As subject.

On my way to the office today there was a section of dual carriageway funnelling into 1 lane because the outside lane was coned off. Lots of traffic, had to slow down to a crawl so I dropped the driver's door leccy widow. When I got through the coned lane, went to raise the window and... nothing except a graunching sound. The motor seems to be working as it whirrs, and I don't think the glass is broken so I think that part of the physical mechanism has gone kaputt.

Anyone heard of this and, more improtanty, anyone got the relevant workshop/Haynes manual and could scan the pages for the front door.

btw it's a 1999 V reg Passat SE 20v Estate

TIA

Simon

Oh... when I got to the office I begged some cardboard and packing tape from the postroom and lashed up a cover for the window hole, leaving a gap so I could see the mirror. That left me with no sideways vision, so at a traffic light I used my house cut a letter box size hole to see through at junctions. 60 mile journey home mainly on motorways - a bit noisy and the right side of my barnet is a bit bouffant!

I have a haynes but my scanner is upstairs and pc downstairs! I will try to scan the right pages and post them up but may take a little while unless anyone else beats me to it!

Sounds awfully like the cable has snapped in the mechanism as you can still here the motor turning, its happened to me before. If this is the case the only real solutions are either to try and replace the cable (pain in the arse), or just replace the whole mechanism - I did this, got the whole mechanism from the breakers.

Cheers Dan.

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^^^^^^ Beaten too it! is there a haynes for printer/scanners as I may need it after I smash mine to bits with a hammer!

It's an age-old problem on VAG cars... one reason why I'd never consider buying one...

These may be helpful (window regulators on a Mk4 Golf)

Link 1
Link 2

Thanks for the replies particularly jabs for the Haynes pages and David J for the Golf linkies.

Simon I had this happen to me on my mk 4 golf. Pretty sure passat is same system. The glass sits in two u channels and the bonding breaks causing the glass to drop to the bottom of the door card. I used a special adhesive we use in work called prc to bond mine back on. That was over a year ago and it's been fine ever since. Let me know if you need some of this adhesive as it pretty unique to aircraft industry. Cheers sam

Thanks, Sam

First I will take the door panel off to see what actually has happened. If it's just the bonding (rather than cables or whatever) I'll give you a shout.

Simon

On my daughter's Golf the glass sat on a pair of plastic 'saddles', which broke. This is a very common problem, usually caused by slamming the door while the window's down.

I get really annoyed by VW's continuing reluctance to fix this problem - it happens to most VAG cars that are based on VW originals, e.g. Seat. Normally, if you go to a VW spares dept for 'non-wear-and-tear' items you have to order your parts and wait a few hours/days for them to be delivered. If you go in for a window winder repair kit they're on the shelf! And the new kit has metal glass supports...

So why couldn't they have fixed the problem years ago by fitting metal saddles in the factory?

Mind you, they haven't fixed the other generic problems that originated on the Mk4 Golf either (e.g. sunroof drains that empty into the rear passenger foot-well, glove compartment lock that breaks its plastic parts and can only be opened by dismantling the dash, and so on). Many of these problems can be found on later VAG 'clones' with different name badges.

I have just been looking around for a new car - I haven't even considered looking at VW or any of its derivatives...

OK, I took the inside door trim and the metal panel off this morning and, guess what?, the plastic clip thingies have broken. It looks like the cables are intact and in place, so hopefully I can just replace the clips. Anyone know a) what exactly I need to look for and b) a good place to get them?

TIA

Simon

VW spares dept - the replacement kit contains all the cables & clips. Not stupid money.