Old Library

I tore into the door panel to investigate my window problem, and found that a
small plastic sleeve on the regulator cable mechanism had broken, allowing the
cable to go slack.  It then wound itself up into the regulator drive, ruining
the cable.

I called my dealer to see if they had a regulator in stock, and amazingly
enough, they said they did.  So I drove 20 miles to get it, only to find that
their computer was in error, and they did NOT have one in stock.  Needless to
say, I was pissed.  I'm stuck with my door panel off, window regulator out,
and the window is laying in the bottom of the door.

On top of that, my battery died yesterday.  At least that was cheap.  ($29.95
at Pep Boys.)

Hey folks,

my driver's side window crapped out last night. Murphy's law, I'm leaving a
class I teach at 8:30 at night, and it's gotta be 17 degrees out there.
window won't come up!! Aaagh!!

It's been making a "chunka-chunka" sound when going up for the last 6 months
to a year. Other than the sound, no problems with it. The sound was rythmic,
and cyclical. On failure, it would only come up 2 inches, no more. Now (this
morning) it ain't even coming up at all. Give off a "binding" vibe.

Advice? I'd like your collected and collectivist wisdom. Help an old man
out! Should I hit the dealer and get ripped? Is there a work around, like
pulling off the door panel (which I can do this Sat if necessary).

Thanks guys!

__________
WJG
[...] 8 lines deleted

Wally,
	I think your only option is to pull the door apart.  I've replaced
my drivers side regulator and motor twice now and it's not that hard. (If I
did it anyone can)  The plastic sheet (vapor barrier) is kind of a PITA to
keep in good shape if you just want to keep it.  I tried to keep it nice
since the dealers  can only get a sheet of foam as the vapor barrier that
you have to cut to fit and use your own glue to put it on.

See also here for more info on the vapor barrier.

You can get an
after market regulator and motor from http://www.vwparts.com for pretty
cheap compared to the original and for about 6 months it's been working well
for me. You might be able to get your window up by pushing on it from the
bottom once you have your door apart, it worked for me the first time the
motor went bad.  It sounds like your motor is shot so if you can I would
just replace it.  Hope that help an OLD MAN.

Jay
95' GTI w/ working windows for now.   

[...]

Yeah, I have seen this happen a bunch of ties. I personally have never seen
the motor go, but everyone else seems to replace them. What you probably
need is the $120 track and cable that holds the window and lets it up and
down.

You will need to take the door apart, take out the vapor barrier as Jay
mentioned earlier. You can do this with basic hand tools and should take
about an hour to get it back in there. You can go in and take off the panel
and wedge some wood in the crack to hold the window up. At least you can
drive 'er hard again then. :)

I'm gonna bet that the wire that runs the window up and down frayed or
jumped the pulley that it is on and then finally broke or jammed in there
somewhere. You can probably save the motor which is the expensive part. If
you find the motor is bad it might be time to look for a wrecked late 98 or
99 that has the auto up and down.

Peter J.

-----Original Message-----
From: Wally Green [mailto:&#99;oolwally&#64;email.msn<img src=/i/dc.gif border=0 width=35 height=15>]
Sent: Thursday, January 11, 2001 10:59 AM
To: Gti-Vr6b; Vwgtivr6; LI Dubbers
Cc: Arthur Emerson; Bob Tillman; Jim Bazzano
Subject: [gti-vr6] drivers window crap-out!


Hey folks,

[...]

Hey guys,

I have a problem I was hoping someone else has encountered and could help me fix.

My GF and I were playing with the power window buttons for the passenger window on my 95 GTI VR6
(her from the passenger button, and me from the driver side button). Now the window will only go up
about a third of the way. It will go down all the way, but anytime I try to raise it, it goes only
a third.

Whenever I keep the up button depressed to try to raise it further, there is some mechanical noise
coming from the window, and the revs increase (current draw), but it won't go up anymore. Very
frustrating considering it's winter here and I have no garage!

Can anybody please help?

Thanks,
Eric

Sounds like a lovely window regulator problem. I'm at work right now and the 
proxy won't let me to the archives but there are various links on replacing 
the window regulator. I had mine replaced a few weeks ago in the passenger 
side (first dealership said it was the motor too, from what you described. 
Your's works so don't let them give you that BS. I only replaced the 
regulator and I'm fine). Thank god it broke in the up position though. Good 
luck!

~Mike
'Waitin' for his decrypter board edition =)'

Its definitely your window regulator assembly and not the motor.  Same thing happened to me. 
Either your wires are stripping, or they've alreay been cut.  You'll have to replace it, pick one
up at www.parts4vws.com.

