On August 1st, when I backed into my driveway and turned my car off, I heard a loud noise coming from the back of my car. I didn't think anything of it at the time. Later that day when I got back in my car to leave again, I rolled down all my windows(my a/c works, I just prefer to have my windows down), the driver side back window went down really slow and made an awful noise. Once it got completely to the bottom, it would not go back up at all.

Rain was in the forecast for the next week, so I took it to a mechanic down the street to check it out. He was going to charge me close to $300 to fix it. I then took it to an auto body mechanic, I figured their labor rates would be cheaper than a regular mechanic. This person was gonna charge me about $180 to fix it and $115 of that would be just the cost of the part.

I did a little research online to find a cheaper part and found a regulator and motor for $30 on CarParts.com and after tax and shipping the total cost was $37.99. The part arrived on the 6th and I installed it myself with the help of a Youtube tutorial. Saved me a lot of money.

This is the 3rd window regulator that has failed in my car. I had the rear passenger replaced 5 years ago. Within the last 6 months, it failed for the second time. I have also had my front passenger side fixed. I am 64 years old and this is the FIRST car I have every had this problem with. It is absolutely ridiculous to spend this amount of money repairing that problem 3x.

I got an estimate from the dealership this week for over $440 to repair it. I am going to see if a buddy of my husbands who is a certified mechanic will do it for less. Otherwise, I don't really keep anything I'd miss in that car and tape works great--just looks bad. Loved the car for a long time, but it is getting older and things go wrong -- that is expected, but this is just unbelievable!!

It turns out, from my experience, that the problem for the braking window regulators is from the tracks/guides that build up with dirt or becoming dry and this causes the window to drag when operated. This in turn puts a load on the motor, gearing and pulleys, and cables. Causing one or the other to to finally give out. I have been using a good silicon spray lube along the window tracks, when I remember to, but I am on my second window regulator in this car by not heeding my own advice.

Update from Dec 2, 2010: Now the right rear window regulator went bad. I took the cable drive gear apart because I wanted to find out what the reason was for these regulators failing. It turns out the factory is using cheap plastic parts for the cable connector at the window slide. Once the bullet end breaks from the plastic piece the drive cable binds up in the drive gear at the motor. If the factory had used a supplier who used quality parts to begin with, these window regulator failures would be minimal at best. No wonder GM has such a poor rating and has the financial problems it has. It doesn't take much to build a quality car to get a loyal customer base. I've owned 3 other GM products in the past with good success, but after this car I would not recommend them. My 2 Chrysler products have held up good so far. Now looking at Toyota and other European makes for future purchase when it comes to retire my current cars.

My Pontiac Grand Prix 2001 has been a real pain in the neck! The A/C has been broke for THREE times. The power windows failed twice in one window and once in ALL other windows. So, I had to fix all of them. I know about six people they had the same problem with this cars. Pontiac knows about the problem, they recognize that is a problem most Grand Prix have but they do not respond/pay for anything! Now I have a "grease" leaking from my car, like near the passenger wheel... I am very tired with this car. Is a very cheap car for the price! I would never ever buy another Pontiac again.

In April, 2006, after having had the car for just over 3 years, the power windows stopped working. When I took it to get fixed, it was diagnosed as the window regulator was bad. I replaced the front driver and passenger window regulators as well as the back driver regulator. This cost me $875 out of pocket to repair. Eight months later, the driver window regulator went out again. The problem is my window keeps falling down in the door. My car is not safe from theft or vandalism. So I fixed it again, another $250. Less than three months later, the front driver side window regulator went out again. The part was covered under warranty, but I still had to pay for the labor on it. Another $100. In the meantime, the back passenger window went out, and I have not bothered to replace it. The window stays up and from the sound of the other windows, it does not sound like it will be long before they quit working again too! This is a serious problem. I am wondering if there is not an electrical malfunction causing the window regulators to keep going bad. I am glad to find out I am not the only one with this problem.

I have had to replace many window regulators in this car over the last 2 years. I have replaced the drivers window twice, and it just went out again today!, I have replaced the passenger side twice, and I have replaced the drivers side back window regulator twice. I can not continue to do this and I really believe this should be covered by Pontiac. I hate to get under another car note, but I am really frustrated with this issue and am looking for a new car. I would not recommend anyone to purchase this car as I hear that this is still an issue in Pontiac's

Thanks Pontiac for nothing.

Back before my warranty ran out in 2003, my front passenger window decided to quit working. It was like this for days so I decided that I'd go down and get it looked at. Well ont the way there it decided it would work again so there was nothing to look at and the dealership guys really didn't believe me. A few weeks passed and it did it again and then another window had as well. They started working inexplicably again. Then after the warranty was out the front passenger window went out again and has stayed out now for about 2 and 1/2 years. Now if you ask a dealer they will admit there is a problem but back then they acted like I was crazy. My brother has a 2003 Grand Prix and his windows did the same thing!