Sunday, October 31, 2010
Passat Window Repair -- Again!
We've had quite a few problems with the windows on the Passat. First the driver's window fell down. I learned it was a plastic part that isn't available for VW's, but there is a similar part for Audis that can be modified to work. So, I did this repair some time ago (I thought I did a blog post on it, but I don't see one now). A few months after the driver's side window failed, the passenger window failed as well, so I did the repair on it. My first thought when the driver's side window failed again recently is that my first repair had failed. However, that was not the problem.
My original repair is the pink sliders shown in the above picture, and up close below. The picture above is when I repaired the passenger door, the picture below shows that the sliders are still in fine shape.
This time the problem was another little plastic piece. In the picture below you can see that it is a semi-circular piece that the cable slides on that pulls the window up and down. This piece pulled out of the slot and let the cable come loose, thus the window could not go up or down very well. You can see where this fits in the overall design of the window in the bottom right corner of the top picture.
I realized I could easily drill a hole through the plastic piece and put a screw through it, thus solving the problem with a solution stronger than the original design. However, when I put the plastic piece back in the frame, I noticed that the two window cables were still very loose. So I took the motor off and looked where the cables attach. You can see in the picture below that when the cables got loose from the plastic bit breaking off, the cables came off the capstan and wrapped around the motor shaft, basically knotting and kinking the cables.
I tried to re-string the cables on the capstan, but quickly decided that this was at best a temporary solution if I could even get it to work, and instead headed to the dealer to buy a whole new regulator for $150. It is sad that a $0.25 part destroyed a $150 part, but in effect that is what happened. I wonder why VW used a different, cheaper design for that one component than they did for the other three corners of the regulator. The picture below shows what they use on the other corners of the regulator, and you can see that this part rolls (no sliding), and has a metal rivet that holds the part to the window guide.
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My original repair is the pink sliders shown in the above picture, and up close below. The picture above is when I repaired the passenger door, the picture below shows that the sliders are still in fine shape.
This time the problem was another little plastic piece. In the picture below you can see that it is a semi-circular piece that the cable slides on that pulls the window up and down. This piece pulled out of the slot and let the cable come loose, thus the window could not go up or down very well. You can see where this fits in the overall design of the window in the bottom right corner of the top picture.
I realized I could easily drill a hole through the plastic piece and put a screw through it, thus solving the problem with a solution stronger than the original design. However, when I put the plastic piece back in the frame, I noticed that the two window cables were still very loose. So I took the motor off and looked where the cables attach. You can see in the picture below that when the cables got loose from the plastic bit breaking off, the cables came off the capstan and wrapped around the motor shaft, basically knotting and kinking the cables.
I tried to re-string the cables on the capstan, but quickly decided that this was at best a temporary solution if I could even get it to work, and instead headed to the dealer to buy a whole new regulator for $150. It is sad that a $0.25 part destroyed a $150 part, but in effect that is what happened. I wonder why VW used a different, cheaper design for that one component than they did for the other three corners of the regulator. The picture below shows what they use on the other corners of the regulator, and you can see that this part rolls (no sliding), and has a metal rivet that holds the part to the window guide.
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