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Rear Door Glass / Quarter Glass Removal

35K views 21 replies 6 participants last post by  jamesstilwell1224 
#1 ·
Following a loud bang while driving on the interstate, I discovered that the left rear door glass had been hit by something that cracked it. Damned road debris! Why don't they have high speed sweepers deployed on interstates to prevent this kind of thing? Where are my taxes going? :mad:


The white blob in the window is the infant grandson's rear facing car seat.

I have searched the Encyclopedia for tips on how to remove and replace the window but have come up empty. I found the video in the Encyclopedia on removing the door panel (included at the bottom for quick access) so that's a start. The only DIY's that I could find for removing the glass from ANY Mercedes-Benz® was a PDF for a W204 (2009 C300) and this video for a W124, shown below. The W204 removes it from the outside and the W124 comes from the inside. If anyone has knowledge of a better DIY that is specific to the W220, feel free to chime in.

Sliding Glass Removal Instructions for W204 Models.pdf (969.3 KB, 844 views)



It happened late so I will be contacting my insurance company to see if it's covered under my comprehensive plan that protects the windshield but
A. It might not be so I'm getting a jump on this request, especially since it seems to not exist anywhere on the interwebs and...
B. If it is covered don't want some piece of Safelite® glass and if they won't let me take it to the dealership, I might try to salvage one from the pick and pull. I dunno.



 
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#2 ·
Here is the instructions, it is not very clear which is which. I think you need the crank window instructions, you will understand when you read them.

While you are at this feel free to video it for others.
 

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#3 ·
Thanks, Dean! That helps immensely. A potential issue will be how to lower the window of the donor car to access the #3 screw mentioned. Batteries are not allowed in the pick and pull. I am researching how to convert my 18v cordless drill battery to 12v to run the window motor. No joy as yet but I'm a-googlin'.

Also, once the rear stay is is removed, would the rear quarter glass come out with a forward pull or is there another step?

If I go after this, I WILL attempt a video but at the least, there will be pictures.
 
#22 ·
If you just want to use you still to power the window motor just to roll it up or down while your working on it and your switch doesn't work just take your drill battery and hook a wire up to the positive and another to the negative leads. Then you can unhook the plug that goes in the motor. Then you should see 2 metal prongs or maybe 5 metal prongs. The next part will take some trial and error, especially if it has five prongs. If it has two touch the positive wire to one prongs and the negative wire to the other prong with the car turned on. The window should then either roll up or down. If you need it to do the opposite then just switch the wires either where your touching the prongs or at your battery. I hope this can help someone's problem.
 
#4 · (Edited)
I wish you the best in this annoying endeavor.

I'm not sure how well an 18v to 12v conversion of your drill would go; but Home Depot and of course Harbor Freight show new ones from around $40-$45. I presume you plan to use the drill to physically crank the motor, which would not have power supplied.

Of course, if you're just going to "accidentally" apply power to the motor contacts, there is a wide range of 12v batteries. See HERE and HERE for example.

Post 10 at http://www.benzworld.org/forums/w220-s-class/1544686-body-panel-removal-interior-exterior.html has an attachment with more on the door panel removal; it was written to address replacement of the interior door handle LED, but the latter portions of it discuss the latch cable in greater detail than the video, as well as the clips that could pop off when you lift the panel off.

You're not foolin' about road debris. In the Tampa vicinity in the past month we have had a woman nearly skewered by an oar - THIS - not to mention some idiot teens tossing things at cars passing under overpasses. Worse yet was THIS.

The rock I took into the windshield of my W221 just 3 days after buying it pales by comparison (fortunately, the crack was below the windshield wiper parking area and has been fixed).
 
#5 ·
I wish you the best in this annoying endeavor.

I'm not sure how well an 18v to 12v conversion of your drill would go; but Home Depot and of course Harbor Freight show new ones from around $40-$45. I presume you plan to use the drill to physically crank the motor, which would not have power supplied. No conversion would be required for that, though...

Of course, if you're just going to "accidentally" apply power to the motor contacts, there is a wide range of 12v batteries for not much money. See HERE and HERE for example.

You're not foolin' about road debris. In the Tampa vicinity in the past month we had a woman nearly skewered by an oar - THIS - not to mention some idiot teens tossing things at cars passing under overpasses.

