I guess it had to happen to me in the end, about to leave work to go home a few nights ago, put the drivers window down to wipe the door mirror, push the switch to put the window up to which it responds by making an expensive grinding sound and stopping halfway up.DOH!!!!!!!!!!
So I pull the car into the workshop and whip the doorcard off to see what’s happened. The rearmost clamp that holds the bottom of the glass in place is nowhere to be seen, the front is still there but is one of the original plastic ones that normally break sooner rather than later.
For those that don’t know, all VW’s made in the late 90’s had this same problem as they all came with these very weak plastic clips, which would all break at the most inconvenient of times, normally allowing the glass to suddenly disappear down into the door. VW agreed to replace them under warranty on all cars less than six years old.
My passenger door had already been done before I bought the car, so it was only a matter of time before the other side went. I managed to get the window up by loosening the one remaining clamp bolt and left the switch disconnected just in case I forgot in the middle of a downpour.
You can normally get away with just a repair kit that costs about £35 inc vat, this consists of a couple of new cables and much stronger all metal clamps. If more damage has occurred, you may need to replace the whole inner door skin which costs about £80 inc VAT. Below is a guide to how you can DIY this job and save yourself some money.
TOOLS YOU’LL NEED FOR THE JOB
Torx T20 driver
No.2 Pozi driver (long)
No.2 Pozi driver (stubby)
Torx T30 driver or socket
XZN M8 socket
10mm socket
3/8 drive ratchet
Small flat bladed screwdriver
Large flat bladed screwdriver or trim tool
Pointed nose pliers
THE FUN BIT
1.Undo the three Torx T20 screws along the bottom edge of the door card.
2.Undo the #2 Pozi head screw at the top front corner of the door card.
3.Remove the hand grip, I use a soft non damaging trim removal tool pushed into the top of it, you can also use a flat bladed screwdriver pushed into the bottom of it where any damage won’t show. If you’ve got strong hands you can even just grip it tightly and pull it off.
4.The switch panel is clipped in place, I use my trim tool to start it moving at the back edge, or you can use a flat bladed screwdriver with cardboard wrapped around it to prevent damage to the trim.
5.Unplug the switch module by squeezing the release tab inwards.
6.Undo the three screws a shown with a #2 Pozi driver.
7.The door card can now be unclipped, the front corner of the pocket should give you the best grip to get it started. Don’t be scared to pull hard as the clips that hold in place are VERY tough. The mirror adjuster, puddle light and alarm LED will have to be unplugged, and the Bowden cable to the inner handle handle is easy to unclip.
8.If the window can still be moved, lower it until any remaining bolts are visible through the removable rubber grommets and undo them with a 10mm socket.
9.Lift the back edge of the glass to the angle shown and lift it out carefully. If you’ve never handled glass before please be aware of what temperature differentials can do to it, if the glass is warm from being in the sun and you put it down on the cold ground, it can shatter, so make sure you put it down on something like a blanket if you’re not sure.
10.The following four steps will be of use to you only if you need to take the lock out for any other purpose such as repairing dry solder joints.
For the purpose of repairing tbe window regulator you can go straight to step #14 as the lock mechanism doesn't actually need to come out for this,the plastic bracket with the two rivets is merely an assembly aid for when the door is built on the production line,and can be safely left out without compromising the operation of the door lock.
Undo the two bolts that hold the lock mechanism into the door. These are very specifically M8 XZN or Triplesquare, you will not be able to undo these with any Torx bits or any other sort of 12 point spline bits, you will damage the head of the bolt if you try to do this and will make the bolts near impossible to get out.
11.Remove the plastic cap to the right of the above bolts, if you look into the hole you’ll see a large headed screw with a Torx T20 hole in it. Use your Torx driver to turn it anti-clockwise, it will need a dozen or so turns but do be careful that you don’t undo it too far as you can split the casting it’s screwed into.
