# WINDOW - stopped working - appears jammed



## John-H (Jul 13, 2005)

Meant to post this this morning:

Car not used for a few days, opened door - no window 1/2" drop... Hmmm... :? got in, turned ignition on, pressed button to drop drivers door window - nothing, apart from a little delayed click from the door motor. Sounding for all the world like it was jammed.

Did the window reset on passenger side... , well, held button all the way down then released after a couple of seconds, did the same for the way up, then up and down again for good measure and because I couldn't remember the correct procedure after being woken up an hour too early because I forgot to reset the alarm clock :roll: !

Drivers side then magically worked but needed the same reset procedure. Everything now working fine  .

It did this about 6 months ago and has behaved faultlessley until this morning. I expect it will be fine again. Anyone had a similar experience?


----------



## John-H (Jul 13, 2005)

Hah! :x Latest update... I get home, open the door and I get repeated clicking and slight dimming of the courtesy light as the door window repeatedly tries to drop. Tried te reset thing to no effect. Hmmmm...

Will try some juggery pokery...


----------



## HighTT (Feb 14, 2004)

I have scans of Audi's instructions for first erasing and then adapting
the force - resistance curves for the motors.
If you PM me with your e-mail address
I can attach either BITMAPs or PSDs of these instructions
which were given to me by my local dealers after my car
was out of warranty.


----------



## HighTT (Feb 14, 2004)

John - Did you receive the instructions as attachments ?

Did they help at all :?: :?: :?:


----------



## John-H (Jul 13, 2005)

Thanks HighTT - yes I did get them OK  - sorry thought I'd replied to say thanks  . I've not tried it yet but will be able to tonight. I can only move the passenger side at the moment but hopefully manipulating/erasing that side will free up the drivers side like it did last time. I'm not sure how the system works. Luckily the drivers side is stuck in the closed position at present. Thanks again and I'll let you know  .


----------



## dj c225 (Nov 3, 2004)

Does the car start?

Flat battery maybe?


----------



## hutters (Jul 16, 2002)

hhhmmm, got in mine last night to go home and noticed the drivers window didn't drop when the door opened, wouldn't work with the switch either 

probably not a fuse as the passenger works fine (assuming they are on the same circuit - can anyone confirm?)

car has not been used for some time, so not sure when the problem started, just that I noticed it last night.

hightt I will drop you a PM with my email address if you would be so kind to send me the info you have.


----------



## HighTT (Feb 14, 2004)

hutters said:


> hightt I will drop you a PM with my email address if you would be so kind to send me the info you have.


Instructions sent


----------



## John-H (Jul 13, 2005)

dj c225 said:


> Does the car start?
> 
> Flat battery maybe?


No, the battery's fine it's just the window that refuses to move. It did this about 6 months ago but fixed itself after a reset of the opposite side :roll: . I'm not sure if the window stop positions etc. are held in a central controller. Hopefully HighTT's kindly sent, better reset instructions might effect a cure when applied to the working side. We'll see...


----------



## dj c225 (Nov 3, 2004)

Disconnect the battery for 10 minutes then reconnect, see if that will work.


----------



## John-H (Jul 13, 2005)

dj c225 said:


> Disconnect the battery for 10 minutes then reconnect, see if that will work.


Good thought, only I don't have my radio code (previous, previous, owner has it is a safe place :roll: )

Perhaps the manual may reveal where the memory is and I can pull the appropriate fuse...


----------



## John-H (Jul 13, 2005)

Hi HighTT,

I'm sorry to report that the procedure you sent didn't work for me  . I could erase the settings on the passenger side fine and reset the travel limits etc., but the drivers side still refuses to budge. But thanks for helping - it's appreciated  .

I can tell it is trying to move, as it clicks and the courtesy light goes just as dim (so the same stall current) and for the same length of time as the passenger side. I also get repeated clicking when I open the door as it tries repeatedly to drop. It really is behaving as though it's jammed. I tried thumping it again :twisted: but that didn't work :evil: .

I think I'll wait until the weekend and try and trace the likely fuse to erase the memory that way. If that doesn't work it's door pannel off time and out with the multimeter.

Unless anyone else has any other ideas to try???....


----------



## dj c225 (Nov 3, 2004)

John-H said:


> dj c225 said:
> 
> 
> > Disconnect the battery for 10 minutes then reconnect, see if that will work.
> ...


Hi,

I'm guessing something is stuck in memory hence why it needs resetting.

Maybe find someone with Vagcom near you?

Regarding the radio code, what is this? when I had to disconnect mine I wasn't asked for a code (I know I have one but never needed to us it :? ).

http://www.wak-tt.com/fuses/fuses.htm

Fuse chart (thanks to wak).

