Jim-octavia

Dragging up an old thread, but it is a good one! 2 years ago I had a pressure sensor fault, so got it replaced and the garage reported that it initially seemed to leak and then held its pressure so they were able to recharge it and I picked it up working. Only lasted a few days, and when I checked again the pressure was low, so I tried topping it up and using superseal, but ran out of gas before it was working properly and then didn't have time to touch it again for ages and it went to the bottom of my list, and covid meant I wasn't really using the car last summer. Obviously with the hot weather I wanted to get it working again so got a can of gas and to my surprise needed very little before the pressure came up good (both on the dial on the filling adapter, and in VCDS). But no cold air. I was flicking through the measuring values for ages trying to spot what was wrong. Thanks to this thread I am now pretty sure it is going to be the N280 valve, since pressure is OK, compressor is running etc. and the only thing wrong is that the current is around 80.5-82, which it seems corresponds to a stuck valve. Then the light bulb moment, I put bloody superseal in it 2 years ago, I wonder why the valve could be stuck? No warning about that on the can, says only suitable for belt driven not electric driven compressors, but fails to mention belt driven compressors controlled by a solenoid valve rather than a clutch... I mean, it could be something else, but seems highly unlikely after reading the 8 pages of this thread. Now to see if my normal garage (not the one who looked at it 2 years ago) can change the valve for me, or compressor if necessary. I bet they are flat out.

I haven't done it yet, I have a replacement panel which looks right - (local motor factor says they always come in wrong for him and to expect to find it to be wrong), but the rivets haven't turned up yet so I haven't taken the old one off yet. Rivets: https://www.skoda-parts.com/spare-part/n91003401-pop-rivet-a6-4x10-0-skoda-5075.html (based in czech I think, they also have the trim clips, I'm sure you broke at least 1 getting it off?) They are 6.4mm multi-grip rivets as far as I can tell, but I couldn't find multigrip in 6.4mm, and there is no way plain will expand enough for a 10mm hole. Another option would be to use a washer on the back, but since you wont be able to get a hand in, you would need to use something like double sided tape to hold them in place. I have seen 2 sources that say to use an M5 bolt to remove the inner part of the window pin, and then M8 on the outer part, I should have both but haven't actually checked (M5 is an uncommon size but I have a lot of bolts). I got a bit distracted with the wiring for the light sensor which 'fell out' of the connector due to a pigeon flying into my windscreen and knocking the rear view mirror off which was dangling by those wires for a while until I could pull over and deal with it (impact not hard enough to for my dash cam to notice and protect the file, but I nearly soiled myself!). The connector and the terminals were broken so I have replaced them and I think got the wires in the right order (may be trusting Haynes too much?) but the headlights are still coming on with the ignition. May have had a short which has damaged the control module. Been too busy driving it to finish either job yet...

Looks like you can get kits of just the wires from about £12, but first you should probably open it up and check if you need the wires or the sliders or both. For the whole mechanism aftermarket ones seem to start around £30 without motor, although I understand they are £160 from a dealer (may include the motor?) As noted above, the mechanism (regulator) seems to be riveted to a panel which in turn is rivetted into the door, using odd sized rivets, even so, replacing the whole mechanism will be a huge amount easier than just replacing the wires, and is the route I intend to go down (now that I am back from my holiday) - you need to drill out and re-rivet the panel even to do the wires. No idea where to get the right size rivets from yet.

Old thread I know, but one of the cables snapped on my drivers window yesterday (perfect in a heat wave with non-functioning air-con). Haynes, and the link above both talk about removing the lock barrel before removing the panel, but the original write up doesn't mention that - anyone know if that is a typical Haynes unnecessary extra step or is there a danger of screwing up the door lock if you don't take the barrel out first (which looks like a finicky enough little procedure in its own right...)?