During a torrential downpour in late October that caused flooding in my area, I left my office at the end of the day only to be greeted by a slightly-soggy driver seat and noticed that the passenger seat was also slightly-soggy. While stopped at traffic light, I observed in SHEER HORROR large drips of water falling from headliner just above the glovebox. Rushed home, immediately removed the Wet Okole seat covers and noticed the passenger footwell carpet was wet. I decided now was as good a time as any to start the project of freshening up Schultze since he has 165k on the clock. The first night was spent putting an industrial fan in place so that the carpet could be dried by morning. The next day, I disconnected the battery and removed the passenger seat and completely removed the back seat. I removed all the interior pillar covers, both door panels, both rear lateral panels, and the boot panels. This made removing the headliner so much easier. I removed the headliner since the fabric was drooping at the windshield. I noticed dried water stains, so I located the issue & made the needed repair. Tested. Passed! While doing the water test, I immediately discovered water dripping into the passenger door. I dried everything and did another water test. If you can visualize the belt line on the door, there is a water leak in the first 1/3 of the belt line from the front of car—however, no water is coming in from the remaining 2/3 of the belt line. I visually inspected the belt line and noticed a gap at the front end of it and the window itself seems loose in that section. Is there a spot to adjust the horizontal positioning of the glass? I figure I might have to take Schultze to a body shop if I can’t fix the issue myself. In the meantime, no passengers permitted and I have two pieces of clear Gorilla Tape along the belt line to prevent water from seeping in. It passed the water test. I replaced the headliner fabric with the blackest black available at Joann Fabrics. The only roof bit I wasn’t able to remove was the piece that has the two cabin lights. I need tips on how to remove that piece because it’s currently the only greige piece and I would REALLY like it to be black to match everything else. I had no problems removing all 6 interior pillar covers. All of the interior pieces have been painted Glossy Black. I didn’t need to remove any of the dash pieces, down tubes, gearshift ring or e-brake handle because they still look as great as the day I painted them! After I removed all the panels and roof bits, I pulled up the carpet and put the industrial fan in place to ensure the carpet padding was fully dry—just to be safe. After removing the fan after several hours, everything was nice & dry. (Yes, I checked the electronics module in the wall of the passenger footwell. No issues.) Replaced the exhaust. Checked brake pads & rotors. Replaced the fuel filter. Now that I’m living in road-salt heaven, I’m looking to get underbody anti-rust coating applied. Complete body inspection only turned up one small area of rust at the boot handle. I plan on doing a complete paint job in a few months.
You can adjust the window but you may want to pull the door panel and check that the plastic nut that holds the window is not loose. there two of then. They hold the class to the regulator.
Also lay on the ground and look at the bottom of the door and you will see two bolts for the window track. Make sure they are tight.
Thanks for the info about the regulator nuts. None of the interior panels have been reinstalled yet. Schultze has been doing very limited motoring with a very nekkid interior.
I will definitely have to do it when someone else is home—would surely hate to be found stuck on my back in the driveway!
That would be bad. The bolts Dave is talking about, you move in the opposite direction you want the window to go. So if the window needs to tilt in you move the bolts out a little.
Does anyone know the trick to removing this piece? It’s the last piece that needs to be removed so I can paint it Glossy Black.
I've been wanting to permanently remove that weird gas mask wearing clown face and put something a little more generic up there.
Attached are pics of the door windows where each kisses the rubber gasket at the roof. Driver side is getting a nice, embracing kiss while passenger side is barely giving a peck on the cheek. What are the steps to adjust the passenger sides out raises up another 1/4” or so?
What year is your car? I think this has to be done by the dealer as it's in the software code....not a mechanical adjustment. If it were mechanical, it would involve removing the door panel for access to the mechanism.
Is the the auto movement of 1/4” when the door is opened/closed and the one touch down working on the passenger side? If not, try resetting the limits by opening the window and keep holding the window switch for about 5 seconds after it’s fully opened. Then close the window and hold the switch up for about 5 seconds. After that, the window should fully close and the window auto down and the open/close open door adjustment should be working.
Does that trick work for both 1st and second gen cars? I think she has a second gen based on the pic of the console she's wanting to paint....it has the LEDs.
It looks like the overhead console of a face lift ‘05 or ‘06. Not sure if it works on a 2nd gen, but it’s worked on my ‘05, a couple of Honda’s, and a few Mercedes.
R50 10/20/06 Build date Yes, both windows drop slightly when opening the door and raise up when door had been closed. D goes up all that way as it should. P falls short by approximately 1/4”.