Tailgate window not dropping on opening

Hi there. I have a fault with my 2004 TD4 5-door tailgate window. The glass dropped due to a cable snap so I bought a repair kit via Ebay. Yesterday I replaced the cables (with the help of a mechanic friend). This seemed very straightforward, although it took some time to centre and level the glass. On re-connecting the battery, the window dropped, then I put it up via the dash switch. All seemed fine until I tried to open the tailgate. When I operate the door latch, the door releases, but the window doesn't drop. If I pull the window down using my hands and open the tailgate, when I close the tailgate, the window rises as normal. The window operates via the dash switch (but the one touch drop no longer functions). The wiper/delisted work, the car locks on the fob with no problem.

I've searched this (and other) forums, but can't locate a thread with this set of symptoms.

Can anyone suggest what I do next?

Press the lock button on your fob 6 times and it will recalibrate the window

Hi Freelaner, thanks for the quick response, the PM and the lovely animation. I've tried the key fob idea, but it has not made any difference.

Any other ideas?
Cheers
Sandy

That should have done the trick maybe you have knocked the sensor out of whack in the door. Ahh hold on.....take the battery off again and wait a minute then reconnect
Then try the fob again

Thanks, I'll give it a go tomorrow...

I've not heard the 6x fob button press before? Is that something new? I know disconnecting and reconnecting the battery then putting up the tailgate window calibrated it but didn't know of anything else.

Is your rear wiper arm stopped on the rubber horizontal bit?

When mine messes about:
I press and hold the unlock button until the window drops to the bottom,
then I open and close the door a couple of times,
and then put the key in to the lock in the handle to raise the glass..

Lock it fully and wait a few mins..

Open with a double press of the fob, and open the rear as normal..

Works for me...

Hi. The "6 presses" didn't work, and neither has the routine from IndiTd4.

The wiper is on the rubber, and the hrw and wiper both operate fine. No warning beeps when it re-calibrates or when it locks.

There is a local independent garage that I'll ask (Mike Aitken, at Ladybank), but any other ideas are more than welcome.
Cheers for the suggestions so far, Sandy

http://www.landyzone.co.uk/lz/f9/rear-window-problem-switch-relay-180192-3.html

found this during a search

i've not experienced this problem myself but have a read through this lot, it may help

could be the wire has broken

Hi teddywood1, can you give me some more information regarding which wire? I will be opening up the door to inspect the lifting cable routing (to see if I've mis-located one of the ends, causing a tension issue) and will inspect the wiring at the same time. Some idea of the colour/routing of the suspect power cable would help focus my activity.
Cheers, Sandy

Been playing with my tailgate window recently.

Have you forgotten to fit any of the connectors in the tailgate for the wiper etc?

The tailgate window calibration process involves putting the tailgate window fully up only, so it knows where the window is (fully shut). Reason being it doesn’t want you to open the window if the position signal is wrong, as you could snap the tailgate glass. Also it don’t want to operate the rear wiper if the window isn’t fully up and the tailgate door closed.

You can calibrate the tailgate window (put the window fully up) by using the internal switch UP option or turning the key in the tailgate lock which also puts the tailgate window up. After the main battery is reconnected and the tailgate glass drops (auto does this as it want you to calibrate it), you tell the tailgate window to go fully up with the internal switch and it should go fully up and stay up. If it drops the calibration has failed as it doesn’t know where the tailgate window is (it wants to know it’s fully shut). The tailgate has to be closed for the window calibration to happen, and the Freelander has to know it's closed by reading the tailgate window closed sensor. Does the tailgate open/close ok and is there a door open light on the dash reporting the tailgate status correctly? I think the tailgate window position sensor is part of the tailgate window drive motor if I remembers correctly. It is late.

Tailgate window will auto drop if you remove the roof on a 3 door (2nd best free way of testing the roof position switch status on a 3 door) even of the tailgate door is open. It will also stop the calibration process if it detects the wiper sensors are reporting incorrect position signals. Has the rear wiper connections been put back ok? The remote fob won’t calibrate the tailgate window as it can only drop the window and not raise it.

Does anyone know if it's possible to refit the tailgate window motor thing in such a way that the tailgate window position sensor I think is within it dun't work proper?

Hi all. The saga has taken a further twist as one of the new cables has now snapped and the window has dropped. I've wedged it up as I'm away on holiday at the moment. I think I'll be looking for a whole mechanism on EBay...

