Dochtor

Hey all:

I went to get into my car yesterday after work and when I shut my door I heard a strange thump. I wasn’t exactly sure what was causing it, so I tried closing the door a couple of times but I could not isolate where the noise was coming from. I figured my window wasn’t closed all the way so I jumped back in the car to roll it up. When I hit the switch to roll it up, the window actually pitched forward and the front part of the window came down while the rear part of the window stayed up.

I drive the car home in the blistering cold with my window halfway down. My brother and I disassemble the door panel expecting to see the window off its track or something. As we pull the door panel from the car two screws fall to the floor. With the panel off we can see even more damage. Besides the two screws that had come loose from the window regulator mount, a third screw was completed pulled through the sheet metal of the door frame, and the forth (and final) screw was hanging on by only a couple of threads. We were able to realign the regulator and attached it back to the door with 3 of the screws, the last screw cannot be reattached because sheet metal was completely pulled away. The window is now operational, but every time the window is halfway down/up it makes this loud popping sound as if something is rubbing inside.

Has anyone else had similar problems? My car is just outside the warranty period – 3yrs were up in November, and I have 39,000 miles on the car. Think I would have any luck pleading my case to the dealer, as I don’t think this problem was something that just started?

Any and all insight would be welcome.

I do have pictures available if you think they will help, but I won’t have access to them for a couple of days.

Thanks!
Jeff

I also found this link that may be of interest.

https://www.i-club.com/forums/showth...ndow+Regulator

HomerJay

iTrader: (3)

Are you on stock speakers? Otherwise, the dealer might try and blame the stereo shop.

imporacer

Try to see if you can use a bolt and nut combo, or a bigger sheet screw to re-tread that worn one.

Dochtor

The head of screw was pulled completely through the sheet metal, so there is nothing there to retread into!!


Sparkygrl - I didn't have any indication that there was a problem. But then I barely every roll my windows down... If your car is still in warranty I would definitely take the car in. If it’s out of warranty I would at least pull the door panel off and make sure those screws are tight. There is a good walk through for removing the door panel at www.scoobymods.com

HomerJay - I still have my stock speakers in my car.


I contacted the dealer yesterday and explained the situation. They said that they had never heard of anyone else with this problem, and since my car was out of warranty they would have to bill for the repair.

I contacted SOA and spoke with one of the reps there, and he said basically the same thing. That this wasn't a known issue and that there were not any recalls, so there was nothing he could do. I asked what I would need to do to put through a formal complaint, so I could at least have this issue documented incase others had similar problems. He said that he would set up an appointment for me to have my car inspected by a District Service Manager, and he would contact me back when he had a time and date. 10 minutes later I get a call instructing me to take my car to the dealer per the DSM. I guess the DSM said that this is a rare issue, but it has been know to happen, and since my car was only 3000 miles out of warranty they would still cover it.

I dropped my car off at the dealer last night, so will see what happens.

BoxerRumble

iTrader: (7)

its pretty cool how subaru takes care of his customers...dont u think?