming out, it finally shorted and blew the 7.5 amp fuse on the back of the radio but also did some sort of internal damage and the radio refused to produce a sound output after replacing the fuse....in short,,,the radio was "shorted".

 

After a few days of head scratching I removed the door panel and found that there is plastic tube that this cable should run through as the window is cranked up and down. The root of the problem is the cable is grounded and when the window is cranked up (and the cable pushed down) it runs right up against the speaker....thus causing a short.

 

Here it is:

 

You can see the cable in this position when the window is cranked all the way up and the plastic tube that it is supposed to run through when/if the tube is still in its correct position. When the window is rolled all the way down, this cable is completely drawn back up into the regulator.

 

This plastic tube runs inside the door approximately in the way I am holding it as pictured below. The problem is that after 20 years or so, the tube hardens and can be pushed off the regulator inside the door. If you look closely at the end by my hand you'll see a bulge about 1.5" from the end. That is formed from very sharp lip on the tube that if fits over which is inside the door and only accessible through the speaker hole. That lip is what keeps it secure....but it failed over time.

 

 

In this pic, you can see where the cable runs when the window is only cranked about 1/3 of the way down. You can see that if the plastic tube is pushed off, the cable is cranked right down on the speaker. This is what caused my short.

 

So I had to get the tube back onto the lip on the regulator....its rather a sharp lip and due to the hardness of the plastic tube it simply would not fit back on. So I heated it briefly with a propane torch to make it malleable again and fit it over the tube on the regulator....sorry my iphone could not get a good pic of that. Anyway, as I cranked the window, the cable simply pushed the tube off the regulator again.

 

So I came up with this solution...

 

I cut the tube to where the lip had formed the bulge in it...then heated it briefly again and fit it over the tube. Then used a small worm clamp and snugged it down so the cable would correctly run through the tube and down the bottom of the door without running up against the speaker and causing another short.....problem solved!!!

 

Note...you gotta use a small 1/4" ratchet with an 8mm socket to tighten the clamp. Forget about using a flat tip inside the door. You'll never get it tight enough.

 

 

 

Anyway,,,,, no more shorts on the radio anymore.

 

FWIW.... :cheers: