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D2 - Interior Seats, dashboards, plastics, ventilation everything inside the cabin

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Old 27th June 2015, 09:34 PM
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johnny_quattro johnny_quattro is offline
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Default NSR window stuffed - A8L D2

I noticed at the local car wash that my near side rear window on my A8L wasn't completely closed, as pointed out by my friendly eastern Europeans before they washed it the other day. It had been acting strangely prior to this by going down when I pressed the 'up' button?

It made a half attempt at going up and then made a horrid noise and that was it. No more movement so I had to get out of the car and push the window with both my hands in an upward direction. A tad embarrassing.

I took advantage of the glorious weather today and had a bash at seeing exactly what's wrong. The thin lengthy door trim was prised out, along with all the other bits and bobs including the door handle, electric window switch and my special limo switch which moves the front seat forwards or backwards from the rear seat. You can see the additional wiring for this switch at the bottom of the door pocket.

I could hear the motor clicking and then shutting off due to resistance so I knew that the problem was located elsewhere. I then removed a rather thick padded lining so that I could see the motor and window mechanism. At the bottom of the electric motor was a length of bicycle brake cable for want of a better description (Bowden cable) but it went nowhere - just pointing to the sky! I had a quick nose inside the door frame to see if anything had fallen and whilst my hand was there, it was brushed by the frayed end of a wire cable.

The end of said cable looked rusty to be honest, and had obviously snapped. You can see my trusty father's hand showing this in one of the photos. This probably accounted for the strange opposite behaviour when pressing down on the window switch and the window tried to go up? I think that the other end of the cable has probably got wrapped around something...

I've left a voicemail with the forum's sponsors so hope to progress this further on Monday. Forum searches revealed that cables do sometime go, but it's rare on a D2 apparently. Not sure if my mechanisms are different due to the extra length/weight of my window compared to a standard A8 FL as I've checked on ELSAWIN and it does look different.

Final photo taken shows that my car has SOUL - see top of reverse side of door card lol.
(see attached pics of the door and innards)

To be continued!
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  #2  
Old 29th June 2015, 01:16 PM
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moltuae moltuae is offline
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Default

I feel for you.

Snapped electric window cables was a frequent occurrence on the Citroen XMs I owned; been in that embarrassing situation many times -- worse when it was the driver's window and I had to wedge it closed and get out to pay at car parks and toll booths. It was a pig of a job to replace/repair those widow mechanisms too.

Thankfully, I think it is a rare failure on an '8. Never had one fail on me (yet) in about 10 years of owning them. Hopefully that'll be your one and only failure too.
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2002 FE S8 Ebony Black Pearl
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Cars Owned:
The Tesla Era: 2020 Model S Performance Ludicrous+ (present)
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The Audi Era: '97 A8 4.2 (Ming Blue) --> '96 A8 4.2 QS (Dark Green) --> '02 FE S8 (present)
The Citroen Era: '84 BX 1.6 RS --> '89 BX 1.9 DTR Turbo --> '94 XM 2.0L Turbo --> '96 XM 2.0L Turbo Exclusive --> '00 Xantia Activa 2.0L Turbo
The Banger Era: '76 1.2L Lada VAZ-2101 (Ruski Fiat 124) --> '80 1.7L Morris Ital HL, finished in Ermine White and Rust

Last edited by moltuae; 29th June 2015 at 01:19 PM.
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  #3  
Old 29th June 2015, 01:18 PM
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johnny_quattro johnny_quattro is offline
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Default A8Parts to the rescue

Had an informative chat with Carl this morning, and essentially half a door will be winging its way to Surrey later this week. Hopefully I will remember to take some more pictures of the process when we replace it.
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Old 14th July 2015, 12:16 PM
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johnny_quattro johnny_quattro is offline
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Default Eventually...

I've managed to install the new top half of the door. All I needed to do was install the old glass, take off the electric window motor and install on the donor frame. It certainly took a lot less time putting it all back together.

Whilst I'm grateful at saving lots of money, the triangular black painted piece was badly scratched. I tried removing the blemish-free one from my old door and of course it snapped. If anyone has any suggestions about getting this trim piece replaced or repaired - then I'm all ears.
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Old 14th July 2015, 04:07 PM
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Zip Zip is offline
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Talking There is an alternative way...

....hello JQ...

One of the white nylon pulleys that the cable tracks around shattered on one of my rear windows a few years back, and A8parts shipped me a complete door section like they did for you. The black trim was a bit scratched, as was the whole of the door edge, and I wanted to retain my original window surround, so I ended up removing the whole window motor, track and cables by drilling out the rivets, and swapping it over to my original door. I just used small bolts and nylock nuts to put it all back together. Has worked a treat for at least 6 years so far.....and if it ever happens again, I can just swap out the motor, track and cables again.

Maybe an alternative if the cosmetics of the replacement door top aren't to your satisfaction....?

Zip
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2005 B6 S4 Cabriolet: Ebony Black Pearl over Silver. RNS-E, Bose, heated seats, cruise control, retrofit aux-in, centre armrest, Milltek resonated exhaust
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Old 14th July 2015, 04:22 PM
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johnny_quattro johnny_quattro is offline
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Default Scratchtangular

Quote:
Originally Posted by Zip View Post
... The black trim was a bit scratched, as was the whole of the door edge, and I wanted to retain my original window surround, so I ended up removing the whole window motor, track and cables by drilling out the rivets, and swapping it over to my original door. I just used small bolts and nylock nuts to put it all back together. Has worked a treat for at least 6 years so far.....and if it ever happens again, I can just swap out the motor, track and cables again.

Maybe an alternative if the cosmetics of the replacement door top aren't to your satisfaction....?

Zip
That sounds like a plan for when I have a day or so to spare. I appreciate your advice. Benefit of hindsight - wished that I hadn't snapped the original door plate off now. My scratched part is that highly polished black triangular part, but the rest of the door frame is fine. I think I might live with is, although I reserve the right to change my mind
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