12.This takes a bit of practice, but you will need to pull the handle to the open position and grip and pull the lock and barrel while gently wiggling it all with one hand while you slowly undo the locking screw with the other hand, as soon as you can pull the barrel out stop turning the screw.
13.Place a small flat bladed screwdriver into the slot as shown and lever out the small black plastic piece that has a cable coming out of it.
14.Push out the pin in the middle of the two plastic rivets shown here with a pin punch or small screwdriver and then knock the remaining part of the rivet through with a hammer or similar.
15.Unplug the multiplex module by sliding the locking bar downwards, also unplug all the other things such as tweeter, bass speaker and electric mirror and pull all the wiring loom anchor points gently away from the inner skin until the loom is completely clear, and undo the eleven 10mm bolts that hold the inner skin in place.
16.If the inner skin has never been off before you will need to carefully push a flat bladed screwdriver under the edge of it to get it started, possibly at several places around it. When it’s completely free, pull the bottom edge away from the door by a couple of inches and slide it downwards and towards the front of the car to clear the top of the regulator and lock mechanism.
17.Unplug the connector to the central locking unit, if it’s very tight you may need to use small pliers to move the locking tab. Remove the grommet and separate the wiring loom from the inner skin,which can now be totally removed and placed on the ground to inspect the damage.
18.This is the cause of mine and many thousands of peoples problems, the metal bracket that clamps the bottom of the window glass is merely clipped into the very weak plastic runner, meaning it’s not a case of if, but when it will break.
19.This is good news as it’s only one clip that has broken, sometimes the cables and pulleys can get damaged as well which will mean the whole inner skin with a new regulator mechanism costing about £80 will be needed.
20.Using a Torx T30 driver or socket undo the three screws that hold the window motor in place.
21.Use a flat bladed screwdriver to carefully lever out the metal at the closest point to the roller to give you enough room to get the cables out.
22.You can leave the long centre cable in place if you want to as we’ll be re-using it, but if you haven’t done this job before you can remove it as does make attaching and routing the cables a little bit easier.
23.This is what the repair kit consists of, notice the much, much stronger all metal cast clamp assembly.
24.Push the new cable drum assembly into it’s respective holes until you hear them click when they will be sort of locked into place. DO NOT CUT THE CABLETIES AND REMOVE THE RETAINING BAR AT THIS STAGE.
25.The cable end fittings will sit like this when you first put them in, don’t worry as they all sort straighten themselves out later.
26.Push the cable’s end nipples into the slots in the clamp as shown, you’ll see from looking at it which one goes in first.
27.Clip the clamp onto the runner near the top with it at 90 deg to the runner like this, and then push it down until it’s fully seated and slides smoothly up and down the runner, making sure the cables stay where they’re supposed to be. Repeat with the other clamp assembly.
28.You can now start threading the cable round the pulleys, the first three you should be able to quite easily by hand, the last one is a little bit more difficult. Turn the pulley until the cam shaped bit on the top is in a position to allow the cable to be slipped over it (you may need to use a flat bladed screwdriver to ease it on), and then put the same screwdriver into one of the slots near the tip of the cam lobe, and turn it in either direction where it will force the cable into the slot in the pulley without damaging it.
29.This is how it should look now, do a final check to make sure the cable has gone into the groove around the pulleys and hasn’t slipped underneath it as can happen quite easily.
30.You can now cut the cableties and remove the retaining bar, you should be able to slide either of the clamps up and down the runner EASILY by hand and have the other one follow it in exactly the same position.
31.It would be a good idea to test it at this stage before bolting it all back together. Plug the main plug back into the multiplex module, the small plug back into the switch panel, turn the ignition and check that it goes all the way up and down nice and smoothly, if it does put some grease on the runners and pulleys and bend the metal around the pulleys back down again by tapping with a hammer.
