Are we all sitting comfortably? Then I'll begin.

Chapter 1

Today was a good day to seal the front door carriers on my Fabia, they had been leaking and seeing as it was forecast to rain tomorrow it was perfect timing as today was sunny.

So, Off I popped,

1st to Skoda to pick up some trim clips as I know my car has the old ones from doing the rears and that I would almost certainly brake a few.

2nd to Homebase for some latex gloves for the finger smoothing!

So, arriving home I set about removing the door cards. Before these doors I've tried to remove 6 different Fabia door cards and never managed to remove the top, they've always been too stubborn.... so imagine my surprise when the whole card popped straight off in my hands! Excellent... but hang on.....

(now seems a good time to mention that the audio in my vRS has always been poor. I've never worked out why this is though, as my Elegance had great sound. I do know the previous owner put some terrible Sony jobs in the back and I'm guessing he assumed that being Sony they'd be better, but they so aint! He also just cut the wires to the tweeters in the rear doors when he did this.. very clever Mr Previous Owner!).. right, on with the story.

Chapter 2

Sooo, I glance at the door and Notice MDF and a little circuit board, then it dawns, It's got components installed! GREAT! but how come they sound so rubbish? Ohhhhhhh right, they're cheap rubbish as well! Not so great!.. So I set about tweaking the crossover (turning the mentally metallic sounding tweeter down and flipping the + - on one side so the bass is now IN PHASE! instant improvement!

BE WARNED! MDF and leaky doors DO NOT MIX! My rings are a little warpped and growing mould.. yes, real life furry mould!.. If you do MDF rings you really need to coat them with some kind of water repellent.

If you thinking this is a long post.. bear with me, it has a great ironic twist at the end!

Ok, so, I set about sealing the doors. I hate sealant because it gets everywhere and is so messy but I make a neat job of sealing the edge of the carrier, the rivets and also fill the gaps and seal around the MDF rings! Right, there we go.. all sorted.

I put the driver side back together, bring the window up, take it down and then back up.. all fine, everything works. Then I put the passenger side back together, Even easier due to less cables. The sun is still just about out and I'm feeling quite pleased. I go to wind the passenger side window up, great.... I mean it clicked but it does that from time to time.. down again, yup, that's fine.. now back up... ummmmm, now back up........ Hmmmmmmm.. Please come back up :( NOPE! Lots of crunching and that window aint going anywhere on it's own accord! NOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO!!!

Chapter 3.

So I've sealed the door carrier and THIS is the time the window mechanism chooses to eat it's self, you can't write this stuff! But wait... The sky’s gone grey and yeah, it's starting to rain (honest to god this is how it happened). So, hastily I remove the door card and remove the speaker to have a look and yup, sure enough that one caster pulley thingy aint sitting right, Hmmmmm. I remove the window motor and that's fine but behind the motor, in front of it's cog a cable is just across the hole, not around the cog like I'm guessing it's meant to be, but all mangled up and across it! Bu66er..

Eventually I get the window almost up by pulling it, but still have a CM gap and now the rains starting to come down a little heavier. At this point It dawns I can't do anything today, every where’s closed, I don't know how to fix it and I've gotta get the thing water tight for tomorrows predicted rain, that.. it seems, has now come early!

And now here I am on Briskoda searching for a window repair guide i know I've seen before and not relishing the idea of having to cut my fresh seal away and drill through sealant filled rivets!. My passenger windows is water tight thanks to a whole roll of gaffa tape and a butchered Asda "for life" shopping bag. I think I'll pop out again later and remove the radio and empty the glove box, leaving it open so any chancers can see it aint worth it. I live on a dead end though, so not that many people tend to pass by luckily.

In short it's been one of those days where everything’s going great until it all goes horribly wrong and bites you in the a55! and the door carrier needing to be removed after it's just been sealed.. that, Alanis, IS Ironic!.. not 10000 spoons, or rain on ya wedding day...!

*Sigh* :(

Edited 13 June, 200917 yr by reflex88

You need a beer!

This ones on me, Enjoy

Thanks! That sure looks like a cool beer too!

I think that between this Fabia and the last I've had EVERY known fault now! Go Me!

Thus making you a semi expert and fabia errors.

On the other hand hope you got it sorted doesen't seem to be raining today though luckly

Rain! What rain? It's been lovely and sunny down here in the South.

Nice story Reflex, I eagerly await your next novel. Oh, them doors, yes, I've heard a few stories about leaks, winders and bad diy jobbies, hope it's a nice day today for you to finish off.

Don't think today is likely for the job being finished.. unless the parts department are open and have a mechanism in (which they probably have seeing as it's a common failure). Looks like Monday morning before anything happens now cuz I'm sure they're closed on Sundays.

It rained here last night (middlesex / NW london) but it is indeed sunny and bright today. The rain is predicted for tomorrow now, last night was a taster.. and perhaps when it saw my window fail the cloud couldn't help it's self! lol

Why does it always rain when you have problems with windows and doors?:confused:

Got my new regulator this morning! £75 for reference.

I have a question though, The carrier is riveted in, but are the nuts that earlier cars bolts went into, behind them?

I know it's a long shot, but does it mean the doors slightly changed when they went over to rivets or did they simply just start using rivets in the existing hole? Thread and all? I'd love to just get some bolts.. I don't fancy self tappers because of breaking the paint and causing future rust...

Just imagine, driving around in a 25yr old fabia and the the door carrier suddenly just falls off the door! lol!