Golf IV / Golf 4 trials and tribulations

I am the proud owner of a gorgeous Golf IV. She's my baby, and now, my baby is sick. As noted in the title of this page I want to document some of the more appropriate uses of my time. So, this is it, one of those times.

Most VW Golf 4 owners must've experienced this problem. If not, just wait. It's a question of when and not if it will happen (unless of course you've already had the upgrade).

Yes, I'm referring to the window dropping into the door frame. OK, so mine didn't drop into the door - it's more like it just doesn't move down into the door. Now as any person with half a brain, and maybe less, can see, there is not way that the small little plasic clips (2 clips) can hold the window while the stupendously powerful electric motor pushes the window upwards.

I decided to investigate. The replacement cost for the rails (well, the whole mechanism) is about R 2000 or about $ 300 at the current exchange rate. I think not. There goes my new sound system...

There must be a better way to resolve this. Removing the door panel reveals another panel covering the whole mechanism. It contains the motor, the mechanism and inside is the window. At first glance it doesn't look like there is access, but taking a closer look it is easy to note the 2 rubber plugs on each side end of the door. Once they're opened the rails are visible. It is quite difficult though to get to the rails and the plastic clips. With some effort it is possible to epoxy the plastic thingy (note the engineering terminology) on the rail on each site to a metal lip attached to the window. By epoxy I mean, and please note this, I mean a LOT of epoxy. From the photos that I will post a bit later only a little bit of epoxy putty is seen as most of it is behind the tab. This must be done to prevent the lip from jumping off the plastic support on the inside of the door. This will of course become much clearer the first time you hear that snap of the epoxy when winding up the window.

That pretty much solved it, for now. A friend of mine did the same on a Golf 3, but used normal putty. This has the tendence to loosen due to vibrations so epoxy putty is used as it binds to the metal. It doesn't glue itself to the plastic, so some effort must be put into correct placement of the putty.