Mark: Hi, it’s Mark from Top Local, we’re here with Bernie Pawlik, Pawlik Automotive, Vancouver’s best auto service experience, 17 time winners of Best Auto Repair in Vancouver as voted by their customers. How’re you doing Bernie?
Bernie: I’m doing very well this morning
Mark: So we’re going to talk about a Mazda CX9 that you had to do a power window replacement in, what was going on with this vehicle?
Bernie: Well, it was a driver’s window, I guess it’s no surprise as that’s usually the window that fails most commonly, it’s used the most. The window would go down, then when you went to put it up, sometimes it will only go up part way, the motor would make this weird kind of sound and it just wouldn’t move up. You could grab the window and kind of assist it up but these was a failure in the window motor and the regulator as well.
Mark: so I guess that necessitated taking the door apart. What did you find that was wrong?
Bernie: Exactly, yeah so, basically took the door panel off and then accessed the window motor and regulator, both of them are actually serviced somewhat separately, well sort of together sort of separately. It’s a pretty neat design. I was actually extremely impressed. I did this job myself which is kind of unusual because these days I don’t touch cars all that much but I did this one myself. I was just so impressed with the way Mazda designed this, the motor really easy to remove and then the window regulator, there’s access points and holes where you can access the bolts to unbolt the regulator from the glass, the gear and mechanism and everything on the regulator just comes out really easily. It’s just so well thought out, it’s a nice treat. Some window regulators are just a complete pain, we had a Porsche Panamera with a bad window, it was just a nightmare to change, hours of work and not really necessary and the Mazda works great. Yeah, so that was a nice refreshing thing to see. I’m going to share a couple photos while we’re here. So our 09 Mazda CX9. Nice looking, probably call it a sport utility, a large station wagon sport utility the of vehicle. Power window motor. What impressed me about this window motor as well, it’s just how small it is. Now I don’t have an older window motor to show you but this is the actual motor itself and this is only about two inches from here to here and in the past, a power window motor would of been four times that size for the actual motor part itself. It’s amazing how on modern cars they can make things powerful and effective and so small and compact that they use very little electrical energy. Now of course, this vehicle is eight years old and the window motor is worn out but you know, that’s still a fair good kick at the can for a lot of cars, it’s, some of them last longer but just because it has a bigger motor doesn’t mean it’s going to last longer. But anyways, I just wanted to share a couple of those things there with you.
Mark: So I guess the replacement was pretty easy then, straightforward easy to get to?
Bernie: Yeah, not very labour intensive and as I mentioned, very nice the way everything came apart, really nice, even taking the glass out of the window, once it’s unbolted, a lot of times you can’t get the glass out, there’s a lot to remove, the glass just lifts out through the hole, the opening where it slides up and down. So everything is engineered really well to do this job.
Mark: And how are Mazda CX9’s?
Bernie: Overall pretty good. We’ve actually serviced this particular vehicle since it was brand new and it’s had very few problems. I think the owner had an issue with the transfer case, it was replaced under warranty but really very few problems. Pretty good vehicle, probably not quite as good as say an equivalent Toyota, but generally a lot better priced, and really nice interior features, drives really well. It’s a good vehicle.
Mark: So there you go, if you’re looking for service on your Mazda products in Vancouver the guys to see are Pawlik Automotive. You can reach them at 604-327-7112 to book an appointment, they’re busy you’ve got to book ahead or check out their website pawlikautomotive.com. We’ve got five years plus worth of videos on there, tons of information. Thanks Bernie
Bernie: Thanks Mark