Hi all.

On saturday I bought a replacement regulater from a local indepemdant dealer. This was fitted in around 30 minutes, with a further 5 minutes spent centring the glass and adjusting the "slope" of the guide rails. Result - I now have a fully-functioning window again.

Comparison of the replacement set up to the cable kit version showed them to be very similar, with only a couple of obvious differences.
1. The nylon guides on the window clamps were (as you would expect) worn on the old rails, the replacement kit felt more solid.
2. The cable tensioning spring at the motor was almost completely fully compressed on the new kit. The (pre-cut) cable kit once assembled was not quite as "tight" when installed (despite two pairs of hands during fitting). I suspect that there was a little too much length somewhere in the 3 cables in the kit which may have "confused" the motor/CCU on assembly??

In any case, thanks for all of the ideas and input - a great intro to the forum for a newbie.
Cheers
Sandy

I have had this and eventually found the answer. The problem is the cheap kits that are sold by some people on e-bay with inferior plastic parts - where the two cables enter the motor, one has a tensioning spring and the other has a tensioning spring with automatic adjuster. The idea is that you lock the automatic adjuster closed when you assemble it by putting a pin in it and then when you have finished assembly you remove the pin, the adjuster opens up to take the slack and "locks". On mine the locking mechanism in the adjuster fell to bits after the window had been raised and lowered a few times, meaning that there was about an inch of "play" between moving the window up and down because of the extra lash in the system. This absorbed almost totally the up/down movement on tailgate door opening/closing.

I cured it by screwing a jubilee clip over the adjuster to stop it going in all the way and packing slightly one cable guide as it enters the rails. A horrible bodge job that I am not happy with but it does work. Next time I will fork out for a regulator.

I have photo's if anyone is interested.

Richard

Could be too much pressure on the window and a cheap wire kit. The window motor winds back down to drop the glass but the spring tensioners in the kit can take up the movement. Which window kit did you buy? A link would be handy.

The kit I used in the rear of mine is not as good as the kit I used in the doors.

Didn't read the whole thread..... Sorry

If u can upload them tannaton that would be really helpful. I think a few people have that cheaper rear assembly, me included and mine is struggling to drop the glass enough to open properly. Thanks

Ok, the kit was from the Window Regulator Shop on e-bay. They have very good feedback and they have posted some video's on YouTube showing how to fit the kits which are a godsend but my experience with them was not good when I ordered three kits. I paid extra for next day first class recorded delivery, they took a week. One kit had incorrect parts (pulley) and one kit had failed parts. They are however very inexpensive, but I would rather have paid more for better quality. They are all now fitted and are all now working though.

So - with regard to the tailgate ragulator, there is this device below which I think is an automatic adjuster. When you fit the kit you clamp it shut with a pin or something, I think the idea is that it will spring open to take up the slack in the cables and then lock. I guess that it will continue to open up and lock again when the cables stretch etc. as they get older. However on my set up the locking mechanism failed after a few operations of the window and and the extra slack in the system was enough to absorb all of the window raising/lowering movement on opening the tailgate. I stopped the adjuster from fully compressing by adding a 3/4" jubilee clip as in the photo.



This improved things a lot but they were not quite as good as they should be, so I took some further slack out of the system by making a packing piece which I inserted between one of the cable guides and the frame as per below (it is the black collar between the white cable guide and the frame). I made this from an old cable guide from the old cables, it's cut from the think end of the cable guide and then I cut about a quarter of it away so it would slide over the thin end of the new cable guide - hope that makes sense.



The downside of these mods is that there now no automatic adjustment as the cables stretch, but I was able to get the window working so I could use the car and get the rear heated window/rear wiper working. I guess as the cables stretch I could adjust the jubilee clip (or buy a better kit...). I think there is also meant to be a packing piece between the tensioner and motor assembly but this was missing from my kit.

cheers Tannaton. so if im understanding this right the adjuster is not doing its job so there is a bit of play in the cable which shows itself when u open the door and the window doesn't drop enough?
i disconnected the battery earlier and re calibrated the window. worked great for the first opening but as soon as i shut the door and it went up to rest point i tried it again and it was back to its usual business of not dropping the window enough again

Sort of - in my case when the window opens the adjuster doesn't look and completely collapses in on itself, letting about another 1/2 in of slack in the cable meaning the window stays put....