Es300 Elect. Window Repair

[D Sbur]

The plastic fitting that the regulator cables attach to for my rear passenger window is broke beyond repair. Without buying a whole new regulator assembly for this little fitting, any ideas where to get one? Local u-pick yards have no Lexus or Camry's that would be applicable. See attached pic for what I'm talking about. Window is lashed up for now. A real weak point in my opinion. For a 92 ES300, this is the ONLY thing that has gone wrong. Maybe I'm lucky in this regard?!?!

[91L3xus]

Well first off, your window should not be coin operated.

Try www.taprecycling.net. I found parts for my 91 on that site, and they shipped them to me, things like power window switches. I'm sure they have the right part for you.

[azmalu]

tap has usually been great...im surprised it was soo pricey...they wanted 225 for used..window regulator assembly...

[LoveLearn]

Because this forum provides an enduring information source, the fact that the original post is old does not make a relevant new reply inappropriate.

The small plastic part shown in that photo simply retains the cable stops within the top and bottom window-support cable-attachment grooves.

You may not be able to purchase a new, still-elastic part to replace your aged and brittle broken plastic part. Expect 20-year old salvage yard plastic replacements to have become similarly brittle and failure prone.

But that part's function can be replaced fairly easily with supplies most do-it-yourself mechanics have on hand. Drill two very small holes through the steel cable-stop bracket positioned so you can run a small wire through both holes and around the window-pulling cable, then twist the wire's ends together permanently pulling the cable to the back of the cable-stop bracket groove. Repeat that for the other cable and you will have improved the system's design. I've seen at least one Lexus ES-300 in which that plastic part failed to keep one of the window-pulling cables locked into the cable-stop bracket groove. I doubt that tie wires securing the cables in the grooves would fail like that. You do have a couple bread-wrapper twist ties from which you can extract the little wires don't you? No need to drop $50 to $250 for parts to replace that plastic retainer's function with more durable twist tie wires.

If this description seems cryptic, all you need to do is examine the actual part location and function to understand why this would be an improvement. I've seen 50-year old nylon parts which are still elastic and would not become brittle and crack in that application. But Lexus choose to use some less durable plastic.

Just my opinions on this topic.