Squeaky Windows !!

[klawit]

Sorry to hear about your ordering mistake, MWG ...
I was in a hurry that very night I posted the above hints & links as I went on vacation ...
and thus forgot to explicitly mention the german background (i.e. LHD) in most of my postings here.

On the other hand, chances are there will be enough mates looking for this "spare" kit of yours as the problem seems to be widespread and not connected to just the passenger's side.

Not sure, if you can blame the weather/climate or the engineer/manufacturer for this issue of early used up guides & wires ... as I see it, lots of individual parameters (conciseness of assembly, frequency of use, jerking it up & down instead of a smooth running etc.) can as well affect the operating life.

greets ... Klaus

 

[Bill55]

Perhaps a bit late to mention it now but these replacements are listed on ebay in english from the same supplier. Search ebay.co.uk for altea window.

 

[Bill55]

Update on this thread. Its a lot cooler than recent and there has been some rain but when I put the window up today it was almost silent until very near the closed position before it squaked just for a moment. No ear piercing squeal or attempt to roll back. I've not made any changes or adjustments.
Indicated temp on dash 16 C.

 

[MWG]

Right, have gotten as far as removing the door handle and trim its attached to. Now what?! Can't work out how to remove the rest of the door panel to get to the cables

Reading ElsaWin at the moment to see what i should be doing but if someone has some tips it would be useful

 

[MWG]

Ok, found out what i need to do. Looks like its gonna be a long day tomorrow, I'll try and take some pictures of what i'm doing so any of you that are thinking of doing this can see what you are letting yourself in for

 

[skeyton goat]

Squeaky, now stopped completely open!!

Have owned our '57 plate Altea since it was six months old. Not overly impressed with it TBH...

The latest problem is that discussed on this thread -I've also had the 'limp mode' issue start up this last week. I had not really not noticed weather conditions, but ages ago the passenger-side window started screeching like a stuck pig when opening/closing. It went away for ages (so was probably the cold and wet weather cure), but today my wife put it down and it now will not go up.

I have managed to partially strip the interior panel, but am stuck with the hard plastic surround. Some of the screws seem to secure the window track (especially those two at the base), so am a little loathed to remove them.

The motor seems to be OK, but without the hard trim removed, I cannot work out exactly how the system works - I can see some plastic covers cables running to the front and rear of the window, but not where they secure to. I can also see the clamp securing the glass at the front, bit the rear one is hidden by the hard plastic surround.

If I could just get at the clamps, I could at least slide the glass up and wedge it in place somehow....

Apologies for the ramble, any help with Altea-specific panels gratefully received!

Cheers,

Richard

 

[MWG]

I will try and post up the procedure in the morning, its quite complicated to explain without pictures

It sounds as though one of the cables has snapped in your system so you will either need a complete new regulator kit or the cables that are linked to in this thread

 

[skeyton goat]

Trim removal

Many thanks for posting and I am looking forward to seeing how it's done - or at least where the fixings roughly are and of what type...

Will keep my eyes skinned and have a potter in the meantime. Might have to try and buy some perspex to make up a temporary window, as the black bin liners I taped over the window last night will be no good for daily driving.

Cheers again,

Richard

 

[MWG]

I'd forgotten how much of a labour intensive job this is!

As you have already gotten the inner panel off the door i'll start at the glass removal. You can click on the pictures to make them bigger

You'll need to raise the window until it is about halfway open/closed and loosen the fixings 1



Lift the glass out as shown



Remove this piece of trim (its held in really well) and disconnect the connector that is behind it



You then need to remove part of the door mechanism! Remove the screws (2) (I think they are M8 Spline), remove cap (3) and then loosen off the screw inside (1). Be careful not to undo it too much as there is a small lever that it activates (you can see it if you look at the screw head)



Pull the door handle (as if to open the door) approximately half way, now remove (2) by slightly rotating it and pulling outwards (this may take couple of attempts)



Now unclip the door lock cable (1). Use a small screwdriver to pop it out



If you haven't done so already, remove the speaker grill and speaker

Make sure the connectors (in red) are unclipped from the door panel. Undo all of the screws you can see and remove, the lower screws need to be only loosened and should be left in place however I removed them .



You now need to remove the door panel by lifting it upwards and then away from the door as shown. There are also two metal arms on the slider rails that connect to the door panel ( (6) in the very last pic), so again a bit of careful manoeuvring is needed to get the panel off. There is a cable on the right hand side that doesn't have a huge amount of slack on it so try not to pull the panel away from the door too far



You should then end up with something like this



I can't remember exactly how I did it but I think I removed the entire motor assembly (blue) and all the yellow parts and re-wired the mechanism. I'm pretty certain explained how to do that in another thread in this section



Hopefully that hasn't put you off

 

[skeyton goat]

Many thanks

Put me off? Well, perhaps a little... But at £230+ for my local SEAT dealer to do it, I'll have a bash. It's just the logistics of having the car off the road while it's dis-assembled. Still, just got to hope my old Mini gets through her MOT on Tuesday and then that's less of an issue.

Many thanks for taking the time to post all of those photos and the description BTW. I will update you on progress. Just need to source the parts, once I know what's gone kaput.

