stevekat

When my passenger window gets to the top, or if I hold the window glass by putting resistance on it, I hear a loud repeating sound that is probably a great slipping.

The window otherwise operates OK.

Is this likely the regulator or an internal gear on the window motor?

stevekat

This turned out to be two teeth missing on the big gear in the window motor mechanism. I order a set of 5 gears from Amazon for $13.99 by Rexka. I also ordered a bag of 30 OEM style door panel clips that came in handy by Autoex (Autoex 164090) for $6.89.

I also ordered an opened box Dorman motor passenger side motor (Dorman 742-801) for less than $30 on ebay, but the spare part gears came first, so I gave that fix a try. So far, so good. It is a pretty straightforward repair. The motor is external to the door behind the interior door panel, and secured by three bolts.

Just to note, my drivers side switch, that controls the passenger window, stopped operating the passenger window while the window motor was having problems. That switch resumed function when the motor was removed and replaced. I performed the auto window reset procedure.

The Dorman motor for driver side of RX-8 is Dorman 742-802. The Dorman part for the passenger side is 742-801.

Steve Dallas

Yep. I replace my driver side motor with a Dorman part from Amazon for less than $50, and the Dorman part had the exact same markings as the original part. Quick and easy fix.

stevekat

Follow up: The passenger window motor stripped a gear again. I sort of seem to recall that I replaced the gear, but then it went bad again, and possibly put the Dorman part in that I had standing by (not 100% sure about putting the Dorman part in.)

As a side note, I see factory Mazda window motors for $49 on eBay. However, since the factory part goes bad quite easily, for my other R3, quite some time ago, when a motor gear inevitably stripped, I replaced that entire motor unit with an aftermarket part that was not OEM manufacturer, and so far, it has been reliable. So for this latest failure, rather than ordering the factory part, or Dorman part that may be OEM, or putting in a new gear, I went with an aftermarket part from Amazon, that had the highest rating.

Now I am going to keep a spare set around in case of a failure since a pair on Amazon or eBay are less than about $60.

BTW, the latest gear stripping occurred immediately after replacing the battery, and after I had set the window limits anew.

Hope this follow up is helpful.