window motor at garage... labor charge?

**grandkodiak** · 05-11-2010, 03:23 PM

anyone have an alldata job time for a drivers side window motor replacement on a 96 trans? if not job time, anyone have a reciept for labor, or guestimate what it would cost? i have the motor already and i can strip the door down most of the way to speed things up for them... 2 hours? 3 hours?

**Knight** · 05-11-2010, 03:32 PM

If you can strip the door down, why not just replace it yourself and bank the $? I'd say most shops will figure about $100 for labor plus or minus.

**grandkodiak** · 05-11-2010, 04:49 PM

dont have a drill nor rivet gun, nor the patience to deal with more engineering and design flaws that GM should literally burn people at the stake for.

**lopedawg** · 05-11-2010, 05:01 PM

I'm not mechanically inclined AT ALL and I replaced both sides on my brothers 94 Camaro in less than an hour. I didn't use rivets and you could just borrow a drill for a couple of hours. I used the info on the link below (not a vendor or store just a tutorial), you can click on the pics to enlarge.

Just a suggestion of course, as mentioned before a shop will charge you a minimum of ~$100 bucks. I'd say use that money to buy both motors.

httphttp://shbox.com/page/windowmotor.html://

**travs98ls1** · 05-11-2010, 07:18 PM

Off Topic somewhat have this prob in the wifes car (98' chevy cavaliar) pass side blinker will burn out every 2-3 days tops wether she uses blinker always or not, always melts the plastic around the (3057) bulb thin wire connector on one side, no worries yet for the bird but since we use same bulb and conn my can of worms coming next or? wtf lol. lol her cav is a 2.2 I4 5 speed 180,000 miles DD her bulbs costing more than my weekly beer budjet lmao!!! J/K any help i would love it Fellas

**bigrondownhiller** · 05-12-2010, 03:11 PM

If you drive out here to LI I can help you out. I have the rivets and the gun plus a drill.

**grandkodiak** · 05-12-2010, 05:56 PM

lol appreciate it but the money id spend on gas and booze for you would be the same as a garage almost haha

**Mr. Luos** · 05-12-2010, 06:01 PM

I will guess $150-200 depending on if they force you to replace the whole regulator. Just labor.

I picked up the motor from Advance for $60. Replaced it in about an hour (first time, start to finish).
No need for a rivet gun, just a drill (or even a dremel would likely do the trick).

**SuperSport346** · 05-12-2010, 06:11 PM

Why don't you buy a drill with the money you'd save? That way you'd basically have a free drill! Plus, you wouldn't have to worry about not having a drill the next time a window motor dies!

The hardest part IMO is taking the damn door panel off. The rest is pretty easy...

**KMdef9** · 05-12-2010, 06:28 PM

Originally Posted by Mr. Luos

I will guess $150-200 depending on if they force you to replace the whole regulator. Just labor.

I picked up the motor from Advance for $60. Replaced it in about an hour (first time, start to finish).
No need for a rivet gun, just a drill (or even a dremel would likely do the trick).

Also looking at the price of brand new motor versus the remanufactured crap at chain stores (which is what I have in mine sadly). Those run about $150. I could see a place charging you around 300-500 easy depending on how "honest" they are.

If you are going to fix it yourself I would suggest 5 things depending on your budget. Cheapest fix to most expensive.

1. Replace the motor yourself with one of the remanned ones from the chain stores (they usually come with a lifetime warranty b/c they know it's crap) If this is the route you take, you can extend their short life of by rolling each window up or down individually with the engine running. The motors crap out due to low voltage. So, 2 motors at once = more voltage draw = less voltage per window motor. Car running = +14V to motors. Car off, = -12V to each motor.
2. Repeat step 1 with autotrix window fix.(sponsor section of this site) <- Best economical choice.
3. Replace the motor with a non-remanufactured motor.
4. Step 3 with autotrix window fix <- Best option. I dont think youll ever have to replace it again.
5. Pay someone else to do it. Keeping in mind that motor probably will go bad again.

Here's the write-up for the install. Click Here

**pk222** · 05-14-2010, 03:30 PM

I had my passenger motor and regulator replaced for $175 with just labor and I did the driver one. It wasn't that bad but kind of a pain to hold the window while setting up the new one

**98TransAmWs-6** · 05-14-2010, 08:42 PM

Replacing window motors is pretty easy I would definately do it yourself. It took me about a hour to replace both driver and passenger sides in a cramped garage that I couldn't open both doors all the way. I'd say the hardest part is getting the panel back on, all the clips don't want to go in at the same time.