Good luck.


----------



## John-H (Jul 13, 2005)

Thanks dj c225,

I've got VAG-COM myself but I'm not aware of which module or which bit of memory to address. Anybody VAG-COM people got any ideas?

Perhaps your radio never had the code set - perhaps mine hasn't either but the risk is it has and I don't want to miss John Humphreys in the morning.


----------



## hutters (Jul 16, 2002)

HighTT, thanks for the note - that's the procedure I usually use to reset the window, but in this case I am in exactly the same boat as John-H - passenger side is fine, but driver side won't budge at all.

John-H I can hear clicking and the interior light dims when using the switch too. I'm gonna try the battery disconnect next and see what that does.


----------



## John-H (Jul 13, 2005)

Hutters,

That would be interesting and confirm if it's the memory  - but make sure you've got your radio code - I can't risk it with mine as it's lost :? .


----------



## NaughTTy (Jul 9, 2003)

John-H - You can get the radio code from your local dealers.

They will stick it on their diagnotic kit and send off details to Audi Germany who then e-mail back the code. The downside of this is they will probably charge you for their time - I think it cost me Â£22 to get mine. (then I found the bl*&dy number on the original invoice :roll: )


----------



## hutters (Jul 16, 2002)

John-H said:


> Hutters,
> 
> That would be interesting and confirm if it's the memory  - but make sure you've got your radio code - I can't risk it with mine as it's lost :? .


I have my radio code, will try to do it tonight.


----------



## John-H (Jul 13, 2005)

NaughTTy said:


> John-H - You can get the radio code from your local dealers.
> 
> Thanks NaughTTy, I had not got round to this as the dealers want the car on a weekday - not the weekend - and I don't want to take a day off just for that. I was going to try and get the radio serial number off the radio (which they need) and give them that to look it up during the week, then pop in at the weekend and have them enter it whilst I'm not looking. They won't tell me for security reasons what the code is until it's confirmed as mine :wink: . BUT I have not got round to figuring out how to get the radio out, as it doesn't seem to be the standard trick. PM me if you know how :wink: .


----------



## NaughTTy (Jul 9, 2003)

John-H said:


> NaughTTy said:
> 
> 
> > John-H - You can get the radio code from your local dealers.
> ...


I'm sure someone will confirm but I think it's something like universal European stereo removal keys from Halfords.


----------



## hutters (Jul 16, 2002)

Well the battery disconnect didn't sort it, so it looks like a trip to the stealers.

Booked in Friday for diagnosis and repair (if they have the part), told me it could be upto about 200 quid if it needs a new motor


----------



## John-H (Jul 13, 2005)

Yup, I didn't have any success with the reset either and the mechanism was actually jammed. Sorry, should have posted but I though you'd have already tried it. I finally managed to disconnect one of the plugs feeding the door motor to avoid disconnecting the battery.

I managed to unjam it by unscrewing the back half of the motor and winding it back by hand. The mechanism was a bit stiff, so I lubricated it all, put the motor back together and got it to work.

However it's only a partial success, as there are two stiff points in the wind up that cause roll back espescially if the battery voltage is low (engine not running) and it has got stuck at the top again twice but luckily freed off by itself.

I've got a new belden cable being delivered. I'll post a "How to" if I get it all to work properly again, as this seems to be a common fault.


----------



## hutters (Jul 16, 2002)

John-H said:


> I've got a new belden cable being delivered. I'll post a "How to" if I get it all to work properly again, as this seems to be a common fault.


Excuse my ignorance John, but what is a belden cable? I guess if that is the fault it will be cheaper than a new window motor?

I'll be in Brussels until Thursday evening, but I'll keep an eye out for any update you might have that might save me some Â£Â£'s at the dealer.

Cheers


----------



## John-H (Jul 13, 2005)

The motor drives a pulley which winches the belden cable, which is like a bicycle brake cable in construction but arranged in a sort of double "Z" arrangement to lift and lower the window.

This item was for sale on e-bay, which is the complete drivers side sub frame for the window. The picture is viewed from the outer door skin side and is hiding the motor but you can see the double "Z" cable arrangement.

I didn't go for this in the end as I hope to get away with just the cable and it looks like the seller hasn't sold. Might be worth contacting him but it is second hand.

http://cgi.ebay.co.uk/Audi-TT-o-s-f-doo ... dZViewItem

The Audi dealer will probably try changing the motor first as that's easy and older motors were higher torque - newer motors were reduced in torque to lessen the likelyhood of jamming at the top.

If you want details of how to free off the mechanism I could post tonight. There is a chance freeing it off and a bit of lubrication might work in your case. Also mine seems to be behaving itself more or less at the moment. Let me know.


