Windows not rolling up

[maisbitt]

With the colder weather (ice and frozen on snow) here, i've noticed in the last few days that even when fully defrosted, the windows aren't trying to go back up after they've dropped their usual 20mm to allow door opening. As a result, it seems that my windows weren't fully closed last night, and this morning, when I sloshed a bucket of luke warm water over the windows, some got onto the passenger seat.

Has anyone else been having these issues? It's not a case of the windows trying to go back up and then rolling back on the anti-squeeze, they're not trying to go back up at all. Once you're in the car, you can get the windows to go back up by pressing the window buttons, but you can't do that upon exiting the vehicle (unless you're prepared to hammer your key fob battery by keeping the lock button held down until the windows go up.

Is this a cold operation mode thing (that VW want you to live with), or a genuine fault on my car?

[jc74]

It was pretty cold, and the windows were frozen to the seals, but the rolled down (with a bit of a snap), and managed to roll back up, so I'd guess it's not the normal thing to stay in the down position...

My windows rattle like mad in the cold though, I suspect it's the rubber seals being hard in the cold. I've never had such problem with other cars before, including those with frameless doors..
I was speaking to someone from Germany, and they said that everyone over there jokes about VWs being of bad build quality and not built to last

[alanstead]

Once in a blue moon, my window doesnt close once I've pulled the door shut and I have to shut it on the window switch which works fine, been doing this since I bought the car. Done it about 5 times maybe, weather has had no bearing on it, just seems to be a glitch in the system, like the radio doent always dim down at night and stays on really bright for ages then eventually seems to remember its dark and slowly dulls down, and the reverse down mirror doesnt always come back up to normal position when you drive away! Nothing desperate, so just waiting till the first service to let them sort it! Pain in the ass tho! Always make sure the window shut when I lock the car just in case!

[Snooky]

Very same problem for me OP. I put it down to the extreme conditions. Been up to -11 and never better than -5 every night forthe past week. Together with well over a foot of snow (over 4 or 5 days) and the windows have frozen to the seals.

I find that you have to defrost both windows - I needed lukewarm water after scraping the ice. Then switch the car on and off and then on again and it reverted to normal. (otherwise the wndows were only raising to the 'door-opening' position on locking).

Bit of a PITA though!

[Downtown_two]

Thats really weird, this happened to me the other morning. Seemed to have no relation to the cold though; didnt happen first thing in the morning when the car was cold but DID happen after a short drive, cabin temp was 24 degrees.

Worried me at the time but it hasn't happened since, hopefully a one off *fingers crossed*

[ZephyR]

I'm like Alan - its happened 5 or 6 times and is not weather related.
It did it yesterday as it happens, and its always the passenger door. I wonder if passengers are accidentally hitting the window down button as they try and pull the door shut.

[tommc]

Had this on my drivers door got it to drop to get in but it didnt go back up untill i got in and used the button. I had thought at one point there was ice below the line of the rubber seal and it was catching so the window was getting resistance and thinking someone hand or head was in the window so wouldnt go up as a safty feature.

[biggles]

I had the same but unfortunately it was no better when i jumped and and tried to put the window back up with the interior switch. Tried engine on/off, alarm on/off and every combination i cld think of. The window switch moved it up and down no problem apart from the last 2". A very chilly 25 mile drive! Parked it in the garage for 2 days while away and it seemed to sort itself out. Very odd!

[SHutch]

Got a fan heater in my car as we speak drying off the passenger seat - my neighbour came round last night and said she thought my car windows were open...sure enough there were down about 20mm - and it had been raining and windy.
When I unlocked the car they dropped further and it took about 5 minutes of fiddling with the window switches to get it to reset to the proper closed position and actually drop and re-close properly.
The concept of frameless doors themsleves are OK - My Toyota Celica was fine and that just sealed the glass against the rubber - none of this having to seat the doors into a shroud to get it watertight. My guess would be that VW are not confident they can manufacture them to the same tolerances as Toyota.....