The rock I took into the windshield of my W221 just 3 days after buying it pales by comparison (fortunately, the crack was below the windshield wiper parking area and has been fixed).
About the oar? Just wow!

The reason that I'm looking for something to convert my drill battery is that they search your bag but they DO allow you to bring in cordless power tools. I just happen to have an 18v instead of a 12v Black and Decker drill. :(

But your HERE combined with THIS might be just the ticket.



I'm always worried that the electrical items that I pull off these cars might not work and while they are cheap, so am I! They do have auto batteries for sale at the checkout window and they will let you test your item there but I want to know before I pull the part if I can. Also, I need to lower the window. A couple of weeks ago, it would have been nice to move the driver's seat back a few inches to get to the console attachment screw. Don't ask how I got to it. :eek

Also, when I look at parts interchange sites, it seems that the rear door glass is different for 2005 and 2006 than for 2000-2004. Anyone know?
 
#6 · (Edited)
I believe the '05-'06 glass might be just a bit thicker, for sound deadening purposes - if memory serves.

My only concern about the AA-sized batteries is whether they will deliver enough amperage - but yes, an arrangement like that is what I had in mind. You could test it on your car (assuming you have nearly infinite patience for removing and replacing panels). If the "23A" is an amperage rating and not a model designation (hard to believe in a battery that small), it would work. Looking at the listing for it, I think it is an alternate model designation for that battery, which is "A23," - not an amperage rating. 23 amps is HUGE for a small battery. Most of the fuses in our cars don't go that high (though some are 30 amp, and the pre-fuses are far more). Still, that amount of amperage is coming from a pretty large main battery.

You MAY find that the window lift motor has a socket by which it can be manually cranked with a drill, with no power applied to the motor. Pinkster's diagrams seem to indicate so, but I am not at all certain. See the M10/6x1 and M10/5x1 designations in his first pdf above, and the photo below. That round device with the spoke grid (and at the arrow below) may be the cranking point.

Also, we were cross-posting. Your quote missed the following, which I was adding at the time - it may be helpful when putting things back together (don't ask me how i learned about it - yeah, the hard way) - Post 10 at http://www.benzworld.org/forums/w220-s-class/1544686-body-panel-removal-interior-exterior.html has a pdf file attachment with more on the door panel removal; it was written to address replacement of the interior door handle LED, but the latter portions of it discuss the latch cable in greater detail than the video, as well as the clips that could pop off when you lift the panel from the window frame. I just wanted to be sure you saw it.
 

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#8 ·
I believe the '05-'06 glass might be just a bit thicker, for sound deadening purposes - if memory serves.
... I just wanted to be sure you saw it.
I just confirmed with the dealership that the glass did change in 2005 so anything before that won't work. I saw the thread that you linked (thank you sir) and while I only skimmed post 10 the first time, I noticed in the video the issue with one of the clips.
 
#7 ·
Hey Dig check this website out for the answer to your power problem.

And here are some more for the other window.
 

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#9 ·
Thanks again, Dean. I was looking at information about L 7815 voltage regulators around 5 AM when I first began to investigate the issue. It's amazing what google can find when you have no idea what you're looking for! That said, I was hoping to find some sort of off the shelf converter that I didn't have to build myself. On a scale of 1 to 10 in soldering skills with 10 being the best, I'm around a 2 or a 3. :( As yet, I haven't found one.

Meanwhile, my insurance company has confirmed that my coverage includes all of the glass and thus, the broken window is fully covered with a zero deductible. Yay.

The bad news (there's always bad news) is that if I don't want to come out of pocket, I have to go to Safelite or somesuch glass installer. I told them that I wanted to have the dealership do it. I would prefer an M-B tech who is reasonably familiar with an S class and has access to OEM parts, clips, vapor barriers etc. installing Pilkington glass instead of some guy who installed who knows what brand of side glass in a Honda yesterday, a Lexus a few days ago and a Chevy last week. Unfortunately, the $1,305.80 has to come out of MY pocket and then I get to 'apply' for reimbursement. Who knows how long that will take!

It's always something.
 
#10 ·
You won't find that on a shelf ready made sorry. Have a go the practice is good and it won't need to be perfect to wind a window down. Just remember that the 7812 is only good for 1amp so you need to add them upto the amps you need for the window motor. I would guess that 5A would be enough.
 
