Got a nasty noise coming from the manual window winder on the drivers door on my Mk1. Pretty sure that it sounds like a frayed cable. I can find replacement cables and drums for the electric ones but not manual windows. Do I need to replace the whole mechanism? Going to cost me £72.50 including delivery from MX5 Parts but they are out of stock anyway.
Hi
I have just had the same problem in June this year with my Merlot manual window, When winding it up ( the drivers side window that is) having made the noise for some time something snapped and the window would not winde up.When my garage looked into the problem for me (I don’t do spanners) they discovered you have to get what is called a “Regulator” kit part number NA0158560J at a cost of £60.30 from Mazda main dealer. Like you at this point I said I can get one from MX5 parts as they will cost a lot less than Mazda. No luck they were out of stock The Mazda part was duly fitted and all is well now albeit at a total cost of £125.16 inc vat. parts and labour (wish I did spanners).
Julian
Hi Julian
I don’t like doing the oily bits but happy to have a play with the bits that don’t affect the going, pointing and stopping bits! The price you paid doesn’t sound too bad considering. Knock the VAT off and you’ve probably got £40 labour. Got to be a good hour of anybodies time to do the job. I’m looking for a cheap used part to save the cash but the only ones I can find are about £45 which sounds like false economy. Might have to bite the bullet and go for a new one.
Paul
Hi Paul
Yes I went down that “Used” route as well but after a lot of looking around with no luck went for new and as you say, “Used” is not always the best. On a posivite note my window winder had been making a noise for about 3 years before it let go. Always was a bit stiff but worked OK before it let go. As the passenger side one is also stiff I will having that fixed when it lets go. So if yours has only just started to play up now you should be OK for a day or two.
Always something!
The joys of MX-5 ownership!
Still, well worth it!
Good luck and meet up at Billingham
Regards
Julian
The cables are the same as for the power window version, insomuch at one time, it was cheaper to buy the manual regulator kit from Mazda (at the time, only £25 a side), and strip out the cables, to repair a power window (you couldn’t buy just the cables). Unfortunately, overhauling the manual winder seems very difficult, since inside the main cable housing is a tightly wound clock spring; this is what causes the problems in this part.
See what you mean! Got a used mechanism from www.mx5heaven.co.uk at a very fair £37.50 including VAT and delivery. Took less than an hour to swap it but thought I would strip the old one down to see if I could fix it as a spare. Not too difficult to strip down but that ‘tightly wound clock spring’ doesn’t half make you jump when it springs out. Can’t see any way of getting it back together. Couldn’t actually see what had been making the noise, cables looked to be OK but there might have been something inside the outer core. If you had been thinking about changing cables on a manual winder I would very much advise against it. Go for the complete mechanism.
I need to replace cables on both sides. I am being stubborn and balk at the £130 required to buy 2 new window winders when I can make up the cables for about a fiver for all 4 (not to mention that no one seems to have stock of the drivers side mech).
However :)) when I opened up the winder mech the watchspring ‘exploded’ out and now I have two issues:
- I can't for the life of me figure out where the two cable ends connect to the mech. I have 2 workshop manuals but they only describe electric mech and the drum is quite different. I can only find a connection point for one of them. Some description of the route where each cable goes would be useful also.
- Any suggestions as to how to get the watchspring cable back into the housing?
Looks like the manual mechanism is pretty much impossible to re-assemble. I too found it difficult to find anybody showing drivers side used ones in stock. I sent an e-mail to mx5heaven asking if they had one and they did. Probably worth a try, you might be lucky like I was. Obviously the passenger side ones are less prone to failure so easier to find. Presumably the price you quote for new ones is just the mechanism and cables. If you go down the used route you get the whole assembly which makes it far easier to fit. Changed mine out in about an hour. Job done and it works a treat.
The clockspring mechanism rusts up, and so failure can, in principle, affect either side equally.
I have had a request in with mx5heaven and AutolinkUk for about 5 weeks for a pair of manual window regulators and they said they would contact me when they had stock. I just checked their websites again and neither are reporting stock). That’s why I have made up a cable - frustrating now I have all the bits but just can’t figure out how to put them back together :((