[BAIKAR]

ive had the same bother as everyone else. I've been coating the seals in 3 in 1 silicone spray

unlock car and drivers window fails to drop. Passenger window ok so climb across from passenger seat. Eventually with some heat in the car the window defrosts and it goes down. Later though after being fully defrosted i went out to get in the car and the drivers window dropped normally. However when i got in it wouldnt go back up. Tried locking unlocking, ignition on and off, electric window switch up and down but still nothing. At which point the snow conveniently starts to melt and run off the roof into my car. Now i realise it does it when frozen up but there was no snow or ice and it still did it.

God knows how people in cold countries get by like this for longer periods of time than we have experienced.

[maddogdave]

Mine stuck once with the ice and didn't roll down. Relocked car, de-iced around window and window correctly rolled down when unlocked. However didn't roll back up when I closed the door, had to do it manually. Guess it's just a safety feature that it 'remembered' the original problem in opening so didn't try to close itself again a few minutes later (in case of a jam?). Worked fine after a short journey and has been OK since. There was a small buzz for about 2 seconds when it originally tried to open, so guess there's a thermal overload in the circuit (usually is on most windows to protect the motor from burning out) and maybe the management system senses / monitors this. If it's happening more often and the glass isn't sticking to the seals or restricted in another way then I guess it's a fault in the motor / mechanism, otherwise it's just there to save the glass getting damaged by over forcing things.

[whittlei]

Yup, mine's done this probably more than what you could class as intermittently since new. I only noticed it initially 'cos I heard abnormal wind noise, then zipped up the window and it went away..... "funny" I thought, "I must have caught the window button and accidentaly nudged it down".

Then I started to notice it, typically first thing at morning, it'd drop down a few mil as expected to allow you to open and close the door but not go back up. I reckon it does it probably 30% of the time, and after the second time of opening and closing the door it's fine.

It's nothing to do with the cold weather as I got it in May. OK I admit Burnley does have pretty cr@p weather, but it doesn't normally freeze even up in the wastelands of Lancashire until at least October / November

And as for the freezing windows - what a pita that is - whatever happened to all those thousands of miles in arctic testing they profess to do

Still once it's warm it's a great bus - when I can prise the keys off the missus and drive it myself!

Ian

[scotty294]

had mine in for 18k service & pointed it out to the VW dealers in Norwich . they say VW know about it & there will be a fix for it but when??????? it's annoying that it happens & that they (VW) know about it but seem to do nothing!

[trix]

if a fix is found i'll make sure I let Grace know so she can get your car booked in asap Scotty

S

[PKV]

I have had exactly the same problems, especially with the passenger window. It drops down 1 inch when opening the door, but does not roll up when the the door i shut. The dealer have tried some adjustments, without any luck.
But now, maybe something is happening: My Roc has been called in for an update of the "unit that controls the windows"
The car is going in next monday. I'll let you know.....

[scirocco]

The joys of pillarless doors! I was chatting to a work collegue and his 1 Series Coupe has the same issues...

[trix]

keep us updated PKV...

S

[infinidim]

The joys of pillarless doors! I was chatting to a work collegue and his 1 Series Coupe has the same issues...

We also had this when we had a Series 1.

It even got to the point with the BMW that when going at about 60 mph then the passenger side window would all of a sudden drop to half way down. After a lot of arguing with the BMW dealership they agreed it was a problem with one of the ICU's; they took it in and replaced the ICU and all the issues went away.

Hope you don't have the same issue with the Scirocco

Infinidim

[Thommohawk]

I think the issue with the window going down when the car is moving is a completely different issue, this happened to me while driving after picking up my car and turned out to be a faulty ignition switch, there is another topic on that somewhere. Even thought I've had that sorted, still on the odd occasion I've noticed this happening with my passenger window not going up fully on locking the car after it drops as it usually does when turning off the ignition, would be interesting to know if this is a common issue,

[PhilS]

sounds similar to one that was around on a3's and s3's try searching that, i cant remember the fix but the symptoms were the same