Non Laverda - Skoda electric window motor test

piranha-bro2

piranha-bro2

Hero member
Location
Melbourne
Hoping some of you elec boffins can offer some help here. Drivers (right) side window on the (right-hand-drive) Skoda Octavia decided to stop in the down pos (mid-winter, Melbourne!), with an audible click when the switch is pulled/pushed for up/down ... click sounds a lot like a relay in the mechanism. After a minute or two the window will move up half an inch from fully down, then the clicking is all you get each time the switch is activated.

Been driving round with opaque plastic taped to the friggin window and a square of cellophane in the middle to enable visibility of vehicles coming from the right. Really good fun.

So ... finally got the time to remove the door panel, pulled off the motor off and away from the window regulator splined thingy. Plugged it all in and the motor turned in either direction with no load. Can move the window up or down in the sliders by hand - can turn the spline by hand to wind it down but twice as hard going up and needs a little help by pushing the glass (gravity, I presume). Sprayed silicone in runners to be sure. Pretty sure resistance in the runners isn't the prob. The window regulator wires all seem fine and there is no clacking that's symptomatic of reg wires all tangled and loose.

Was about to give it a rest for the day when I checked the motor unloaded (not connected to the window) again and it turned for a few seconds and then stopped - only the 'relay' click. Multimeter seems to show 12ish volts at the thick wires that would appear to feed the motor directly (there are a LOT of wires in that switch panel: 4 x windows, central locking, window anti-pinch sensors etc) - window motor are the only thick wires, the rest are thin CanBus type skinny wires. Symptoms speak to me of insufficient current, but if it were a starter motor it could also be dodgy brushes, could it not?

Question for the panel of experts: how do I determine if ... a) the motor is the fault? or b) the motor is good but the voltage is getting lost somewhere? or c) how many volts should be getting to the motor?

I know it's not a Skoda forum but I reckon I'm more likely to get someone here who knows about such things than I will on the Skoda forums (although Briskoda is pretty bloody good ... the Oz version seems more interested in mag wheel and colour options!)

If you have only smart-arse answers, please stay off - I'm just not in the fukken mood.
 
Piranha, usually they are suffering from broken wires at the wiring loom, just where it is entering the door, usually some rubber boot around the loom at that place. Would recommend to check that first. Voltage measured says not much, as the broken wire might still partially connect, but not able to transfer sufficient currents anymore.
Regards,
Stefan
 
The only thing I have is a lot of gadgets like this work on a plastic cog and a plastic teeth like longitudinal strip and at some point a cog strips and then no more drive. Seen this on radio aerials and paper shredders. Maybe electric car windows as well, Maybe.
 
Agree with Dirtroad. Volts doesn?t mean you got sufficient Amps.
Think flatfish battery, turn key .... click click click. Or maybe even one click then nothing. Chuck a wire onto the motor direct from 12v, bypassing the loom and see if window goes up/down. If so, it?s not the motor.



 
Quentin,

I can close all open windows on my Octavia by locking the door with the key instead of the remote, and holding the key in the "lock" position for a few seconds.  Does this work on yours?  Would be a way of checking if the circuitry is OK. 

I understand the locking and window control are controlled by the comfort module under the dashboard, not unknown for it to give up the ghost.  These are generally available quite cheap on eBay and can be installed and programmed easily (at least if you are still in possesion of both original keys).

piet
 

Attachments

  • Skoda.jpg
    Skoda.jpg
    15.6 KB · Views: 164
Thanks everyone (not you, Paul).

I'm leaning towards the voltage suggestion - CK, I'll do exactly that - connect direct from aux battery with the motor in place (if I can find the way into the circuitry to attach a wire. Not the plastic worm drives (works until the motor stops turning) and pretty sure not the regulator cables (no clacking noise and wires are taught and in place - no tangles).

Not sure the comfort module is used on this model, Piet, but will check - most stuff seems to be in the door. It's a 2010 4wd Scout btw.
 
I can't afford such a "new" vehicle, Quentin. :D

Mine's a 2001 4WD TDI, 430000km.  Still in such good nick I can't bring myself to junk it.  No use selling it either, just worthless.  Guess I'll hang on to it for another 50 years, bound to appreciate a bit by then. ::)

piet
 
Similar running gear, by the sound of it. Mine's just under 200,000km and mechanically very sound. It's all the little things that can turn into big bills that spoil the party!
 
