Comments: 1-15, 16-17
The only thing to go wrong are the window regulators. The motors are fine, but there is a small plastic slider in the window tracks that breaks. Supposedly the plastic slider is not replaceable - a whole new regulator is needed: about $400 installed. I am still checking this out and may get the plastic part from a junked car.
Otherwise, the car is tight and solid, looks and drives like a showroom fresh example.
I love this car. Its drive train provides breathtaking performance and outstanding economy for such a large car. The LT-1 motor is is also extrememly durable and should outlast the rest of the car. Although I have almost 3000 miles since the last oil change, it hasn't burned a drop and the oil is still honey colored - a testement to how tight this high-mileage engine still is.
A 1995 Estate Wagon may be the last of the dinosaurs, but there is a lot to recommend for these cars. They are every bit as useful as an SUV, but are vastly more pleasant to drive. And gets 40% better gas mileage. Plus they are luxurious and packed with features.
GM finally got it right with the 1994-96 LT-1 powered Roadmaster wagon. Of course, as has been so often the case with GM, that meant they had to discontinue it. And what is the hottest new automotive segment these days? Luxury station wagons, of course. The new Chrysler Pacifica is what the Roadmaster wagon could have, should have evolved into. I'm glad I've got a good example of one of the last great GM cars!
The plastic window regulator bearing can be ordered from GM. part #9666748 roller wd. I ordered one to repair rear window regulator on my 1992 Buick Roadmaster station wagon. Cost $5.85 Canadian.
God bless whomever wrote the comment about where and how the little place slider could be bought for window regulator. I have the exact same problem. I too, absolutely love my '95 Roadmaster Estate Wagon and would not exchange it for any SUV out there. I wish GM would start building good full size Station Wagon again.
Am really grateful for the information. I have a driver side back window that doesn't work because the little plastic part broke. My service station supposedly checked with GM and was told you had to buy the whole window regulator assembly for $400. As a result I didn't get it fixed because of the price, but now will be able to. Thanks!
Help Please
My Radio has the CLn flash on. It must mean to clean tape deck. I cleaned it,But the code is still there. Best car I have owned. In the 70's my Elec 225 had every opt that GM had the time. In Los Angeles there arn't any Roadmaster in the juck yards. Rare to see one.
Gb3@hotmail.com.
Thank you.
Greetings,
I have a 1995 Road master Wagon. My Rt Rear window has the broken slider issue. The part mentioned earlier (roller) is not the part for the rear windows track. I bought one and saw it. This may be for the front window actuator? I did buy the complete assembly($180) and found this slider part cannot be removed, it is riveted to the actuator arm. Finding a junk car would be the lesser of 2 evils. Perhaps next time I will make one out of aluminum and bolt in the actuator arm?
Regards Dick M.
The plastic slider is pressed onto the metal stud. You can use a clamp or vice grips for this.
The plastic will snap right on if lined up properly. It will take some force to do this. I have done several.
Thank you
The window roller part GM No#9666748 save me a lot of cash. It was just 23.00 for a pack of five.Drill the hole open just a little bit. And bent the track (open just a little to FORCE the roller in) Then bend back. Saves time from drilling rivet out at end of track. Lube Track when done
Good luck.
Daddy30@yahoo.com.
Hi
Rember all rivets can the removed. In the window case. Use a 1/4 inch drill to removed them. Place a piece of wood on the back to hold the rivet to knock the center out to drill it. Replace the with a 1/4 bolt/lock washer/ and lock tight (blue)
daddy30@yahoo.com
Part # 9666748, as referenced, did not look like the plastic pieces that broke in my 94 Roadmaster Estate Wgn, front passenger window. However, when I sized up with the channel track the new plastic parts fit perfect. The new ones are round plastic pieces, vice the elongated original plastic parts that broke. Based on the design of the originals, I can see why they broke since they cannot spin, but only can slide in the channel, causing stress points when grease goes away. New parts as mentioned were available from gmpartsdirect.com. $22, when you include shipping, for a pack of five. I only needed two, but five was smallest pack. Will probably need for driver's side in due time.
