Rear window lift in cabriolet - repair tips
08-24-2009, 10:43 AM
#1
Intermediate
Thread Starter
Rear window lift in cabriolet - repair tips
Last year I posted a question about this as I had the problem on my passenger side. It seemed rather difficult and nobody appeared to have done it successfully themselves so ultimately I ordered the lift and had it done at a garage. Believe it or not my driver's side rear lift had the same issue this week. The motor functions but the window does not come up. If you grab it and get it to pull you may find the motor catches at some point and moves the window but maybe it even moves it the wrong way - sounds like the cable is offline which is what ultimately is the case. The Porsche way it to replace the whole assembly at great expense but it can be repaired. I tried to take a few pictures but I have not looked at them. It was also 100 degrees in my garage here in Houston yesterday so from sweat and grease I did not grab the camera all that much but may have some pics if people really need them. Here are some verbal tips-
I found the shop manuals and tackled this yesterday afternoon. If anyone has the same problem I have a few pointers:
1- This is stated but make sure to put the top in the service position.
2- The shop manual lays out the steps rather well with one key exception - it may be more difficult on the driver's side I just cannot recall what was inside the passenger panel. Nevertheless the shop manual completely skips over the removal of the hydraulic top operator which is in the way of one particular nut that hold the top support bracket to the frame. This is pretty deep in to the disassembly and rather frustrating when you get to this point as you can't move forward but hopefully this heads up will help. Simply unbolt the hydraulic assembly from the support and remove a brace (approximately 6" black arm) that connects it to the top. The arm is removed by two clips. Once you have that out of the way you can get to one hard to reach nut and don't miss one last bolt that is towards the back of the car. You should now be able to pull the brace into the car just enough (maybe 1" or so) to allow for the removal of the window and the lift.
3- I was able to repair this window lift. I felt it was possible but it was detailed and a bit tedious. I noticed when I replaced the other lift (last year) that the motor functioned it was just that it would not operate the window correctly. You could pull the window up and then hit the motor and eventually something would catch but it may even move the window the wrong way but just for a few inches. It seemed like the cable was off the track and in looking at the part that was the case. Same thing happened on the drivers side. The motor was still functioning but the cable was off line and wrapped around the motor.
I unbolted the motor and figured out how the cable was supposed to be run - this has to be done exactly right. Next issue was in getting the tension set and this is where it got tedious. I ultimately found that I could wind the cable properly and set the wire while leaving it off of the top pulley - which is at the very top of the lift bracket by the window. There are two springs inside the white plastic lift mechanism - do not mess with these so just trust me that they are in there. Once I knew they were there I figured I had some play in the wire. While that is true there is very little as the tension must be strong in order to work. Although it must not be strong enough as I have had this problem now TWICE. Anyway, once I had the wire run I took some needle nose pliers and a thin screwdriver and continually worked at pulling and manipulating the wire until I finally got it to loop around the top pulley. Now I am back in business.
Let's hope this lasts for a while anyhow. I am going to blame the awful road patches inside the loop in Houston for bumping the car around and causing this to happen but nevertheless it is apparently a rather frequent issue as others have had the problem as well.
While this long rambling post may not mean much to alot of you. If you have this issue I am hopeful that this post will serve as a good addendum to the manual but more importantly it should serve a confirmation that it is possible to A) get in there and do it yourself and 2) fix the actual lift.
I will warn you - it is TIGHT in there, this is not particularly hard but it is very time consuming - just getting to the window lift - and you need to be very mindful of what you are doing as the top could be ruined if not careful. I appear to be fine, but I am just hoping my top is still happy with me after all of the maneuvering and rough handling.
At the end of the day this can save you a substantial sum. I think the dealer quoted me close to $800 or 900 for just the part last year. I ended up finding it at Sunset for about $500 which was by the far cheapest. The labor at an independent garage was just under $300 and I think they lost out on the deal as they actually quoted me labor before getting in there to do it. At the end of the day I would bet a Saturday or Sunday, some patience and likely a few scratches can save you anywhere from $800-1500.
I found the shop manuals and tackled this yesterday afternoon. If anyone has the same problem I have a few pointers:
1- This is stated but make sure to put the top in the service position.
2- The shop manual lays out the steps rather well with one key exception - it may be more difficult on the driver's side I just cannot recall what was inside the passenger panel. Nevertheless the shop manual completely skips over the removal of the hydraulic top operator which is in the way of one particular nut that hold the top support bracket to the frame. This is pretty deep in to the disassembly and rather frustrating when you get to this point as you can't move forward but hopefully this heads up will help. Simply unbolt the hydraulic assembly from the support and remove a brace (approximately 6" black arm) that connects it to the top. The arm is removed by two clips. Once you have that out of the way you can get to one hard to reach nut and don't miss one last bolt that is towards the back of the car. You should now be able to pull the brace into the car just enough (maybe 1" or so) to allow for the removal of the window and the lift.
3- I was able to repair this window lift. I felt it was possible but it was detailed and a bit tedious. I noticed when I replaced the other lift (last year) that the motor functioned it was just that it would not operate the window correctly. You could pull the window up and then hit the motor and eventually something would catch but it may even move the window the wrong way but just for a few inches. It seemed like the cable was off the track and in looking at the part that was the case. Same thing happened on the drivers side. The motor was still functioning but the cable was off line and wrapped around the motor.
I unbolted the motor and figured out how the cable was supposed to be run - this has to be done exactly right. Next issue was in getting the tension set and this is where it got tedious. I ultimately found that I could wind the cable properly and set the wire while leaving it off of the top pulley - which is at the very top of the lift bracket by the window. There are two springs inside the white plastic lift mechanism - do not mess with these so just trust me that they are in there. Once I knew they were there I figured I had some play in the wire. While that is true there is very little as the tension must be strong in order to work. Although it must not be strong enough as I have had this problem now TWICE. Anyway, once I had the wire run I took some needle nose pliers and a thin screwdriver and continually worked at pulling and manipulating the wire until I finally got it to loop around the top pulley. Now I am back in business.
Let's hope this lasts for a while anyhow. I am going to blame the awful road patches inside the loop in Houston for bumping the car around and causing this to happen but nevertheless it is apparently a rather frequent issue as others have had the problem as well.
While this long rambling post may not mean much to alot of you. If you have this issue I am hopeful that this post will serve as a good addendum to the manual but more importantly it should serve a confirmation that it is possible to A) get in there and do it yourself and 2) fix the actual lift.
I will warn you - it is TIGHT in there, this is not particularly hard but it is very time consuming - just getting to the window lift - and you need to be very mindful of what you are doing as the top could be ruined if not careful. I appear to be fine, but I am just hoping my top is still happy with me after all of the maneuvering and rough handling.
At the end of the day this can save you a substantial sum. I think the dealer quoted me close to $800 or 900 for just the part last year. I ended up finding it at Sunset for about $500 which was by the far cheapest. The labor at an independent garage was just under $300 and I think they lost out on the deal as they actually quoted me labor before getting in there to do it. At the end of the day I would bet a Saturday or Sunday, some patience and likely a few scratches can save you anywhere from $800-1500.