Well ... after nearly a week of trying to source this window fault, taking the motor off, wiring it wired direct to an external battery, on, off, on, off, I was getting nowhere. Even pulled the cover off the electronic circuit board box controller - nothing to see there (that I could work on), I pulled the motor apart, all looked good, brushes, commutator, everything tidy, so tried it one last time and again the window started to go up, then jammed, but I got the feeling the motor itself had jammed, not the window or the regulator cables.

So I pulled the motor off again and tried to dismantle it (again) but found it was stuck fast, the steel worm drive against the nylon cog it drives that in turn operates the regulator and cables that sends the window up or down. Finally got it apart but was very difficult to see the condition of the nylon cog. Strangely enough the seal for this cog was quite easy to remove and then the cog came out (strange, because nothing on this has been all that simple!). Definitely deformation on the cog - but is that damage I caused or is it the cause of the prob full-stop??? Up until this point I've been avoiding drilling out the rivets securing the inner panel to the main door - fukkin rivets??? Why??!! If I go there, it's loads of work and I really can;t seem to find ANYTHING in there that would cause this fault. If I do go there, it'll be a complete regulator assembly and they have to come from the UK (or pay VW Oz about $1500 for the complete panel, motor, winders-reg assembly). But shipping is insanely exxy. And then there's the rivets ....

Either way, I needed a new cog. Advertised on fleeBay Germany, the very thing I need - but for Au$1270 and $1670 shipping. What???!!!  :o Gotta be a mistake, so I email the joint, but in the meantime find a complete motor assembly on FleeBay Oz and it's available for pickup in Melbourne! I decide to go for it - $150 and it's only two suburbs away - unbelievable. Drive out, pay the guy, go home, fit it , it works! Not quite going up in one uninterrupted movement, but hey, not jamming, so I fit all the panelling back together and after resetting the upper and lower limits, it works perfectly!!! I can't quite believe it, TBH. But there you are.

Pic of offending item below (you can see why AU$1270 is a bit steep  ::) ::) ::) ). Got a reply from Germany and they said it's basically their way of saying we aren't allowed ship into Oz until covid is under control. Still no idea what caused the worm gear to ride up - maybe I did damage it, but maybe the whole thing was faulty regardless. Don't care - job done.

Sorry to bore you with a car story - it's sort of Laverda related, because it stole time I could have put into my SFQ!!!

 

Attachments

  • IMG_1613.JPG
    IMG_1613.JPG
    60.8 KB · Views: 88
Having dealt with faulty power windows on several VW's in the past I can relate to the PITA you went thru.
Congrats on the fix and saving money better spent on the SFQ project.

Gerald
 
The power aerial for the radio stopped working last week, its done it before and the fix was a new aerial because the end has a nylon worm drive and the last 150mm snaps off. Kind of handy when you're in the middle of nowhere on a 7hr drive and crap reception. Getting the 150mm broken bit out is the rub. Nobody makes anything out of metal anymore
 
Many window motors have a bonded rubber damper thingy in the large driven gear, and i've seen them detached from the gear so cleanly you couldn't tell it wasn't connected anymore. Binding in the window runs is what tears them up. If they sound labored a shot of silicone can save a lot of money.
 
wdietz186 said:
Many window motors have a bonded rubber damper thingy in the large driven gear, and i've seen them detached from the gear so cleanly you couldn't tell it wasn't connected anymore. Binding in the window runs is what tears them up. If they sound labored a shot of silicone can save a lot of money.
Click to expand...

I think you're on the money there. I will be using silicone spray every few months from now on. I'd hazard a guess that once resistance begins to build, the problems set in. Having said that, the safety sensor that prevents fingers and the like being crushed in windows should negate the resistance by reversing the window motor when it senses too much. The VW/Skoda drive has a lovely little cush drive in the nylon gear, so can't lose contact that way.
 
I bought a Romanian made Dacia hoping that it wouldn't have electric windows, it does unfortunately along with other useless gadgets.

Paul
 
Paul Marx said:
I bought a Romanian made Dacia hoping that it wouldn't have electric windows, it does unfortunately along with other useless gadgets.

Paul
Click to expand...

you should have bought a trabant 800RS , the rally version, no electric windows there, and a great little car
 
Haha.
I want a car that works, all the time.
And that can pull a trailer with 2 large bikes on it.

I did hesitate between the Dacia and an F40 which has manual windows but the Dacia dealer was nearer.

Paul
 
You must log in or register to reply here.
Back
Top