Window Won't Work!! Cost to repair???
 

I drove 2 hours to test drive a used A6 4.2. Car seemed great on paper until I got there and the front window won't go up. Needless to say the rest of the car wasn't up to par (although it was probably a steal for someone better than I am car repairs). In any case, does anyone know how expensive it is to fix the window issue? I am just trying to add this to my list of things to look for as I search for a used A6 4.2
thanks

the windows went down but would not go back up? = windows guides
the windows were already down and would not go back up? = guides, motor, switch, relay.......

window woes
 

guides cost about $3.00 for the part. If you are handy, it takes less than 1 hour to repair. Motors, regulators & switches; new - no idea. Used - $25.00 and up. Having a forum to ask: PRICELESS!

It went down fine. Then when I hit the up button it went spastic (up/down/up/down) and eventually tried to go up and came to a stop. EVENTUALLY I think it went all the way up. As for being "handy", I wouldn't say I am a real car junkie, although I have done a good bit of stereo work in the doors etc of my old car. If it needs to be fixed at a service station, how much could this job cost?

It would cost about an hour of labor plus $3 for the parts. The labor rate will vary depending on where you take it. If you have put speakers in doors successfully, you can do this job!

Bob

so it wasn't going to be the $1000 job I thought it may turn into...oh well...car wasn't in that great of shape otherwise. Thanks, good knowledge to know for the next one I look at.

mrjosep,

I think it had a bad cable in the regulator, frayed. They have a current limiter in the relay that will keep it from drawing too much current to break the cable.

Just had that with a '97 A6, driver's side. Could go down only so far and still get it to go up.

Now, I don't know what year yours is. My experience was with '90 and back. With the '97, the inner door panel is made different. Pull some screws and, with the older cars, pull some of those barbed thing out of the holes. '97 had these hooks that go into slots and have to be kind of malleted up out of the slots to get the damned thing off. A bitch, but not impossible.

Once you get the inner panel off, you normally do not buy a "regulator", per se. You buy the entire inner frame of the door. Held in, in mine, with 4 bolts. Pull the bolts, change out the glass, if you didn't get it, and my boneyard charges more with glass and with motor, but 45 for the inner panel. 3 bolts to change the motor out, one "snap clip", I don't know what else to call it, 4 screws to put it into place, bust your butt to put the inner panel back into place.

DIY, it is 2 to 4 hours unless you know what in the HELL is holding you up. If you know, maybe an hour. Hell of a lot easier than pulling off the inner panel and trying to fish a piece of glass down through that slot and aligning a US car's glass. Or drilling out 1/4 inch rivets to replace a regulator, put a new one in, re-pop rivet it (do you HAVE 1/4 inch rivets, let alone a rivet gun that will clinch them?).

Last possibility is the bellows between the door and the jamb and all them wires in there. 40 or so. They bend every time you open/close the door. Insulation ages. If your car is old enough, you may have wires that are broken, intermittent contact.

Good luck there. I have spliced in more pieces there than I want to. Car I gave to my grand, finally got the windows to close, half a dozen broken wires. Won't OPEN, but,. dammit, they ARE closed, and he doesn't smoke, so doesn't need to be able to open the windows.

Cheers,

George

I have the same exact problem you are describing on my 2004 Audi S6 avant. It's probably been 2 months since mine occured butni don't have much time to fix it. If you figure out the problem please post. Or if I fix mine first I'll be sure to post here.