Hey folks,

During a long trip several weeks ago my rear passenger window on my 2001 Saturn L-Series sedan suddenly dropped down without me doing anything to it. When I attempted to roll it back up, it simply dropped down further. I had to pull over and tape the window up for the remainder of the trip. I am not sure why this happened, as I almost never rolled that window up/down. I'm still driving around with a taped-up window though.

I took the car to a mechanic who told me that he could not prop the window up because of the 'new' way the windows are designed that uses some kind of belt system. He could replace the belt but that would be very expensive.

I wanted to remove the door panel and take a look myself to see if it really can not be proped up, however I cannot seem to find how to do this. There are no exposed screws that I see that I could remove. If I could just remove the panel I am certain that it could be proped up.

I have attatched some pictures to show you what I'm dealing with.

Can anyone please advise me on how to remove this panel? Thank you.

take the screws out of the door pocket( that lil handle to pull the door shut) and take the screw out from behing the lever. theres also screws at the bottom-most edge of the door. also disconnect the latch and lock rods from behind the handle( this is a pain in the ass btw). then you slide the pannel up and give it a few firm smacks but not too hard. after the panel comes off you have to disconnect the wires to the window controls and the panel is off.

contrary to popular belief, window regulators hardly ever go out, the merely get jammed and stop working,( unless its the cable pull type then the cables break, or the plastic components break) there is a piece of plastic in the channel attached to the window that always breaks but you can still put the regulator back on track.

Remove all the screws you can find then pop the thing off....like every other car on the road. Maybe you should take it to someone that'll not break everything.

I'll break it --- don't bring it to me

take the screws out of the door pocket( that lil handle to pull the door shut) and take the screw out from behing the lever. theres also screws at the bottom-most edge of the door. also disconnect the latch and lock rods from behind the handle( this is a pain in the ass btw). then you slide the pannel up and give it a few firm smacks but not too hard. after the panel comes off you have to disconnect the wires to the window controls and the panel is off.

Thank you very much, I will try this soon.


Remove all the screws you can find then pop the thing off....like every other car on the road. Maybe you should take it to someone that'll not break everything.


You're not helpful and you're not funny. Why did you even bother posting?

Thank you very much, I will try this soon.



You're not helpful and you're not funny. Why did you even bother posting?


I don't think he was trying to be funny, maybe you should take his advice.

animal's advice did include "take out the screws" as the first step.....

Sorry about the lack of punctuation. This being said Im suprised my info still helped.

as long as you're being constructive it is appreciated around here

(We're not sure if it helped cause atten never said if he got the thing apart)
We can only wait and listen for the sound of breaking plastic......