snapped electric window cable

[andrew-spike]

can anyone help!
i have a 2002 a3 1.9 tdi 2 door, the drivers side electric window cable has snapped so the window will not work,any advice on how to fix and parts and price of that i need would be much appreicated!:aargh4:

[Crasher]

It is quite a complicated job. The door subframe is a separate part that comes away from the door shell and it is aligned with wedges that must be marked before disassembly to make re-assembly quicker, if the position of the wedges is lost it is quite time consuming to get the subframe reset in the aperture so that the window fits. Changing the cable is then carried out with the subframe on the bench (cover the bench to prevent scratching the frame). The cable system is riveted to the door so the four rivets have to be drilled out (the locations are blind so bits of the rivets fall inside the subframe) and obviously you will need a good strong rivet gun to put it back together. The regulator without the motor is around £80.

[andrew-spike]

cheers crasher,do you know of any where apart from audi i could get the regulator, sounds like a job for the local garage

[Crasher]

I only buy them genuine.

[Peter Bonnar]

Both my front window regulators had their cables snapped during the cold weather in January - I successfully replaced the passenger side window regulator but have had a plethora of problems with the drivers side (partly because I forgot to mark the wedges before dissembling the first time). Basically the issue now is that the window goes up really slowly and when closed and driving at speed you can hear a draught. I cannot work out what is wrong, the regulator runs perfectly without the window in it, but as soon as the window is in there it is very laboured. It's as if the window is not in the correct position and is being forced upwards. But when you compare it to the other side it looks ok. I cannot work out what is wrong.

[adambox]

Andrew,

My Audi window cable broke too, and I have just got a replacement through Ebay.
The parts look fine and only cost £20 but fitting them looks like it is going to be quite a job, as 'Crasher' suggests above.

Adam

[Rayscriv]

I've just had the same problem with the cable on the drivers door. I bought a new cable on Ebay (about £24) and had a go at fitting it today. I stripped down the door as described on many other forums and re-threaded the new cable. The really difficult part came when I had to put the cable around the pully wheel in the regulator. I thought I had it right, tried it on the car, seemed to work, put the glass back in and it lifted the window once before jamming again.
I stripped the door again and found that the cable had wound back on itself on the pully wheel.
Absolute nightmare.......I'm on the point of giving up to it and paying the professionals.

Anyone tried putting a new cable on an existing regulator with success ????????

[Crasher]

What was the item number you bought?

[Rayscriv]

The item was : AUDI A3 WINDOW REGULATOR REPAIR KIT FRONT-RIGHT 96-03 (http://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/140407981844?ssPageName=STRK:MEWNX:IT&_trksid=p3984.m1439.l2649) (140407981844)

[Crasher]

That looks a real pain to fit, I have only ever used the genuine Audi cable kits but these are £96.66 inc. VAT.

[Rayscriv]

I had another go at it today after finding out that the Audi dealers wanted £210 to fix the problem. It was a two man job to get the cable fitted due to the high tension needed on the cable and getting it over the roller guides on the sub-frame. (It was probably a very unconventional method but it seems to have worked). Very very arkward & frustrating job that I don't really want to repeat, but great satisfaction now that everything seems to be working.
Hope this helps somebody else in the future.
:biglaugh::biglaugh:

[Crasher]

Now you can see why if you are charging by the hour it is cheaper to fit the proper kit.

[Rayscriv]

Maybe.........but thats a hell of a price difference. Main dealers tend to replace instead of repair, although I understand why when it comes to the hourly rates they charge (£78 + VAT per hour )