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#11 ·
Hi,

Just apply the 18v to the, (unplugged), window motor, you'll not fry it during the brief few seconds you need to get the window screws in the correct location for removal :wink

If you think about it, when the car engine is running it will see 14.8v, so another 3.2 won't kill it :grin

HTH,

Dave
 
#12 ·
I suspected that might be the case and was going to try it but thanks for confirming! However, it appears that I won't be doing this myself after all. The insurance company will reimburse the entire cost so I have a 7:30 AM appointment. The service guy estimates it will be around 3 hours so he's giving me a loner car. The last time I had a loner car, the windshield cracked in the driveway during an overnight cold snap. It was a fiasco. Oh the irony.
 
#13 · (Edited)
Dig, your luck seems to run like mine. Years ago (living in Maryland) I was about to trade an Audi A4 Quattro for a new A6. When I started backing the A4 out of the driveway, I heard a dreaded squeal that I knew was a failing CV joint connecting the front and rear driveshafts. Because MB wouldn't replace only the joint and insisted on replacing the whole shaft, fixing it was a $2,000 job (the same shaft had gone out on two S5000 Quattros I had owned - so I knew the sound all too well). I was fortunate - the dealer took care of it on "customer assistance," and I went ahead with the trade
 
#14 ·
As of this post, the topic of this thread has changed somewhat, although many aspects are still applicable. My focus has shifted from replacing the shattered window, which is now in the hands of an experienced M-B tech, to replacing the quarter window behind it.


Well, it's been interesting so far, to say the least. I took the car down Monday and waited around for 3 hours, only to find out that the tech (Mercedes dealership guy so bonus for that) noticed that the metal tab at the bottom of the new glass that attaches to the regulator looked bent. He pulled the old window and compared them, confirming his diagnosis. They told me they'd have to keep the car overnight until another window could be shipped and gave me a loaner (2017 GLA). The Service Rep took me out to the garage where I looked at it and got some stuff from the trunk that I would be needing and I saw how much had been disassembled. It occurred to me that, with the delay, this would be an excellent opportunity to replace the 'Milkington' back quarter window that was delaminating (visible in the picture in post #1, the white crescent beginning at the bottom of the glass and running up the back of it along the gasket edge) and the tech agreed. "Now would be the time to do it," he said.

I told them that I would try to find a junkyard replacement that afternoon and they gave me a ballpark price of between $75 to $140 to remove and replace it. I beat feet home and hit the nearby pick and pull, just as the skies began to drizzle. There were 3 220's in the yard, two had already given up the relevant doors and the glass on the third was just as bad as mine. It was getting late and I was getting tired and soggy (carrying tools and the battery powered drill kit) so I headed back to the house dejectedly and started thinking about ways to disguise the fogginess with paint or window tint.

This morning, I waited around to hear from them and by 10 AM, I got impatient and called them. The Service Rep told me that FedEx showed that the glass had been shipped but it never arrived and now looked like it would be another day before they could get the job done. I told him that I would check a few more places for the quarter glass and would let him know by 5 PM if I found a replacement. He agreed and I hotfooted it down to the next nearest spot. There were 2 recent 220 arrivals (a white '01 and a black '02) and both of them had the glass. Someone had already removed the door card from the white car so although the glass had some suspicious looking bubbles, I set about removing it. Once I got it out and had the hang of it, I went to the black car, confirmed the part numbers printed in the glass were the same and pulled it as well. It passed a much closer inspection than the one from the white car.

I also found a nearly complete trunk tool set (missing the 2 wrenches and the fuse puller) still in the round spare tire foam container so I took my quarter glass and the tool kit down to the cashier. I paid $27 (he threw the tool kit in for free!) so combined with the $2 entry fees for both yards, I got the glass for $31!

I immediately drove the 20 minutes back to the dealership and the Rep had gone out for lunch so another one took me back to talk to the tech. We looked at the part numbers in both pieces of glass and they matched. Given the state of disassembly, I halfway considered removing the milky quarter glass and pushing the new piece in right there on the spot but he was so apologetic about the delivery issue that I asked him if he'd give me a break on the installation. Really, it was literally slide the old one forward and out and slide the new one in and push it tight, as I'll describe below. He said that he wasn't even going to worry about it so, fingers crossed, I might get the quarter window 'professionally replaced' for just $31 in parts!


I didn't have time or patience for a video but I did take pictures.

I started with the easy car where some kind soul before me had already removed the doorcard.