Perry

Regulator

The only thing wrong with mine was the cable was frayed, so I tok the hole
thing apart and went to get a new wire with the old one in hand......waste
of time.  You have to buy the whole regulator deal.  I know the guy at the
parts counter so I picked one up for $90-95 I think it was, but normally it
will run you about $120 or somewhere close to that.  A lot of money when all
I needed was a new cable.

It's not very hard to do.  You just have to pay attention to how everything
is in there before you take it out.  Then swap the new piece for the old one
and put back in just like it was.  If you aren't mechanically inclined then
you may not want to do it, but I feel that anyone willing to take their time
and get a little bit dirty can do it themselves and save some money.

Good Luck,
Rob S.

Here's the microstory - my windows are working fine when I go into
Wendys, I come back out 20 minutes
later and my driver's side window control is broken save for bringing
the passenger window on a one way
trip down.

Driver's window up -             broken
Driver's window down -           broken
Driver's passenger window up -   broken
Driver's passenger window down works


Lucky for me the passenger's control works fine up and down. They are
power windows, on my 98 GLX. Does
anyone have a clue what would be busted when I get 1 out of 4
functionality in the driver's door control?
I'm planning to take the door apart to check it out but I have no clue
what to look for. Thanks!
Jon

Here you go.

Hey Andy, add this to the library would you?  I had this same problem
about a year or two ago and had a hell of a time finding the issue.

What you have sir, is a broken wire in your door jamb.  You know that
conduit piece that goes from the car body to your door?  the side that
connects to the car rotates (i think 180 or 270 degrees) and pulls
straight out.  once your disconnected there, the conduit should pop
free and you can inspect the wires.  I think there is a  larger guage
red one that is broken based on your symptoms.  Mine was exaclty the
same the first time it happened.

grab an extra piece of wire, strip both ends of it, strip both ends of
the broken piece, and solder it in there.  make sure to shrink wrap it
as well.  The extra wire should let everything flex a little easier, so
add a few inches.  Once your done with that everything should work like
a charm.  if your handy with the iron (soldering iron that is) this
total fix should take no more than 15 minutes.

Also if your door speakers are freaking out, odds are its the same
issue.

-Conlan

 You never mentioned if the individual window switches move their respective
windows up & down.
 Also, don't rule out the driver's side switch being bad. My passenger
window was acting flaky, & it turned out a metal tab inside the switch
corroded & was flexing. It would either contact or wouldn't at times. It
finally broke off leaving the window down.

 -John

I've been having this same issue, only with the drivers door. I don't
believe it's the switch on mine, because if it's not working and I use
the "convenience" feature, and hold the key in the locked or unlocked
position, it still doesn't make the window go up or down. Just called
the dealer, and a driver door window switch is $52.. OWW.

CHECK THE DOOR WIRING FIRST!

i bought a switch for my drivers side originally because of the same
symptoms.

If it really is the switch, i got mine for like 20 something.  if you
ask nice and buy me a 6er i may give it to you since your by me and
all.  Hard part will be finding it first.

but seriously, take the 10 minutes to check the wires, its SOO simple i
wish i could kick myself in the head for living without the power
windows for as long as i did.

Conlan

 IIRC, I tried the same thing & the passenger window still would not lower
or rise.

 -John

Whoa there tiger. I wasn't deaf until you came along! :^)

Actually, since your post yesterday about how you rotate the conduit
that's on the car side, I went out and looked at it, and I can't get it
to turn. Should I be able to turn it by hand?

So what you're saying is that once it's turned, it'll pop out. Do all
the wires disconnect at the same time? I've actually looked at the wires
before, but besides scracked sheathing, it didn't look like any of the
wires were actually broken. I just wish I could get the wires totally
out so I could just replace the damn things!

Steve Houck
'95 Jetta GLX

Just took off the conduit, and looked at the pins that connect at the
"car" side, and the thin red wire with a grey stripe's pin is broken.
Totally broken. A few wires' sheathing's were cracked, but that pin is
jacked. Any idea what that wire does?

Steve Houck
'95 Jetta GLX

It should be grey/red according to the schematic,
its common to all the window regulators, seems to be
a ground.

I looked in the Bentley, but didn't see anything ro/gr, so I just jammed
a paperclip in there to make contact, and the window is still hit &
miss, but at least I feel *slightly* better about it. Also, the inside
of the conduit was nasty green like battery acid. Or maybe wiper fluid
seeped in. I dunno. How would I get a whole new harness with wires to
just replace the whole thing?

Steve Houck
'95 Jetta GLX
-Paperclip-powered windows Edition