----------



## John-H (Jul 13, 2005)

As promised here are some details for freeing off a jammed window motor.

First follow Wak's excellent instructions for removing the door pannel:
http://www.wak-tt.com/mods/doorpanel/doorpanel.htm

Now for my pictures (Click to enlarge). This one shows removal of the four bolts holding the motor body (metal case containing magnets and lower bearing). Make a note of the casing orientation (mine had a label on the back). Pull the casing away against the springy force of the magnets.










The motor armature revealed. If you grab this and twist, you can manually wind the window up and down. When you try, push the armature up into the top bearing at all times and keep it straight, otherwise the armature will unscrew, push past the brushes and fall out - you will need to retract the brushes and re-assemble if this happens. Avoid!










If the window remains stuck you might have to free off the cable which may have become bound in the pulley. If you partially undo the screws holding the black plastic moulding to the white plastic moulding you can expose the wound section of the cable on the pulley. Only loosen it a little to free any binding - if you remove the black moulding and motor completely you run the danger of having the cable suddenly unwind off the pulley and fill the cabin with flayling wire which you might not be able to wind back on in a hurry  ! You'll have a red face when the fire brigade come to cut you free  . (slight exaggeration - ed.)










Tighten up the screws and make sure it's all freed off nicely then clean up the armature ready for re-assembly.

This is the body of the motor removed looking inside. It may contain dust from the brushes which might have fallen into the bottom bearing. Tap out the dust and clean it with WD40 spray and air blast and/or cotton buds. Clean and lubricate the bottom bearing before re-assembly. Make sure you re-assemble the motor casing the same way round as before (label to rear in my case) otherwise your window will go up instead of down! :lol:










Next lubricate the Bowden cable and runners. Here, although out of sight, I'm allowing oil to run down the exposed wire part of the Bowden cable. The oil drops run down the wire and go directly into the outer sheath part of the Bowden cable in its fixed position below. Running the window up and down encourages the oil to spread throughout the cable sheath assembly.










Here, I'm spraying Halford's Rubber and Nylon Silicone lubricant spray onto the black metal guides along which the white nylon window guides traverse.










Finally test and perform window reset, then re-assemble the door pannel.

You could also lubricate the rubber window seals too. If it still gets stuck you might find it frees off after a few more days use.

If it still gets stuck shout DOOHH! in a loud voice and try a new Bowden cable. That's where I am at the moment - well actually mine did free up considerably _after_ I ordered a new Bowden cable. It's livable with but occasionally rolls back at 2/3 shut. When the new cable comes I'll post how to replace that - or some nice pictures of the fire brigade!


----------



## hutters (Jul 16, 2002)

I took mine into the dealer yesterday for them to have a look. On the one hand I was happy with the outcome, on the other I am very disappointed with the dealer (Huntingdon Audi).

They diagnosed a faulty window motor and so I had to book it in for the end of the month as they didn't have one in stock. However, I got into the car and noticed that the window had dropped when I opened the door and then raised when the door closed - as it should do. The window worked perfectly.

I was happy because now I don't need to spend Â£200+ getting it fixed, but I am disappointed that the dealer said the motor was broken and needed replacing - did they think that I wouldn't notice the window was working!

Hopefully it will stay fixed and it's not an intermittent fault with the motor.


----------



## John-H (Jul 13, 2005)

Hi Hutters,

Thanks for coming back with that. It sounds like yours is like mine with a mind of its own! When it jamms the courtesy light dimms, as you try and operate it, which shows the motor is taking current and working.

The dealer may not be totally wrong though. The replacement motors apparently have a lower set torque limit and are less likely to jam the cable - but more likely to roll back if it meets a restriction I think :? .

Having been working fine for a week or so, mine jammed again yesterday :evil: . I know I've got two stiff points on the wind up so just a new motor won't solve it. Anyway, I've got the new Bowden cable now, so plan to change it tomorrow if my fingers don't freeze off! I'll let you know how it goes.


----------



## oyvind87 (Oct 24, 2009)

Sorry for bringing up an old thread, but those who posted here might have a solution to my problem.
John-H seems to have much knowlegde, what do you think? Thanks for very helpful guides btw.

My window was stuck in lower position some weeks ago. It's on the drivers side, and my passengerwindow works fine.
It an old 99 model TT. The button which elevates and let down the window has been kind of tired lately, but I dont think this is the problem. Has taken the button out anyway, maybe it helps to lubricate with something? Or buy a new one..

I removed the door inside panel, and manually liftet the window to upper position with the motor armature. Then I replaced everything in correct order and locked the door. When opening the door again, the window lowered itself about twice the usual length. Then when I closed the door again, the window didn't raise back up, it dropper even further down. And so it kept on when I closed/ opened the door, until the window was back in the lowest position. Even when I closed and opened the passengers door, the drivers window lowered further down.