Recommend that you drill out the rivets to remove channel, and cut approx.25 inch off one end of the channel since both ends are crimped. This will also provide easy access to remove the broken slides in addition to sliding the new ones on without bending the channel. No need to recrimp, since the slide would never get past the rivet/bolt at the ends of the channel anyway. Taking out the channel will also provide better access to grease the channel. When popping the plastic slides onto the studs, recommend you do this AFTER sliding plastic slides onto channel and placed in the door. This will provide a better foundation to pop the plastic into place. The channel is heavy enough that you shouldn't bend it. I popped both on with a regular pair of pliers. No heating of the plastic was required. Replace the rivets with 5mm bolts, tension nuts and Loctite (blue) to connect channel to window assembly. Placing the nuts behind the channel is a little nimble, so be sure to place the window in a good spot for easiest access.
This is a case of gmpartsdirect. com coming through again. Although a special order that took over two weeks, it was worth the wait.
One correction... part # is actually 9666748.
There's a great website that explains how to do the rear window (front is similar) regulator fix at: http://www.impalassforum.com/tech/interior/windowfix/index.htm.
It's easier if you drill out the door handle rivets just to get access to everything. It's not that hard. Vacuum out all the drilled out stuff so the door drain holes aren't plugged.
Great pics on the website. It's for a Chevy Caprice, which is the same in this department. I found it was pretty easy to use a Dremel tool to grind off the pinched window channels, I didn't drill out the rivets on the window channel.
Something that took me awhile to figure out was: On the front doors, if you undo the two screws that hold the door handle, and the other one or two that hold the door panel lower part on, and then pop out the lower part of the door panel, you can reach up underneath and release the long switch panel that holds the window and seat switches. This is way better than the usual poking for 5 minutes with a small screwdriver to release the switch panel. That way always results in breaking out a chunk of the front of the switch panel.
Another thing about power window switches: You can take them apart. The chrome button with the black part it snaps onto can be taken off. That's what breaks often. I replaced the driver's door switch, and the old switch gave me enough parts to fix two of the single ones.
Here's an oddball: If your cruise control stops working on your Estate wagon (or sedan, though less common there), good chance it's the rear center brake light. A bad bulb there or bad contacts where the light rear glass door meets the lower door are often the cause of a loss of cruise control. The cruise system is grounded through the rear brake light. No one knows why. There is a permanent fix via adding a 390 ohm resistor that is mentioned in a technical bulleten that GM brought out that few people had done. I plan on doing that.
I figure in a few years the car manufacturers will convince everyone that their SUV is too high up, and they'll bring out a long, low, V8 powered vehicle that has great seats and power everything. And it will get 25 mpg highway. Sorta like my '92 Roadmaster...
This thread saved me a bundle. The Buick dealership wanted $400 + to replace the ENTIRE window regulator in the right rear door of my '95 Roadmaster sedan. All I needed was the plastic slider. Thanks, Everyone!
This has been a very helpful thread. I replaced the plastic sliders on the right-rear door of my '95 Roadmaster, but did some unnecessary disassembly. For example, it is not necessary to remove the interior trim piece that wraps around the window frame. Also, it is not necessary to remove the 2 plastic one inch wide decorative trim pieces that include chrome inserts from the interior door panel. These are the trim pieces that are positioned horizontally above and below the door pull.
BEFORE BEGINNING, DISCONNECT THE NEGATIVE TERMINAL FROM THE BATTERY.
The way to remove the interior door panel is to:
1. remove the door pull by pulling back each end of the door pull strap, which reveals the screws. Remove the screws and the door pull comes off.
2. Remove the screw next to the interior door handle.
3. Use a putty knife and gently pry off the plastic piece that holds the ash tray and the Window up/down switch. For easier handling, pop out the ash tray first.
4. Use a putty knife and gently pop loose the plastic piece that surrounds the chrome door handle and the door lock switch. Then the piece must be rotated about 90 degrees to clear the door handle in order to get it off. It is a little tricky doing this, so do it gently. These trim pieces cost an arm and a leg to replace.
5. Use a putty knife or wide-bladed screw driver (there may be a special tool you can use, I'm not sure), insert the putty knife between the door panel and the metal door and very gently pop loose each interior door panel support pin (white plastic friction pins). As I recall, there are 5 of these pins. There are 2 pins on each side, 1 pin on the bottom, and none on the top. If you break any of the pins, NAPA and other auto supply stores have them for just a few bucks.
6. Now the interior door panel is almost entirely loose and is just hanging from the window sill. The panel appears to be in two pieces, but do NOT disassemble it into 2 pieces, it's simply not necessary. To completely remove the panel from the door, keep it in one piece, if possible have the window in the down position, and gently and firmly pull up on the door panel until the interior lip of the door panel pulls completely free from the metal door.
