my son has a 97 passat wagon and (of course) the regulators are going or have gone bad.

can anyone help with experience/options for him?

if it's me, i'd just set up a strap and latch setup (he's 17 and lucky to have a car to begin with). anyone done something like that?

tia

Tia,

I know this isn't the answer you want to hear, but that may just be the beggining of your problems with the coachwork/body of that car. My mom's started to fall completely apart at 110K miles. This series was one of VW's worst quality cars ever built. If you have the opportunity, sell it fast.

yep, that's why i wanted to bypass the electricals altogether.

(oh, tia= "thanks in advance", not my name but i might adopt it as an alter-ego...)

ok, so does someone want to scan the factory manual page(s) that deal with the regulator? I got in there and i'm going to try and cob something together...

I wouldnt say that the passat is that bad of a car. I had 2, and was very happy with them. For the most part they are very reliable cars. I had a 95, with 180,000 miles on it until an uninsured mexican decided he would take care of it for me. Then I bought a 97, and sold that one with 140,000 miles on it, and its still going strong. As for the regulators, I have had problems with them twice. Unfortunately if you put too much force on the window, you can bend the arm, which will cause it to bind, and not fully open or close. The other problem is the plastic guides that the arms travel in. The arm can sometimes come out of the guide (usually because it is bent). I have had success taking the assembly out and straightening it. The other option is to buy the assembly on ebay for $20. Overall the car is pretty easy to work on, if you have any questions about repairs, let me know.

thanks banger.
it turns out the window came apart from the regulator due to corrosion (and my son climbing up a curb while turning and then slamming it down putting a huge dent in the rocker) we managed to get the window and gutter sort of re-assembled, but it's not right and needs to be cleaned up and de-corroded. it could be bent too.

we're going to get back in there saturday, so maybe i'll be looking for more help then.

paul