Since I’m waiting for the tuneup parts to arrive and I can’t keep my hands off the car, I decided to find out why the driver’s side window doesn’t close properly.  As it rises, the leading edge comes out of the channel along the vent window.

I pulled the inside door panel off to see if I could find the problem.  The first thing I noticed is that all the rubber molding is fried and/or missing.  This isn’t what is causing the alignment problem, but will have to be addressed at some time.  A quick check in the IAP catalog and it appears much of it is available for a reasonable price.

The window mechanism is fairly simple.  A couple of pulleys and a wire rope attached to the bottom of the window.  The channel on the back of the vent window extends down inside the door to where it is attached at the base.  There is some adjustment possible on the pulley mount as well as the vent channel base, but nothing that would make up for the ~1/2″ gap at the top.

I closed both doors and took a look from the front.  From there I can see that the driver’s side vent sticks out more than the passenger side.  Closer examination of the reveals on both sides confirmed this.

At this point I think I’ll let it rest for now.  It’s clear that some time and money needs to be spent on the rubber trim.  That will be the right time to fix the vent window alignment.