Broken driver's door electric window mechanism (all models)
From Paul Swift: "I am now on my second 2000(V) model Sport Alize 1600 (first was written off - tail-ended by a 52-seater) and have experienced the same fault with both. We also have a friend with one of the earliest of the new model (2003 to date) who now has the same fault, so it doesn't look as though the new ones are any better. In each case the nylon plastic wire guide at the top of the driver's door window slider broke away from the metal part of the slider. This then de-tensioned the cable causing it to wind itself messily round the motor spiral.
In the short-term, a quick solution was the usual block of wood once the entire mechanism was removed from the door, but for a longer-term answer...
Solutions: 1. Have the entire window winder mechanism replaced by Renault (£230+VAT+fitting). You can't just get the plastic guide bit! £300 hurts too much when all that's broken is a bit of plastic?
2. You could try to get a window mechanism from a scrappy, though Scenics seem pretty rare.
3. Conveniently. the guide already has a small hole through it meaning a short metal plate can be bolted to it then stuck to the window slider guide using Evo-stik liquid metal. I used one of the small steel joining plates available from B&Q etc though I'm sure there's something in a Meccano set that will do. Left to cure for a day and the bond is pretty strong. Make sure you glue it to the side away from where the glass attaches and that the bolt comes through from the glass side. The winder motor then needs to be removed from its housing (3x star drive bolts) and the cable runs tidied. Each cable attaches to opposite sides of the spiral and runs from there via the top and bottom wire guides on the slider and into the sliding centre block. Wind each cable around the spiral towards the other one until there's just one empty groove. Reassemble motor and spiral into housing. There's a tensioning mechanism on the housing at each side of the spiral which will allow you to 'stretch' the cable over the last guide. You should by this point have a motor with two cables running to the slider block in from opposite ends of the slider track all nicely tensioned and with the slider in the middle of the slider track and the empty groove in the middle of the spiral. Back to the door panel and plug in the motor power cable. Test that you've put the cables right way round i.e. switch up = window up and correct if wrong by disconnecting the cables from the slider and recabling the correct way round. (I've made this mistake once and failed to test before reassembling the door!).
Reattach the motor and slide to the door after removing your temporary block of wood. Getting the top end into position is a bit fiddly but not too bad. Slide the window down until it reaches the slider and pop it over the lug. Put the lock clip back into place on the other side of the glass.
Reattach the door panel ensuring you have a) passed the opening mechanism through the appropriate hole, b) reconnected the window motor connector, c) reconnected the electric mirrors connector (I've forgotten to do this once too!) and d) ensured the speaker wire is accessible through the speaker mounting hole. Reattach the speaker and clip the cover back into place and you're done. Run the window up and down through its full range to ensure the electrickery knows where the top and bottom are and to ensure it's running freely on the spiral. Total time taken - about 30 minutes to get the mechanism out of the door, about 1 hour messing with bolts and plates and liquid metal, 24 hours curing then about 2 hours messing with the cables and spiral before reattaching to the door - another 30 minutes. Total cost - £8 most of which was the liquid metal cartridge. "
Dave D
October 2009
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