Using the 18v drill battery, I was able to raise and lower the window all the way, easily. Here, it was in the halfway position before I eventually dropped it fully down to give the quarter window space to come out.








Here's the window motor before I unplugged it. The drill battery is sitting in the bottom of the door with some wire that I scrounged from the ground lying near the car. I stripped the insulation back an inch or two and twisted a wire tightly around each battery post. Then I used electrical tape to keep them from sliding off. I highly recommend making wires in advance with alligator clips at one end and probes from an old voltmeter (you know you have one somewhere) at the other end and make them long enough (6 feet would not be too long, IMO) to set the battery on the ground but still be able to reach the window motor! Keep these in your junkyard tool bag for future use.






On this car, it was the top left and right plugs. Switch polarity to raise or lower as needed. On the black car, the plug was mounted 90 degrees clockwise so it was the two leads farthest from the door.






With the door card previously removed, the only interior piece to still come off was the window trim plastic which popped off in my hand.







The outer trim popped up and pulled off easily enough. There were no screws, only clips. If you don't own a 5 piece set of these trim tools, run, don't walk, down to Harbor Freight and get a set for around $10. I paid $17 for mine at a parts store. :mad:






I pulled the window track rubber seal out of the track all around the window frame and then pulled the ends straight up until they came completely out and the window was loose.







A phillips screw anchored the track at the top. It was a torx screw on the black car.



 
#15 ·
The torx screw holding the bottom end of the bracket in place had to be removed from the door.






With the two screws removed, I pulled the guide rail out and straight up until it was clear of the door, just like the guy tried but couldn't do in the video of the W124 window removal in the first post of this thread. The only exception is that there is an additional yellow plastic clip at the bottom of the track but it pops out when you wiggle the track.




Had I still needed the window glass, it would have been at this point that I would have disconnected the metal tab at the bottom of the glass from the regulator slide (not shown, unfortunately), thereby allowing the glass to be lifted up and out of the door.




I grabbed the glass and pulled it directly forward, gaskets and all until it was clear.






Voila!




After deciding on using the glass from the black car, I took the other quarter glass that I didn't want and put it back into the door by simply setting it place and pushing it straight back until it seated in the window frame. I obviously did no further reassembly but it's basically just the reverse although many people have commented in other threads that you should lube the window seal for the rear window with soapy water or some light oil before you try to push it back into the window tracks.
 
#16 ·
Hi,

Nice pictorial write up, thanks for that, I'm sure it will be useful for others in the future.........

Perhaps Encyclopaedia entry would be good :wink

Cheers Dave
 
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#19 ·
Thank you for spending your time for writing instructions and sharing photos.

Spent this evening to add the data to wiki:
Cool! I didn't even know the wiki existed. You're welcome! I feel ... immortal. No wait, honored. Yeah, that's it. :smile

And I would have worn a nicer shirt though I am glad that I trimmed my nails that morning.
 
#20 ·
Success! After only 9 days for a "three hour job" (insert "Gilligan's Island" theme here), I got the car back last evening. The first window they shipped was damaged, the next TWO were no show mis-ships and the glass finally arrived on the FOLLOWING Tuesday and was installed. They did not charge me for the installation of the quarter glass, which took the tech less than sixty seconds, based on my experience in the junkyard as recounted above. Now I have to apply for reimbursement from the insurance company for my $1300.





For comparison purposes, I set the old delaminated quarter beside the newly installed and perfect replacement. Out of something bad comes something good!



I returned the GLA without having driven it other than my initial trip home and the return trip. The fuel saving engine shut off feature at stop lights was quite unnerving.

I have spent the last 9 days driving my 210 wagon (which needs a motor mount to stop the vibration at idle) and my wife's 211 Sport. Both of the E's are fine vehicles but as I drove home in the S, I fell in love all over again. Want to appreciate your 220? Drive something else for a week and a half. You'll understand.

What. A. Car!
 
#21 ·
Hi,

Glad it's finally sorted :wink

Yeah, I know exactly what you mean, I drive a 110 Land Rover Defender and a Van on a daily basis, plus all sorts of other vehicles during the day...........

Just sooooo nice to get in the S Class and go for a blast :smile

I'll be glad when my workshop extension is finished and I can finish off the S Class Paintwork and put it back on the road for regular use :wink

Cheers Dave
 
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