Glenn Smith
Senior Member
My r/h rear window went bang last week as it lifted to the closed position and fell back down, the cause, simple cable failure due to corrosion (typical merc?)
Anyway i made a temporary repair as we were in Germany at the time ( temp repair was a broom handle cut down to fit, to wedge the glass up) Went to local dealer who says part only available as a complete unit with motor for £159 plus vat.
I can now tell you it is possible to make new cables and fit them successfully. heres how.
Remove door card, remove assembly (require drilling out pop rivetts) Remove motor from regulator (3 screws) remove slider from regulator by bending retaining tags remove cables from slider noting how the cables are fitted with the springs, remove lower cable from lower pullley and unwind from main spool, to remove the upper cable from main spool you will have to bend the bracket to allow clearance under the pulley (i wouldn't recomend removing pulley) Purchase some 2mm wire rope (50p per mtr.) cut a length 800mm for the lower cable, i removed the original cable ends from the old cables by heating red hot and with a drill, silver solder the ends to the new length, now cut a length 900mm long for the upper cable and solder the small end only (spool end), now for the fun bit, wind the lower cable on so it is correctly positioned to pull the slider right to the bottom, now you have to wind it down further and fit the upper cable to the spool, this can be done by poking the unsoldered end through the slot in the spool and pulling through, now when you wind the lower cable back to the correct position (right down) the spool should be full and the upper cable about 15mm too long. now you have to cut the cable to the correct length to give enough tension on the cable, make sure the cable is tight on the spool when adjusting length now solder final end on, do not forget spring before soldering! Alll you have to do now is reassemble slider, bend bracket back to shape and refit motor. Refit assembly back into door and test (good idea to grease the new cable and the slider track).
Lengths given are for my c230kompressor estate.
Now why don't Merc sell just the regulator for a reasonable price for the rear doors on the C class, to be honest if they had sold these for £30-£40 i wouldn't have bothered repairing, but is was quite satisfying.
Anyway i made a temporary repair as we were in Germany at the time ( temp repair was a broom handle cut down to fit, to wedge the glass up) Went to local dealer who says part only available as a complete unit with motor for £159 plus vat.
I can now tell you it is possible to make new cables and fit them successfully. heres how.
Remove door card, remove assembly (require drilling out pop rivetts) Remove motor from regulator (3 screws) remove slider from regulator by bending retaining tags remove cables from slider noting how the cables are fitted with the springs, remove lower cable from lower pullley and unwind from main spool, to remove the upper cable from main spool you will have to bend the bracket to allow clearance under the pulley (i wouldn't recomend removing pulley) Purchase some 2mm wire rope (50p per mtr.) cut a length 800mm for the lower cable, i removed the original cable ends from the old cables by heating red hot and with a drill, silver solder the ends to the new length, now cut a length 900mm long for the upper cable and solder the small end only (spool end), now for the fun bit, wind the lower cable on so it is correctly positioned to pull the slider right to the bottom, now you have to wind it down further and fit the upper cable to the spool, this can be done by poking the unsoldered end through the slot in the spool and pulling through, now when you wind the lower cable back to the correct position (right down) the spool should be full and the upper cable about 15mm too long. now you have to cut the cable to the correct length to give enough tension on the cable, make sure the cable is tight on the spool when adjusting length now solder final end on, do not forget spring before soldering! Alll you have to do now is reassemble slider, bend bracket back to shape and refit motor. Refit assembly back into door and test (good idea to grease the new cable and the slider track).
Lengths given are for my c230kompressor estate.
Now why don't Merc sell just the regulator for a reasonable price for the rear doors on the C class, to be honest if they had sold these for £30-£40 i wouldn't have bothered repairing, but is was quite satisfying.
