Rear window stuck fully down (NSR)

[johnny_quattro]

Spent a lovely afternoon with my beloved goddaughter today and let her sit in the Audi to teach her about the difference between manual/semi-auto/fully auto gearboxes. After much twiddling of seat controls for her petite frame, she then went down the electric window route. Not a problem but the NSR (near-side rear) window is now stuck fully down!

Try as I might, I just couldn't get the thing to go back up skywards. I can hear the motor kicking in when pushing down on the control/switch but not a dickybird when pushing up. I've tried via three methods, driver's door control, near-side passenger's rear door control and also via the auto-close method where you hold down button 1 on your car key fob. I've also tried slamming the door shut whilst pressing the button. Nothing.

Before I spend most of tomorrow dismantling the whole kit and caboodle, does anyone on here have any nuggets of wisdom to offer?

Cheers,
John G

P.S. This particular window was replaced as a complete top-half door frame from the forum's sponsors about a year ago and I've had no problems with it until now. I suspect that it might be one of those 'Don't chop the children's fingers off' sensors...

[tonupkid]

Perhaps running a credit card between the glass and the rubber will nudge it off whatever is locking it in place, if that's the issue of course. Good luck and an upvotet for letting your goddaughter get a bit of hands on with it

[MikkiJayne]

If it responds to down but does absolutely nothing for up then its probably a switch which has failed. Each window in the system apart from the driver's relies on both switches working so it could be either front or rear which has failed.

Since you have to take the switch panels out before you can take the door card off its worth swapping them about to see if it helps

[David's8]

Well, full marks for getting her up to speed with important life skills! Knowledge of ZF gearboxes is pretty much essential to life - well, our lives.
Just make sure you have a handfull of the door card plastic fixings before you start pulling it off.

[oldnick]

presumably the other rear window works ok confirming that the locking system is working correctly
and having checked that sat her in the driving seat and trying to shut from there while trying the switch on the rear door ?

[Turbo Tony]

Have you tried pulling the switch up in really short bursts? That will deactivate the safety retract feature.

[johnny_quattro]

After an afternoon was spent jiggling with switches and getting nowhere fast, I went for the back to basics approach and took the door apart. Many thanks to all for the suggestions.

The window was making the 'shut off' noise when it reached the end of its travel, which occurred about 1/2 a second after pressing down on either the driver's door control or the rear passenger door control. I heard nothing when pressing UP. I was convinced that it wasn't the switch as I was getting the same result via either of my 3 methods.

First port of call was the multi-plug connector for the motor, and my first touch of the plug made the window jolt upwards. I started to yank the plug off to inspect the terminals and to my surprise, it came out very easily despite having two shoulder tabs which should in theory retain it firmly in the socket. All electrical connections were as clean as a whistle. I put the multi-plug connector back in the socket on the electric window motor and heard a satisfying click and then thought Arrrrrgh. I'd quite simply not pushed the smelly thing home hard enough for it to latch when the top half door assembly was changed (by myself, I hasten to add) about a year ago.

I suppose that over time, the connection had become loose enough so that only the window down functionality worked. And they say a bad workman always blames his tools.
Today, I am that bad workman!

Lesson learned

[tonupkid]

Great result and don't be to hard on your tool