The insides of a stuck DeLorean window regulator motor
Here is a video where I dismantle the DeLorean window motor so you can see how it works. When I purchased my car, one of the electric window motors did not work at all, the other one rattled, but the tubing for the spring was broken and thus did not carry the window at all. The window itself was misaligned and stuck in the guide tracks inside the doors. I took the motors out, they were all rusty and full of grease and grime, and both the actual motor and the spring driven by the motor gear were completely stuck. I used a LOT of WD40, a wire wheel, a toothbrush, steel brushes and cleaned them inside and out. After that they both worked fine! I have attached the one with still working tubing in the car, and I have a working power window on the drivers side! I still need to reinforce the tubing on the passenger side motor, but with some plastics welding and the aluminum support bracket I hope it will last. I also had good use of this post from Carnutcase.
Update: I have reinforced the other motor with 2 component plastic weld, which cures like epoxy in a few minutes. The motor works fine and will be fitted in the car shortly.
Note: you can get new motors for about $300 from DMC and others. They are not original as far as i know, and need some drilling to mount.
Here are some links and videos on how to get the motor out:
Here is the passenger side motor inside the doors. It is in the bottom with the actual motor to the front of the car and the spring and arm to the rear. The wire circle is the sealed gear.Here is a close-up of the motor inside the door, still mounted to the bracket.I could see already before i took the motor out that the tube guiding the spring was broken. This is a very common problem. Also, what looks like hair? Its dirt from carpets and stuff, stuck by grease to the spring. It should NOT be there.Once I took the motor out, this is what I found inside. Rust everywhere. Make sure you seal up the housing good once you are done. The withe plastic part is the electrical connection and holds the brushes that apply electricity to the coil.The motor was completely stuck inside the housing with all rust. In the upper and lower part inside the housing you can see the motor magnets running lengthwise.Also the tubing and spring was completely stuck with great and grime, I hade to spray, clean, brush, spray, pull, spray and pull again to even get the parts to move. I used a steel brush, but also a wire wheel to get rid of everything. Just look at the spring. There is a wire inside it, but you can’t even see it for all dirt.This is what the motor with its driving gear and the spring looks like now. No wonder it got stuck and broke the tubing before.These are all the parts disassembled.Note: one of the attachments is riveted, I drilled it out and replaced with a nut and bolt, and as you can see in the video I attached a support bracket here also.This is what the gear inside the sealed white plastic housing looks like. The serial on the motor shaft drives the outer larger gear, and the spring is driven by the smaller inner gear. Its hard to see on the image, but apparently the smaller gear is not placed in the center of the large one.An overview of the window motor assembly from DMC
Hi Shaun, I didn’t dismantle the gears, the pic is from the interwebz (I took it from a presentation by Delorean Weekend, “what happens as your DeLorean ages?” https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=LqbDJX3RLIc). I just greased mine up good.
The Stockholm Delorean 
[…] Remove the upper and lower door panels (I linked a how-to in this post) […]
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How did you manage to remove the NC drive gears? Was there any damage?
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Hi Shaun, I didn’t dismantle the gears, the pic is from the interwebz (I took it from a presentation by Delorean Weekend, “what happens as your DeLorean ages?” https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=LqbDJX3RLIc). I just greased mine up good.
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Thanks for the information
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