All the very best,

Richard

 

[mac music]

i was up at my local indie vw / seat place this week and they had an altea in with a busted winder , the tech was cursing it as a job , they didnt take the window out but taped it full up once they had loosened the window clamp screws ,

my passengers window is "ticking" when its raised or lowered i asked them and their advice was to not use the window !

i want to sound deaden the doors too

so let us know how you get on sketon

MM

 

[skeyton goat]

so let us know how you get on skeyton

MM

Will do - if I manage to get the door apart!!!

Have ordered a repair kit, which allegedly has a link to an installation video...

Job for next weekend now.

 

[Dandle]

I replaced the passenger side window cables on my wife's car exactly a year ago with a cable kit from eBay. Three weeks ago one of the cables snapped again so rather than buy the eBay kit I bought a whole brand new regulator from Seat. The whole lot was only £90 and came pre built with new runners and everything up to the motor. It was far easier to fit and the quality of the cables and lengths are much better. I would recommend the whole kit to anyone over the eBay cables for only £60 more.

 

[skeyton goat]

eBay kits

Ah well, that's what I bought...

Will just have to limit opening of the window once it's repaired to months with the letter 'J' in them! Either that or get shot of it PDQ - a serious option, given the faults it has developed in its short four-year life.

Seriously though, thanks for the pointer to the SEAT kit. How did you fare taking off the trim? My main problem at the moment is that it is stuck completely open, so I can only access one of the clamps securing the glass.

Cheers,

Richard

 

[mac music]

so is it an an angle ? or right down in the door ?



having done this on a mk4 golf you should once you have the fabric trim panel out be able to push it up by hand ? & straighten it up first

MM

 

[Dandle]

Ah well, that's what I bought...

Will just have to limit opening of the window once it's repaired to months with the letter 'J' in them! Either that or get shot of it PDQ - a serious option, given the faults it has developed in its short four-year life.

Seriously though, thanks for the pointer to the SEAT kit. How did you fare taking off the trim? My main problem at the moment is that it is stuck completely open, so I can only access one of the clamps securing the glass.

Cheers,

Richard

The door comes apart quite easily once you know how. A good tip is to remove the speaker early on as that gives you a lot of access to line up the regulator there rather than struggling to move it from the top. Also if you cut off the tie wraps holding the wiring loom it frees the panel up to move about and position it better while fitting the cables/regulator, just remember to retie them back before refitting the panel. I used a beach towel to rest the door on while it was on the floor. Because my cable snapped the window was loose so I could grab it with both hands and move it up and down, secure it with strong tap at the top once you have undone the securing bolts then when the new regulator is in you can just drop the window down into it.

 

[skeyton goat]

so is it an an angle ? or right down in the door ? Having done this on a mk4 golf you should once you have the fabric trim panel out be able to push it up by hand ? & straighten it up first

MM

It's down square, goes up & down perhaps 1/2 an inch when you press the switch. Have tried 'pulling' it up, but will not budge.

 

[skeyton goat]

The door comes apart quite easily once you know how. A good tip is to remove the speaker early on as that gives you a lot of access to line up the regulator there rather than struggling to move it from the top. Also if you cut off the tie wraps holding the wiring loom it frees the panel up to move about and position it better while fitting the cables/regulator, just remember to retie them back before refitting the panel. I used a beach towel to rest the door on while it was on the floor. Because my cable snapped the window was loose so I could grab it with both hands and move it up and down, secure it with strong tap at the top once you have undone the securing bolts then when the new regulator is in you can just drop the window down into it.

Was completely in the dark when I started investigating, but the first thing I did was remove the speaker - through that opening I can clearly see the bolt/clamp securing the forward end of the window. With it being stuck fully down though, I cannot access the rear clamp. Have stuck her in the garage for the time being and will have a good go at removing the hard plastic outer trim over the coming w/e. Keep your fingers crossed for me!!

 

[skeyton goat]

Progress Report.....

Well, I managed to remove the trim panel, with many thanks to MWG's sequence of photos and commentary The most difficult part was the removal of the outer trim of the door handle, to access and release the cable - still don't know how I did it in the end.

Have stripped the regulator and managed to re-do the cables. That is one hell of a job though, re-fitting the spool with the two springs under tension. I think perhaps Dandle has a point about cable lengths and getting the SEAT kit, as whilst I appreciate they have to be under tension, I think perhaps the cables from Germany might be fractionally too short (or the plastic end fittings are fractionally too long). Perhaps it will stretch slightly overnight - wishful thinking!!

Tomorrow, I attempt to re-install the lot - think of me mid-morning.

Cheers,

Richard

 

[skeyton goat]

Job jobbed!!

Well, that's it.

All completed and running up and down (reasonably) smoothly with the aid of lithium grease and vaseline to help keep rust at bay. Slight hitches encountered when re-fitting the glass were the door-top seal and that by the door mirror, which managed to get 'rucked' slightly without me noticing, so that the window ground to a halt about four inches from the top. Another tip - do not get prissy and clean the glass too thoroughly, as then you cannot see where it was originally clamped.

Another easy error can be made when winding the cables onto the regulator drum. The splines at the centre of the drum which engage with the motor pinion do not run its whole depth. I managed to struggle to get the drum in place and then when I sat back and thought about it realised that the pinion splines would only just engage the splines on the drum as it was, so there were potential stripping issues!

Anyway, thanks again MWG.

Richard