Morning,

Bit stuck. When I put my front windows down this am to clear the condensation, the passenger side made a bit of a click on the way up and didn’t close all the way. I pressed down again and it went all the way down and now refuses to come back up.  I can hear the motor going briefly but zero movement from the window.

Any idea at all?  Mk7 golf btw.

Thanks

On older ones the winding mechanism was literally made of plastic and was renowned for failing (~Mk5).  I am surprised that is (still) the case for Mk7.

Still the same rubbish VW mechanism as ever. They haven’t really changed it. My T5 has needed both doors done, my Mates T6 has just had the driver’s side replaced under warranty at just 6 months old.

Nearly always needs a complete new mechanism.

Lots of VW / VAG cars do this, they haven’t fixed it.

One of my rear windows came that way, I just slid up the glass by hand and then push the button till it drove all the bits home, make some horrible noises and then THUNK. Haven’t touched it since.

Thanks all.  Going to try to get the door card off and see what’s what.  I’d attempt to just close it by hand but there is zero window showing.

Sounds like your window regulators are toast if you can hear the motor working.

From what others have said it sound’s to be a known issue. It is also a known issue in BMWs not that that is any great comfort to you and no doubt also plenty of other modern cars…lots of plastic bits that don’t seem to survive if something leads to misalignment or increased resistance in allowing the window back up…often this results from the bolt holding the glass coming loose.

If you’re diy / potential diy get the doorcard off, unbolt the glass from the regulator, remove the regulator and hold the glass up with a length of wood or other appropriate Heath Robinson solution in the interim. DO NOT REMOVE DOORCARD IF IT HAS AN AIRBAG WITHOUT FIRST FINDING OUT THE CORRECT AND SAFE PROCEDURE FOR DOING SO.

If you’re paying expect an hour or twos labour plus the regulator. £150 – £400 depending on garage type at a total guess.

Youtube and ebay are your friend if DIY

Thanks all. Had the door card off and there is little access and almost zero on YouTube which is a first.  Popped to local independent VW specialist and is indeed the regulator. £200 fitted which pains me greatly but it doesn’t look like aomesometi can easily do and given that the genuine VW part is £105+vat it seems I’m going to have to suck it up…..

Already done a couple on the Freelander. Just pick up rebuild kits from ebay for about £7-10. They should hopefully last until the car goes to the scrappy with a good amount of grease on rebuilding.

Happened on my Leon, when I was on holiday in Slovenia.

It’s a well known fault over practically the entire VAG range afaik? The mech is basically a load of plastic and a bit of steel wire that gives up.

Think I paid about €150 to have the entire mech replaced. Perhaps it’s cheaper if you can find the 1 broken bit online, and suss out how the frick to get the door apart. I gave up, walked in to the nearest dealer in Slovenia, and the issue was so well known that he was checking the stock before even taking a look at the car, or even which side it was! (I guess 99% are drivers door, due to being used 2x per day for parking barrier etc.?). Part was in the next morning, and car was collectable maybe 2 hours tops after dropping it off.

Don’t forget to make sure the code is cleared afterwards, else every time you take the car in for MOT or whatever they’ll tell you you’ve got a failing door window mech.

Stupid bloody plastic window rail clips are usually at fault, over time they get brittle and snap – very common problem with certain VW group vehicles

DO NOT REMOVE DOORCARD IF IT HAS AN AIRBAG WITHOUT FIRST FINDING OUT THE CORRECT AND SAFE PROCEDURE FOR DOING SO

Airbags would normally be in the headlining/B Pillar or side of the seat wouldn’t they?  I don’t think they get put in doors.

Certainly aren’t any airbags in mine.

How a plastic part that’s suitable for use could fail in 3 1/2 years is beyond me……

Airbags in doors, nope.  Exactly where you said – there is always a ‘tag’ or an imprint on the plastic that say’s ABS.

Air bags don’t suddenly go bang.  Says he who has to occasionally spray electrical contact cleaner on either the driver’s airbag connectors or drivers seat module in my 16 year old car as it ‘pops’ up on the warning occasionally.

Don’t you have to take the door skin off on the Golf to get access to it?

Last few VAG window regs I have looked at have been doorcard off, then remove the whole window assembly to change the regulator, a load of torx bolts. Not difficult, just need to take your time. You can normally get regs on ebay for about £30 (not genuine) if you are on a budget.

Or just pay the garage to do it, whatever suits.

I changed a window regulator on my 59 Jetta last month and it was a piece of cake . Outer door skin off with a load of t25 or t30’s , take the old regulator out and swap it out for the new one . The doorcard had to come off to exactly locate the spline doofers into the new regulator. The regulator was a copy part off eBay for around £30 inc delivery and it was spot on