BMW E46 3 Series DIY

Finished time 30 min – 1 hr

Torx Screw driver set … and some other tools (forgot what its called) lol

1. Open your door
- IF YOU CAN, OPEN THE WINDOW ABOUT MIDWAY
2. take the interior trim off with a screw driver .. but be gentle!

i give it a 5 on hardness level..

3. Now after taking off the trim you’ll see some screw’s … Use the torx t-20 screw to unscrew these … (*you can find these screwdrivers at home depot or ne hardware store)

-take out the window control with a screwdriver it’ll just pop out .. and un hook that ..

4. After taking off the screws…. under the armrest there are gonna be lil tab’s to take off … take them off and you’ll see screws inside there also … take those screws off too…

5. After, you have taken off the screws … you can now take the whole door panel off…. i started from the outside and gently pulled it off … you have to use a lil force also…

After you have taken out the door panel … unhook every wire thats attached to it …. there’s gonna be 2 or 3 … one for the door handle and the other for the speaker and another for the window control

7. Now you have detached the door panel …. when you look there’s gonna be a black foam that’s stuck with adhesives … just pull the foam off .. slowly .. you dont want to rip it or ne thing

This is how it looks like after you took it out

8. Now you took apart the door and now the foam …. behind the foam there’s this steel bar thats horizontal from the ground … that’s what you call a window regulator …. it’s very easy to take it out ….

9. First take off the motor .. by using a torx t-30 screwdriver ….
10. after you have done that on the bottom of the window there’s a red tab with a bolt on it .. you have to take off the bolt .. and it looks like this (sorry for the poor shot .. my cam sucks)

11. after you have loosened that bolt … now loosen the steel shaft’s bolts that’s horizontal to it… i forgot what bit i used … but its a pretty common one so you should find one in your house… if not … go buy a bit set…
12. After loosening every bolt thats connected to the regulator … push the window back with a lil force .. and try to take out the regulator .. it should come apart easily with a lil force, BUT BE SURE NOT TO SCRATCH YOUR WINDOW! so BE CAREFUL!!

Now you have taken off the regulator … It’s time to put in the new one … yay!!

Now just slide it through the lil holes the door have .. and just put the window regulator into place … connect the red tab to the part where it goes too .. and screw that bolt on to it … (*there is a small piece behind the screw so be aware of that also)

Yay.. everything is in place … now just screw everything back together ..

Finally … put everything back together … put the motor back to where it was … and put everything back together …. it’s really easy so it won’t be a hassle!

-Put the foam back to where it was
-Connect the wires back to the door panel
-Pop the door panel back into place (some pieces might break so be gentle)
-Screw everything back together on the door panel
-Pop the little tabs back in
-Put the interior trim back on
-YOUR DONE!

I did this by myself and it wasn’t a pretty hard job .. you just need basically knowledge on how to put stuff back together ..

Writeup by: tommiexboi