Created on: 2019-09-17
Check out this video to learn how to replace the window regulator in your 05-16 Toyota RAV4. 1A Auto shows you how to do it yourself so you can save money!
Socket Extensions
Flat Blade Screwdriver
Phillips Head Screwdriver
Painter's Tape
10mm Socket
Ratchet
Trim Tool Set
T25 Torx Socket
Utility Knife
What's up, guys? I'm Andy from 1A Auto. In this video, I'm going to show you how to replace the window regulator on the front of this 2010 Toyota RAV4. If you need parts for your vehicle, click the link in the description and head over to 1aauto.com.
I'm going to take a trim tool, and just get underneath this trim right here, slide it out, there's a little clip. I'm going to take this piece off right here, this little trim cover, goes under here. Just use the trim tool. Grab that. There's clips that hold that in. Clips right there on top and bottom and on the front.
I want to take this cover off. Just use the trim tool right here, just get under there, pry that out. There's clips that hold that in, two right there, clip there, there, and there. Take the trim tool, go in right behind here, slide up. This slides right out. There's clips right there, clip right there, on the sides. This just makes it easier to disconnect this connector, rather than leaving this connected.
So, there's a little lock right there. Push down on that lock. If you take a trim tool, get in right here, right here. You can't pull on the wires because it's separate from the connector. There we go. It slides up like that, and then you can disconnect the connector.
Now, there's three Phillips-head screws right there. I'm just going to use the Phillips-head screwdriver, get these out. If you have to, use a magnet to get them out. Take that one out.
I'm going to take a trim tool, go around the door panel, some clips, and just twist to the side a little bit. Just grab the door panel, slide it up slightly, slip it out. There you go. It comes off nice and easy. Disconnect this connector right here. There's a little tab. It'll help if you use a pocket screwdriver. Slide that out.
I'm just going to take a razor blade or a utility knife, peel back on this, and then we can trim this, just cut it. This is butyl tape. Generally, you can re-stick the old butyl tape when you put the vapor barrier back, but if you need to you can always add some butyl tape.
All right. The handle really doesn't fit through there, and I don't really want to rip it any more, so I'll just take the handle off. Just pop these cables off, just like that, pop the green one off. Now, remember the green one goes on the lower part. Green one is for the handle itself, and then the white one is for the lock. You can slide that through there, and then slide the wire through there. Now we have more access.
All right. I'm going to hook up the window switch, just slide this in, because we want to put the window up. Lock that in. Turn the key on. With the key on, I'm going to put the window down. I want to be able to access these bolts. There's one there and there's one on the inside, so I'm going to have to access it through there. So, just put it down to there, and if your window regulator is frozen, it might be kind of hard to do this, but do the best you can. Now, turn the key off. Make sure the key is out of the vehicle so that you don't hit the button by accident and cut your fingers or anything.
Now we'll take a 10 millimeter socket extension and a ratchet, loosen this bolt up, loosen this one up as well. Okay, so I got those loose. I'm going to take this bolt out first, that one out, and then get this one out. I'm just going to support the window when I take this one out. You could have a partner helping you hold the window while you do this.
I'm just going to slide the glass up, just to keep it out of the way, and then take some masking tape while I'm holding the window. Like I said, it does help if you have someone helping you. Makes it a little easier.
Now we're going to disconnect this connector right here. I'll just take a straight-blade screwdriver to help me out, disconnect that. That's just a connector that goes to the motor for the window.
Now I'm going to take these bolts out. There's four right there and two right there. Use a 10 millimeter socket and a ratchet. This bolt I'm just going to leave in there, but I am going to loosen it. It is slotted right there, so that can support the regulator while I take these other bolts out. Take this bolt out.
Now I can just slide it up. Watch your fingers, because this kind of likes to scissor closed. You can just slide this out, just like that.
All right. I'm going to take these screws. I'm going to use a T25 and a ratchet. Take that last screw out, and then you can just slide the motor out like that.
Also, when separating the motor from the regulator, you want to make sure that there's no spring in here. This vehicle does not have a spring, but some vehicles, it's spring-loaded, so when you separate the two, this can snap, and just be careful not to have your fingers near it, so keep that in mind.
All right. Now we're going to take the motor and slide this back into the transmission. It's not going to matter where the transmission is, because we're going to have to reset it after anyway, so just line those gears up and take the bolts, the bolts lined up, right there and right there. If you had a window that's not a automatic window, then it's really not going to matter. We'll tighten these down. Use a T25 and a ratchet. Make sure those are good and snug. That's good.
Now we'll take the regulator with the motor attached and slide this back in position, just like that. Get the bolt to go through there, then at least you know that's centered. And then we want to take this slide right here. It's going to line up right there, just like that, and then most of the other bolts, if you just move this, scissor it, then you should be able to get these bolt holes to line up. Let's get this one started first. All right. With those all in, then I can go back with my 10 millimeter socket extension ratchet, tighten these all up. Just go back and just double check, make sure they're good and snug.
All right. So, now I can lower the window. I'm just going to support the window from underneath here, take the tape off, and just slide the window down. Grab the window from up top. Now, we want this to slide in position right here. Let me just make sure it's in the right position on this side as well. All right. So, I'll hold it right there, take this bolt, get that one started, and then this bolt. A little trickier to do it on that side. Once you have the back bolt in, it's a little bit safer to let go of the window. All right. Get that all the way on, and then this one. Take a ratchet with a 10 millimeter socket and just snug these up. That's good. Same with this one. That's good.
Now we're going to take the key, put the key back in, and give it a try. Ope, I didn't plug it in yet. Just plug this in. You should probably plug that in before you turn the key on. And then, see if it goes down. Goes down, goes up. The reason why it went back down, because it needs to be re-calibrated. So, we'll recalibrate it.
To reinitialize the window, what you want to do is pull this switch all the way up. You're going to hold it up for about a couple seconds, and then you're going to push in the down function. You're going to do this about five times, hold it down for about five seconds, then we'll do the same with up again, hold it in the up position. Now we're going to try it, and look, the automatic window is working, and it stops where it needs to stop, and it goes down.
All right. So, I want to put this door panel back together, so I'm going to disconnect this connector. It just slides up, just like that. Disconnect that, set that aside for now. Now I'll take the vapor barrier. I want to slide this wire through this hole that it was in when we took it apart, and then same with these cables. These cables are going to go through here, just like that. Line this all up. Take this connector, slide that in.
All right. Now we're going to reattach the cables. Just slide this one, this one goes into the bottom one, which is for the handle, lock that in place, and then the white one goes on top. That's for the lock, just like that. You can double check to make sure that works properly. Good.
Now we'll take this door panel. We want to slide the wiring harness through there, and then take the handle, slide the handle through there, get that in position. That looks good. Now we're going to slide the panel from up top near the window, get that lined up first. Once that's lined up, just check to see if these pins are lined up with the holes. When they are, just give it a little tap, go all the way around like that, and just feel and make sure the panel is flush with the door, and it looks good.
Now I'm going to take these screws. The longer ones are going to go in where the handle is, right there, and use a Phillips-head screwdriver, tighten that up. This one's going to go right here where the handle is, the door handle. We're going to put this cover on first. Doesn't really matter which order you put them on. Lock that in place. Put this cover on right here, lock it in place. Take the window switch. You want to line up the connector, push that in, and then push down that little lock down. Position this right here first, and then push down on the front, just like that. Take this little cover, just line this up, and lock it in place.
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