Glass rattle in door on 280SL

[Woodstock]

When shutting the door on either side with the window rolled down there is an audible "rattling" of the glass or glass track inside the door (similar to GM/Ford products door sound when shutting on the 60s & 70s models).  Not at all like the Porsche ping I am accustom to.  Need to know if this is normal for this particular Mercedes or are there simply some parts inside the door panel or on glass track that are worn and need to be replaced to eliminate this rattling sound.

[Pawel66]

Looked there?

https://www.sl113.org/wiki/ChassisBody/Windows#EliminateRattle

[Woodstock]

Thanks for directing me to the proper place to look.  Looks like a little restoration of the glass tracks is all that will be required.

[perry113]

The classic W113 window track system will need a close check over. You never know what you might find.

It is a lot of time and patience and somewhat of an art to refurbish and fine tune the windows in our cars.

I have gone through 3 different window rebuilds on 3 different Pagodas. You can spend 2 days or more on them.

Lots of adjustment as each car required removal of the windows to refasten track jaws that fell off the windows. Now is the time to do the felt if needed.

Do the windows fit correctly when rolled up to the windshield hard/soft top seals. Are the windows loose side to side? Any tension?

Door adjustment all plays in at this stage if there are discrepancies.

This is a must understanding how it is designed and service and adjusted for the Pagoda owner

And make sure you have a rain seal behind your door panels if there are none present.

[Woodstock]

Have the door apart and have a deteriorated wood backing due to the lack of the plastic water shield on the inside of the door.  Apparently whoever disassembled the door previous didn't both to put the plastic water shield back on and as a result the bottom 4" is totally gone making for a sloppy fitting panel.  Have ordered replacement door panels as well as whiskers at the top of the doors.  Looking at the diagram of what the door and window are suppose to look like and shutting the door with the window down to determine what is causing the clanking I have determined the rear of the window (towards the rear of the car) is clanking against the rear track every time the door is shut with the window down.  Based on the attached diagram it appears there is something attached to the window at the lower bottom where it rides in the track.  Apparently this is not a part you can purchase but my window has no such item attached at this location and this is why the door clanks when shut.  logically it makes sense that it is some sort of spacer that results in the glass not being able to move back and forth in the channel when the door is closed, thus causing the clanking noise, glass against metal channel.  Additionally there is no felt or material of any sort in this channel.

Therefore I am wondering what this part attached to the glass actually is and is their some way to glue something on the glass (such as hard plastic) to fill the gap and eliminate the glass to metal clank when the door is shut?  Also is this channel suppose to have material in it and if so where would be a good place to locate such material.

Any help in rectifying this problem would be appreciated. 

[kampala]

tech manual

https://www.sl113.org/wiki/ChassisBody/Windows#EliminateRattle

[Tyler S]

You are missing the guide jaw and plastic buffers. Have a good look inside the bottom of the door as it may be laying there if it has fallen out.  The guide jaw is part
#1137251132 for the drivers rear channel.
http://ebay.com/itm/Mercedes-Benz-Guide-Jaw-Left-Glass-Rear-W113-1137251132-/252807962985

Plastic buffers.
http://ebay.com/itm/Mercedes-Benz-Set-of-Window-Rail-Guides-W113-/252807962990

[cfm65@me.com]

Woodstock,
Those aluminium guide jaws and the plastic inserts are available, I have just replaced mine which were missing.
If I remember correctly, you don't have to remove the window in order to fit the slides. I had to because all my slides and guide jaws were missing. Try not to mess with the winder mechanism because it will take you days to get the adjustment correct again.
By the way, there are no felt strips in the window guides as in conventional cars, except for two on top of the door.
Regards
Chris

[Woodstock]

Tyler S. & cfm65:

Thanks for the informative replies.

There are no aluminum guide jaws or plastic inserts in the bottom of the door.  Apparently someone had taken the door apart and removed these parts previously (probably at the same time they removed the plastic door protection).  They obviously didn't know where the pieces went so they just removed them because there is no way these large pieces could have worked through the small drain holes.

I will order the aluminum guide jaws and plastic inserts and this should eliminate the glass clunk when shutting the door.  Good to know there is no felt on the window guides and I have ordered the felt "whiskers for the top of the door.

Randy

[TJMart]

Randy,

One of my guides fell off my passenger side window. I decided to re attach all the guides on both windows while I had the panels off. You mentioned no felt on the guides. You will need to attach felt between the glass and guides. I used a two part epoxy glue to attach the felt to the glass and to attach the guide to the felt and glass. This assured no metal contact from the guide to the glass. One other tip, be very careful when tightening the bolts on the lift mechanism where the glass is held. Too tight and you can shatter the glass.

Tony

[Benz Dr.]

There are two small screws which are also part of the aluminum sliders. These screws squeeze the small plastic inserts and remove any play between the insert and the rail inside your door. There is a small hole in the shield near the rail which you can carefully line up so you can turn this adjusting screw in or out with a flat bladed screw driver until any play in the door glass is removed.

 Even with all new parts you will still have a certain amount of play in the door glass and it's possible to remove all sideways play by adjusting these screws. I think there are three places to do this: on the rear rail, front rail, and at the top of the door right near the front that has the small chrome plated guide. Your door panel needs to be removed first. Properly adjusted, your door glass should have almost no play when pushed in or out at the top of the glass with your door opened and your window rolled all the way up. It's important to make these slider adjustments before you do your glass to door opening adjustments.