7. Disconnect the wiring harness that goes to the interior light near the lower rear corner of the door panel. Then set the door panel aside and begin your repairs to the window regulator.
As far as repairs are concerned, here is what I did:
I pulled the moisture barrier loose at the bottom and rolled it up and taped it out of the way.
2. I drilled out all 5 of the rivets holding the window regulator in place.
3. I drilled out the 2 rivets (one at each end) in the upper slide rail that attaches the rail to the lower metal structure of the window. This frees the window from the window regulator.
4. I unbolted the lower slide rail (one bolt at each end).
5. I used my hands to pull the window all the way up. then taped it into place so it wouldn't move.
6. I removed the window regulator from the door by pulling it out through the large opening in the door interior sheet metal.
7. Use a screw driver, pair of diagonal pliers, or some other tool to unbend the bent over ends of the slide rails (it is not necessary to rebend the ends of the rails after the new slides are installed because, as someone else already mentioned, the slides cannot travel that far anyway.
8. Remove the remnants from the old broken door slides. This door has 2 slides for the top slide rail and 1 slide for the bottom slide rail. As mentioned by others in this thread, the new slides (white plastic) are round and are therefore able to rotate. The original design was rectangular and could not rotate, so they were more likely to break. I used a pair of pliers to pop each slide in place. No drilling was necessary. Make sure you don't installed them backwards. Otherwise they will not go into the slide rails.
9. Re-insert the window regulator through the large hole in the door, orient the slide rails correctly and slip the sliders into the rails (2 on the top rail, 1 on the bottom rail).
10. Instead of 5 rivets, I used 1/4-20 stainless steel bolts, lock nuts, and blue loctite to attach the window regulator to the door. Make sure each nut is tightened firmly.
11. Reattach the lower slide rail to the door with the existing bolts, making sure the forward bolt is positioned in its slot the same as before.
12. Slowly slide the window down until the metal structure attached to the bottom of the window touches the upper slide rail. Then, rather than rivets, I used stainless steel 10-32 Phillips head screws, lock nuts, and blue loctite to attach the upper slide rail to the window lower structure.
13. Reconnect the battery. The window up/down switch will be hanging loose from the wiring harness. Turn the ignition switch on. Test the window by picking up the switch and moving it to both the up and down position. If it goes up and down correctly, you are almost done.
Now turn the ignition key off and disconnect the negative terminal of the battery. Replace any broken friction pins. Reconnect the wiring harness to the light in the door panel. Make sure any other electrical connections are connected. Reglue the moisture barrier to the metal door (I used spray glue) and repair it if necessary. Re-hang the door panel to the window sill, and make sure the interior lip of the panel is correctly and fully inserted. Feel around to make sure each friction pin is lined up with the corresponding hole in the metal door, and with the palm of your hand give the door panel a sharp blow at the position of each friction pin to pop each one into place. Re-install the pull handle with the 2 screws and push the door pull strap back down to hide the screws. Re-install the trim piece containing the ash tray and window up/down switch (insert the switch into the trim piece). Re-install the trim piece that fits over the door handle and door lock switch (make sure the rod that operates the switch is inserted correctly.
Reconnect the battery. That's it. Hope I didn't leave anything out.
Regards.
Jim C.
Has anyone had a problem with the engine stalling out? Our 1995 Roadmaster wagon runs and looks great, but just started stalling out when it is cold (not too cold, though... we live in Florida). The Level 3 Diagnostics state that it's a "Code 16 - Loss of low resolution signal." We've had one service shop tell us it needs a distributer kit, and another tell us it's probably the ignition module. Before I spend $1000+ on repairs, I want to get it right. Any help out there? Thanks!
Re: Stalling out when cold.
I had the same problem with my ’95 at about 150,000 miles. Every time it would get cool and damp, the engine would just quit. 10 minutes later it would start. You can imagine what a PITA that is during an Indiana winter.
My shop (not a dealer) replaced the “distributor” assembly and the coil. The parts and labor should cost about $800. But while the front of the engine is apart, you should consider replacing all the belts and plug wires. If the water pump is seeping, do that too. By the time you get done it’ll run $15-1800.
Be sure the shop will give you a 1 year warranty on all parts and labor, or walk out on them before they touch the car. Ten months and 20,000 miles later, my wagon started pinging and bucking on acceleration. The shop had a devil of a time trying to figure out what it was, because no codes would be stored. They finally replaced the primary ignition system again, at no charge, and the car has been running great ever since!
Morgankhat@aol.com.