window regulator recall?

[tdiblair]

For for those who owned the 2001 TDI Jetta - our window reglators bit the dust often - a plastic part on the regulator - broke often. VW put a recall on it and a free fix at the dealer with a metal part replacement.

Now my Passat sedan, which is a low mileage car- 32,000 miles had its front passanger window regulator bite the dust. Low mileage and the passanger side window is seldon used - unlike the driver side. The windwow fell down today. Another window regulator failure. Does anyone know if the 2005 Passats had a window regulator recall like my old Jetta TDI? One thing I will say about VW, I've never owned a car that unexpectedly lets in so much nice fresh air. Good thing it wasn't raining. Guess I'll keep a roll of duct tape in the car to tape up the next window in the ' up postion ' on the other side of the car. Kinda like my Jetta.

Blair

 

[vwztips]

Not to my knowledge. I lost track of how many of those I have replaced. It's only the plastic clip that needs replacing. Someone was trying to fabricate the plastic part on PassatWorld but I think they gave up.

I tell people to hold them up with suction cups at the bottom inside of the window, until the regulator can be replaced. The duct tape will ruin the paint.

 

[1854sailor]

It's not the regulator itself that fails, it is a little plastic pin that secures the glass to the regulator. It recently happened to my rear driver's side window and I was able to finagle the glass so that the window would stay up until I got it fixed. Probably easier with the back seat windows as they do not retract all of the way into the door.

I called around to a few indy glass shops and found one who was familiar with the problem, and had fixed several. I picked up the part from the stealer ($2.00) and it was fixed in about an hour for $100.00.

 

[vwztips]

Correct, it is the plastic parts which hold the glass to the regulator. However the front and rear are totally different and the dealer does not sell the plastic clips for the front. You get to purchase the whole panel for this repair at a cost of $120-$140 depending on your dealer.

The rear has the plastic pin which snaps into the plastic clip. Be mindful that if the pin fell out, it did so for a reason and is laying in the bottom of the door. My expereince has been that the plastic clip has broken on the back side and hard to detect until you remove the complete regulator. Most likely the pin will fall out again.

 

[1854sailor]

Correct, it is the plastic parts which hold the glass to the regulator. However the front and rear are totally different and the dealer does not sell the plastic clips for the front. You get to purchase the whole panel for this repair at a cost of $120-$140 depending on your dealer.

The rear has the plastic pin which snaps into the plastic clip. Be mindful that if the pin fell out, it did so for a reason and is laying in the bottom of the door. My expereince has been that the plastic clip has broken on the back side and hard to detect until you remove the complete regulator. Most likely the pin will fall out again.

Thanks for the heads up! I've got a little woofer buzz in that same door and I'll see if I can look in through that access hole when I take the door liner off to work on the speaker.

 

[vwztips]

Now the complete story comes out. You have been cranking up the bass while listening to your new Justin Beiber CD and blew the subwoofer and the pin out. Can't blame VW for that one............LOL

 

[1854sailor]

Now the complete story comes out. You have been cranking up the bass while listening to your new Justin Beiber CD and blew the subwoofer and the pin out. Can't blame VW for that one............LOL

You could be right, but it would be more like John Hiatt, Levon Helm or Little Feat for me.

 

[tdiblair]

Ok, thanks for the replies. To sum it up, it's a $2 plastic pin - BUT - VW won't sell the $2 part for the front window only the rear window regulator and of course I have a broken front window pin. So I get to pay up to $140 for a whole new regulator with the same breakable plastic pin - no improved regulator + $100 for labor. Sounds like a plan. Do I have this right?

Blair

 

[vwztips]

Yes but there are two plastic clips in the front not a pin like in the rear.

 

[tdiblair]

Yes but there are two plastic clips in the front not a pin like in the rear.

got it - just like my 2001 Jetta TDI - plastic part that broke - except VW did a recall and I think you got a $2 metal part instead. At least VW learned something new from the 2001 recall plastic part that broke. They decided to use a plastic part that breaks again but this time not to offer a recall and not to offer a metal replacement to the cheezy plastic. I don't want to sound like I'm bitter or making fun. It could be worse. At least VW has not taken a giant step backwards in those 4 years of window regulator evolution in their R&D dept. Just sorta zero progress or thinking.

Blair

 

[thundershorts]

if you keep the window channels well lubed you might avoid problems

 

[tdiblair]

Thundershorts,

good point on the lube - but do you have a choice of lube that doesn't attact dust or do you figure since it's inside the door it's 'relatively' isolated from most of the dirt?

Also does anyone know where a tuitorial is on line that shows where all the screws are on taking off in interior door panel?

Blair

 

[DickSilver]

You might want to try silicone spray lubricant for the window channels. Very little residue. But I must admit I have not tried it on that application.

 

[thundershorts]

use the straw and a heavy silicone spray and soak the felts as low as you can. the glass will help carry the lube to lower part of felt. some people feel compelled to try opening their windows when the are frozen, which stresses the mechanism. you will know when you've got it lubed well as the window will move a lot faster.

 

[rjr311]

regulator repair

I can not find it but I recall reading about people who bought an Audi A6 front clip repair kit
http://www.ebay.com/sch/i.html?_kw=passat&_kw=window&_kw=clips
and tweaked it a little to work on the front.

 

[jjcsnlynn]

Does this recall include the 2000 Passats? Anyone have a copy of it or know where I can go get it?

 

[johnboy00]

There is no windows regulator recall on the 2004-2005 Passats. For earlier years, I do not no but I suspect that there isn't.