Window-Related Weather Woes

This is what my car window looks like today:


The towel is there to cover the window that is stuck open (these are power windows, of course).

The window was originally stuck open only a couple of inches. We opened it a crack for some reason, and it didn't go back up. This is in addition to our rear passenger window, which drops down a couple of inches every few days, requiring us to manually lift it back up. We are unable to do so with this window. When it was open a couple of inches, it wasn't soooo bad, in terms of noise, cold, and snow. But when MacKenzie took the car to Jiffy Lube to get a safety inspection, so that we could renew our 4-months-expired registration (oops!), some fool there opened up the window to its current level, where it stays. Of course, in one of the cruel coincidences that so often mark life, it has snowed approximately 15 inches in the two days since the Jiffy Lube incident. Hence the towel, which also serves as an anti-theft device (although I assume that any thief would prefer to steal a car with functioning windows). Here's what our parking lot looked like this morning:

Having taken in our car to get an estimate of the cost of fixing the broken rear window, I've learned that the window motor is the likely culprit, and that replacing it costs upwards of $300. It's not worth that much to fix the rear window, but the front window is another story. How will I get my Big Macs or give my license and registration to police officers without a functioning driver's side window? Since it's the weekend, though, and I figured it would be a few days before I would be able to get it fixed, I thought I'd try to take the door panel off and see if I could somehow get the window into a closed position. I was also hoping that maybe there was an octopus in the door, or some other obvious, easily fixable problem. That was not the case.

First, I took the window switch unit off. Here's what it looks like, and here's the backside, in case you're interested:


After taking the inside panel off, which required me to buy a new socket for my wrench, I was still unable to get the window to move. But I figure that there's no reason to fully fasten the panel back on, or replace the switch unit, if the mechanic is just going to take them off again. So I didn't. Hopefully I can get this fixed soon. Of course, it' s not supposed to stop snowing anytime soon. You can blame my car for that.