Similar symptoms as my 02 passenger's window. Ultimately the Porsche tech determined the..

I noticed an unusual development the other day when I opened the passenger door from the outside with the top up - the window did not go down the little bit it is supposed to when I pulled the handle and only went down after I opened the door. When I pull on the handle inside the car, the window goes down a bit as normal before the door opens. I would like to get this taken care of to avoid damage to the seal with the top. Any suggestion as to what might be going wrong? Any ideas on fixes? Thanks for the input.

cause was a bad door lock assembly. The lock is rather large (email me and I'll send you a pic of it) and expensive. $400 or thereabouts. In my car's case it took the tech around 2 hours to first hook up the diagnostics computer and check for security system faults (some were found though I do not know what they were) and through a computer assisted checkout process all the other possiblities were eliminated leaving just the door lock. Tech said he did this cause the door lock is the most expensive component to replace.

But it was the lock and a new one was ordered and installed. Since then, the passenger window drops just fine now when I open it and stays down while door open and comes up when door closed. Other symptoms mainly the passenger door lock button on dash activating the door locks on its own and the car's horn sounding like the console door open or some other door open when I locked the car all gone too.

Before I took the car in though I checked the car's cabin very carefully for any signs of dampeness. I keep the front and rear drains clear but still... water can sometimes get in past a windshield seal or leaking top. Also, because I have heard/read that the door window seals can leak and let water into the door insides I checked both doors for any signs of dampness at their bottoms and gave each one a good shaking. No sounds of water in either door was heard.

The passenger door lock was just worn out. I would have thought the driver's side would go first -- it gets the most usage -- but it was the passenger side. Driver's side door lock and window et al has never exhibited any problems and I hope this behavior continues.

Sincerely,

MarcW.

Quote
cld3316
I noticed an unusual development the other day when I opened the passenger door from the outside with the top up - the window did not go down the little bit it is supposed to when I pulled the handle and only went down after I opened the door. When I pull on the handle inside the car, the window goes down a bit as normal before the door opens. I would like to get this taken care of to avoid damage to the seal with the top. Any suggestion as to what might be going wrong? Any ideas on fixes? Thanks for the input.

Since the window is dipping properly when you pull on the inside door handle, the problem is most likely not the microswitch in the door lock assembly, as that would yield the same result whether you pulled on the inside or outside door handle.

It is almost definitely the microswitch behind the outside door handle (or the wires/connection to it).

Here is a photo of that microswitch:



The red arrow is pointing to the microswitch, and the green arrow is pointing to the small arm that acts on the microswitch when you pull on the outside door handle.

Regards, Maurice.



Edited 1 time(s). Last edit at 01/19/2011 11:43PM by MauriceonLongIsland. (view changes)

Thanks for the insight. The car has mainly been sitting in the garage due to snow. Hope to get it fixed soon. Any idea on the cost of the microswitch?

The part number for that microswitch is 996.613.126.00 for the passenger side. List price is about $37.

If you order it from Sunset, Suncoast, or PelicanParts.com, you should get a better price.

Regards, Maurice.