32.Re-assembly is the reverse of taking it apart, if the lock mechanism is till attached the inner skin that should be put in first, followed by the top of the regulator, there are a couple of locating pins that the inner skin should find it’s way onto, and when replacing the bolts don’t overtighten them as it’s not that difficult to strip the thread.
33.Tilt the window glass forward at about 45 deg and lower it carefully into place, making sure it goes into and slides down the front runner (or slot if you like). Now lower the back edge in and make sure it goes into the rear runner, when the top of the glass is level push it down until the bottom of it is in the two clamps that you will have positioned so that they are visible through the grommeted holes.
The clamp bolts have been replaced with Torx T30 on the new ones, these should be nipped up loosely and no more, so not really tight and not really loose, put the window all the way to the top which should push it into place. Lower it again until the clamp bolts are visible and tighten them up, be very careful not to over-tighten them as the rubber grips the glass tightly enough to be safe. Lower the window all the way to the bottom and then up again, if it’s smooth and travels properly all the way then all is good, if not repeat the above procedure of loosening off the clamp bolts again until it works properly.
34.When you reattach this part don’t be tempted to have it in this position just so the door is easier to open, this is with my old lock that was very worn and the cable would have stretched, the new second hand lock I now have in there has that almost at the other end of that slot. Putting it like this with a newer lock can mean the door won’t shut properly, and can put unnecessary strain on the lock and cable, meaning you may run out of adjustment when the lock starts to wear.
35.Pull the handle to the open position to let the lock barrel slide back in, and then turn the Torx T20 screw clockwise inside the door until it’s locked in place, but do be sure not to overtighten it as the it’ll mean a complete stripdown again of you crack the assembly it’s screwed into
36.When everything except the door card is back togther and plugged in, you’ll need to reset the one touch feature. It doesn’t matter where you start either up, down or in the middle, unplug the big plug with the sliding locking bar from the multiplex module, leave it for five to ten seconds and plug it in again. Turn the ignition on and pull the switch up to raise the window, keep it held when it gets to the top for about five seconds and then let go. Repeat this for going down, again holding for about five seconds when it’s got to the bottom, now the one touch should work in both directions, if it doesn’t just repeat the last few steps until it does.
37.The doorcard can now go back on, reconnect the electric mirror switch, door handle cable, puddle light and alarm LED and make sure the loom and connector for the locking and window switch panel is reachable when the doorcard is clipped in place, replace all the screws that came out and check everything one last time.
And finally locate the nearest bin where allegedly you’ll find lots of VAG parts………
Whilst I had it all in pieces I also did a job I’ve been meaning to do since I bought the car three years ago, which is to put some sound deadening mat on the inside of the outer skin.
I think Dynamat and similar branded products are all overpriced by about 500%, so thought I’d try what a lot of other people are using instead, in this case Screwfix Direct “No Nonsense” (drum roll please!) flashing tape.
38.A scraper first followed by thinners or white spirit and a rag to get it all perfectly clean, dry and free of any wax type anti-corrosion treatments.
39.If it’s a cold day, then it’s good idea to use a heat gun or hair dryer to warm the panel and get rid of any condensation that can form very quickly.
40.Cut the flashing tape to size, peel the backing off and stick it where it’s needed, use a wallpaper roller to get rid of air bubbles and make sure it’s all stuck down properly. This stuff is about half the weight of the equivalent Dynamat etc, so you will need more layers to get the same effect. I put six layers immediately behind the where the midbass speaker is, and three to four everywhere else.
41.I ran out of light before I could do the inner skin, but I need to make some proper MDF or plywood spacers to mount my 8in DLS midbass speakers, so will finish it off when they go in.
The roll I used was 225mm X 10M, I used about two thirds of it, and at a cost of about £13 for the whole roll that’s a very cheap bit of sound deadening. The door now sounds a lot more expensive or solid when it shuts, and the midbass may just have slightly more snap to it, but I need to fully do both doors to get the real benefits from it.
Chris.