So, the motor is working.... Waiting for new button...

Have not tried following things yet, but will do soon;
- lubricate the runners and the bottom bearing.
- reset the passengers window, and then the drivers side.
- disconnect the battery for a while..

For the moment just driving the car with the current cable disconnected from the window motor, so that the window wont lower itself everytime I'm touching the door.

Anyone with good advices??? No help at the local norwegian audi-dealer. Always the same answer; first vagcom, then change motor, then change next parts, then change the wheels, the battery, the chairs and the exhaust system.. Of course I have to pay for every single one of their experimental changing of parts. Ridiculous!


----------



## John-H (Jul 13, 2005)

I like the comments about changing everything :lol:

Resetting the window is necessary for the auto drop and one touch to work. Can you raise yours on the switch? Perhaps you need the new switch fitted first to find out. I suppose it could be too stiff to rise but can just manage decending - in which case lubrication may help. But check out your door latch switch is working by turning on the lights and opening and shutting the door, listening to the buzz or looking at the DIS sisplay. If the switch is intermittent it may cause confusion for the auto drop.

The replacement motor idea from Audi was actually to fit a lower torque motor, which reduced the likelyhood of running hard into the stops and jamming. It does mean the new motor may be more likely to roll back in the middle of movement if the runners are stiff however. My problem was the end stop jamming, which was ultimately cured by a new cable.


----------



## oyvind87 (Oct 24, 2009)

Thanks for answer!

No I coudn't manage to raise the window with the button because the button was tired/ broken/ only partially working sometimes. So I'm waiting for a new one, and best case scenario would be if the button solves the problem after resetting the window function.

I really hope that I don't have to change the cable. Have seen your manual... much work. Good manual though, I'm sure many appreciates the work you have done with the manual. Thanks again.


----------



## Kippers_cracks (Aug 21, 2014)

John-H said:


> Hi Hutters,
> 
> Thanks for coming back with that. It sounds like yours is like mine with a mind of its own! When it jamms the courtesy light dimms, as you try and operate it, which shows the motor is taking current and working.
> 
> ...


I am having problems with my drivers window and have found this old thread which looks very useful, unfortunately I cannot view the photo's that accompanied john-h walk through. As I have not been on the forum long enough I cannot message john directly to ask for links to the photo's so I am hoping he will see this and update the links

Ant


----------



## John-H (Jul 13, 2005)

Thanks for highlighting this. The reason why the images are missing is because The hosting company kept losing the images and wanted to start charging so they've all gone. I should still have the originals which I'll try and find for you. It's got nothing to do with you being a new member. You might want to check my Sig strip and the Knowledge Base for information regarding the window cable in the mean time As there are some pictures there.


----------



## John-H (Jul 13, 2005)

Just found the images whilst waiting for Santa


----------



## Birdie91425 (Oct 31, 2017)

Hi guys
Thanks for posting this. I have this issue, but when I push the window button to make the window go down, it just makes a clicking sound. Do you think it's the cable seized? The car is now 15 years old, and happy to work on.

Any ideas please?

I'm going to take the door panel off when I'm allowed time off for good behaviour


----------



## John-H (Jul 13, 2005)

Hello, check to see if when operating the switch and hearing the clicking noise, that the courtesy light also dims very slightly, when the motor is taking its load current - that would indicate that all the electrics are working but the cable is jammed. If that's the case you can take the back off the motor to wind the armature by hand to unjam it.

(One proviso - some LED courtesy light retrofits are regulated and don't dim for small village drops but standard incandescent lamps do dim.)

If the courtesy light does not dim slightly when operating the switch (so not indicating a slight village drop) but you still can hear the clicking noise, then it's more likely that the relay (that is making the clicking noise) has worn out its contacts or shorted its contacts. This would be an internal motor fault, as indeed mine later developed, which I repaired, although it is a tricky job fixing the circuit board.

What often happens is that half the dual reversing relay contacts jam together in one of the two directions but when the motor is next operated in the opposite direction half the relay switch operates in the reverse direction but then shorts out the supply through the other jammed relay half which then blows a track on the circuit board which acts like a fuse . The repair involves replacing the relay and repairing the PCB. There is a how-to on how to do this if you look in the index. I hope that helps .


----------



## Birdie91425 (Oct 31, 2017)

Thanks John

That is much appreciated. It seems to me once the weather improves (as no garage) I need to get the panel off and see if I can manually wind it down. The TT is a 2001 so not to new, and will check the light today. The clicking sound is most unnerving, but probably why the last owner traded it in. If I fix this then I'm in love, again.

Thanks again, and hope it helps others


----------

