Hi,
I haven’t seen Škoda listed in manufacturers here on site, but hopefully some other manufacturer has the same standards, and some of you may know the problem I’m facing. Anyway, the front door cord which is moving the driver glass up and down is detached and twisted, most likely broken beyond repair, so I wanted to disassemble the door and fix the problem. However, upon removing the obvious plastic w/fabric panel, I get to the metal part which is industrially sealed, with no visible screws to open the panel (picture in the attachment). I have read somewhere that those holes can be drilled through, which is not a problem, but I have no idea what is behind, and how do I get it back on the door once I drill that out?
Your Fabia is a cheaper version of a Volkswagen, and sold in Western Europe. A friend of my wife in Wales has one. It’s not sold in North America and no one here would have specific info on that model.
I would try to Google info on VWs since they will likely have the same door wiring.
I’ve never seen one like this. It looks like you may have to drill the rivets out and pop rivet it back together after. Hopefully the outer shell won’t buckle, however if it were mine I’d try starting the rivets in a back+forth pattern, then cinch them up a bit at a time. This would hopefully keep the outer shell stable while cinching each rivet to its final setting.
NOTE: I’m not a sheetmetal guy. If one here offers other advice, ignore my idea and take it.
" It looks like you may have to drill the rivets out and pop rivet it back together after"
+1
I am also not a sheetmetal guy, but I believe that mountainbike is right on target with that suggestion.
Incidentally, this is a hallmark of VW’s approach to construction on their low-end vehicles.
Years ago, I worked with a guy who owned a VW Fox, which was their real cheap-o car (made in Brazil) back in those days. When the heater core rotted out, his mechanic found–to his dismay–that the heater core had been riveted in place, undoubtedly to save a few cents on assembly. That…feature…of his VW’s construction added a bit to the labor cost for replacing his heater core.
So, now that Skoda is VW’s cheap-o line of cars, I think that VW is just continuing one of their traditional methods of cheap construction.
When the cable is a twisted mess on the spool the cable has pulled off of the regulator somewhere. The regulator will need to be replaced. There are two access holes near the top to disconnect the glass from the regulator. You can then remove the rivets and the panel to replace the window regulator.
I have a motor on the outside of the metal plate, and cable isn’t connected to it, but rather to inner gear. But the metal plate doesn’t have any screws, but rather some industrial sealing (the picture I attached), so my question was really how to get it off, and how to put it back on if I have to drill it out?
In the picture that you, @Norgul, added to your original post, drill out the rivets around the parimiter of the panal…two are shown in that picture at the very top.
Replace them with pop rivets when you put it back together.