Drivers side window problem

[Csteel]

Just a quick question.. On your MK5 Golf can you put the drivers window up/down whilst the door is open?

Ever since owning my car I've had to have the door closed to be able to use the window, all 3 other windows work with the door open or closed?

But anyway more to the problem, is there any known faults for the drivers window? Mine seems to be playing up lately, not going up and down sometimes but I hear a 'click' in the door like a motor or something in the door but the window just refuses to move until I keep trying and it eventually works. But today it done it and I thought maybe it could be the wires in the door frame so I opened and shut the door a few times then left it open a jar and it worked fine, even after opening and closing again. All other electrical controls on the door are working fine though so it's left me wondering.

 

[GolfMkVJohn]

Got my mk5 a few days ago & was the 1st job I did on it. Same thing with me, sporadically working.

Just popped ( no screwing ) the master window control apart.
Make sure you open it up with the switches facing the ground otherwise little plastic pins will fall out. These pins were the reason mine was tempramental, some were worn down & some completely missing. You can see the state of your pins by using the switches whilst looking at the bottom, you'll see them pop up & down. If you need to replace any pins, use a good pin as a guide for length ( about 1cm mine were ) & snip a clothes peg spring to match. After all 8 ( I think ) holes have pins, reassemble & it should work, this also fixed the window locks on mine too.

Before you do this though check the metal connections on the other part for corrosion or snapped / faulty forks.

30 min job I'd say, & I'm shit with cars!

Good luck, let us know how you got on.

 

[Csteel]

The switch was fine, it turned out to be the wiring harness on the door, apparently a known fault to some MK5s, mainly the drivers door as this is the one that gets used the most! Luckily it was only the window that wasn't working some people have problems with the whole door electrics. Took off the outer door skin to get more room to soldered the wires together (it's a good idea to add an extra bit of wire to give it more flexibility but I didn't bother).

 

[gerrywac]

wiring harness problems do seem to be fairly common on the Mk5's as they age and I wonder if that will carry on into the Mk6's which are basically a re-style engineered to be cheaper to build but with many common parts

The prime culprits do seem to be the flex connectors where the wiring bends between the body , and the passenger doors and hatch.

Not surprisingly the driver door features most often with the increased use it gets