Rattlin' Window

[Elanlover]

Perhaps someone else has experienced this and can shed some light. The passenger side window rattles quite loudly when the door is closed. Now, the operation of the window is ok so I'm not suspecting the butterfly clip (unless someone has some experience to suggest otherwise). Ayone know what the root of this issue might be? Loose bolts somewhere?

Just curious if someone can point the way before I start pulling the door apart again Thanks all!

[Foo]

There's 2 fuzzy clamp things, one on eithre side of the window, near the top of the door. They hold it in place and stop it rattling. You may need to adjust those so they press on the window a little more.

To get at them you'll need to pop the door open unfortunately. You can do the inside one without popping the glass but the other side will need it all out

Failing this, it may be that the runners need replacing or were not put back together correctly last time it was stripped. They're absolute bastards to get back together so I wouldn't be surprised.

[Sy V]

Foo's first theory is spot on.

Door glass support pads (inner A100B0828F and outer A100B0831F) - annotation numbers 65 & 66 on page 11.02A of the parts manual.
Invariably the hairy sponge bits become unstuck from their metal backings leaving the glass to rattle against the metal.

[Elanlover]

Thanks folks. The parts diagrams seem to indicate that these parts are mounted to the door frame itself. Is that the case? I'll have to open up the door and have a look I suppose. The window's now starting to stick a bit on the way down Figures...................

[Foo]

Yep. The whole door construction is terrible, no 2 ways about it. Done that way for lightness I guess.

The sticking problem could be the plastic runners that guide the window... those are the buggers I mentioned at the end of my last post. If one's come loose or broken, it can cause sticking.

Put aside a full day and be prepared to walk away from the car swearing profusely a few times...

[Elanlover]

I will probably replace the butterfly on that window. I did the driver's side last month as it started sticking (then broke) and it all works fine now. I had the door off the passengers side at the same time and lubricated all the tracks then - not that it's done much good.

[Sy V]

Check the inner bottom surface of the doors and you'll probably find the hairy caterpillars in amongst the other years' worth of crud in there.

[Elanlover]

I've stuck my fingers inside the door with the window rolled down and I can feel what seems to be two rectangular projections that might appear (can't say without opening the door up of course) to come in contact with the window. Probloem is, they both have some fuzzy stuff on them. This feels a bit like the stuff that's on the inside of the top of the door that brushes the window when it moves up and down.

Are these the two support pads mentioned? If so, they might not be the culprit. I will of course look at these when I get to pulling the door apart but was curious if anyone had any other thoughts as to what it could be or is it these bad boys? Thanks.

[Elanlover]

Ok, I've been able to have a good look down into the door with some bright light and I'm now pretty sure its not the fuzzy pads for a few reasons. First, their still all there . Second, the rattling only happens when the window is down all the way. This is normall when the glass and pads aren't really near each other anyway. Lastly (and the most important point), it seems that the driver's side (the ok side) glass sits much closer to the outside door skin than the passenger's side. Also, there seems to be what looks like a brassy coloured piece of metal near the top of the door that almost touches the glass. I think its this piece that the glass hits when the door is closed.

Anyone know what this is or have had a similar issue?

[Doug]

the rollers screw to the window and they could loosen and allow rattling -- I think you gotta open up that Pandora's box and start messing with it to find the evil spirit . . .

[Elanlover]

Yea, I think you're right I was really hoping I could wait until brian made up those nice, shiny aluminum door pulls and handles befroe i had to pull the door apart again.





Brian????

[Elanlover]

Well this is a late post on this issue but I finally got it resolved. After living with it for a while I decided I'd try to fix this rattling when I had the door card off for other work recently. It took 3 attempts over three weekends and I was surprised as to the ultimate cause for this problem. In fact, it was practically by accident that I figured it out.

It wasn't:

1) The Fuzzy Things. While some had fallen off I did find them and glue them back on. It didn't help at all.
2) The Window Stops. I noticed that one of the two the passenger side stops looked "bent out" towards the glass more than the driver's side. I figured the glass may be banging up against it when I closed the door. I too both out, bent them inwards with pliers to match the driver's side and re-installed. It didn't help at all.
3) The Window Stop Position. Since I had them out I adjusted the position of the stop several times. It didn't help at all.
4) The Sliders. While I did discover that the top, front slider was not screwed in and was loose in the track, that didn't seem to be the problem either.

So what was it?

After 45 minutes of putting my ear up to the door and slamming it (not fun at all) to hopefully hear exactly where the rattle was coming from with little success other than getting a headache I literally stumbled across the source. The bolt that secures one of the window stoppers to the glass had become loose. Evertime I closed the door it would rattle against the glass making it sound like it was about to shatter. I twisted it tighter with my hand (hard to get a screwdriver in there and I didn't want to remove the glass) and the rattle disappeared immediately.

Didn't expect that at all but glad to finally get it fixed. File that one away for future reference.