I left my 2008 C350 in the garage for a day with all the windows open slightly to vent out the food smell, and took it out today to vacuum it. All of sudden the driver's side window won't stay shut! It closes all the way up, then goes down halfway and stops exactly like when you had something in the window that blocked the window from shutting. I looked at the groove where the window goes and there's nothing. I can't come up with anything that might have caused this. Any ideas how I might be able to fix this? I don't want to take it back to the dealer and be without a car for a few days again. I've been visiting the dealer every three to four months for warranty repair issues...it's a major pain in the *** now.

 

try holding the button at close position for a few seconds , see if the window will syn itself .

 

I just tried the key fob way of opening and closing all the windows, now it's working fine after a couple of tries. What could have caused this though?

 

You would think it's a simple thing, wouldn't you. Just ask RLE if there's anything better than an alert driver paying attention! When you had manual windows, all you had to do was roll them up. We don't have those anymore. We have electronics.

So, simple becomes complex, as the engineer has to find relatively fool-proof ways to do what humans could always do. A window has a stop UP and a stop DOWN, but it's not that easy, these may be physical stops, they may be timing adjustments in a motor, or they may be a procedure in which the motor over-closes/over-opens without harm to the window. Etc.

Adding complexity adds the risk of failure. Failure is defined simply as "not working". Part of the problem is "who is determining what is 'correct'?" The engineer's definition will surely differ from the owner's. The owner may want the window to automatically reverse direction if something gets in the way, but that may be difficult for the engineer to figure. Complexity gets error and error begets JD Power and Assoc bad marks. Ugh. Say goodbye to Tunnel Mode, eh?

And, the components used to make the windows and motors and switches and so on are also prone to 'adjustment' over time. Window cranks have always slipped. There has always been a need to sometimes go in and replace some of the glass-gripping mechanism because the felt or rubber or whatever was wasting away. Now we add to that electronics, their gremlins, and such things as power draw elsewhere, amperage loss, and so on. Then maybe local RF will have an effect. Maybe there's a software bug in another part of the car that manifests itself in the window. This can easily get complicated.

Ugh. I think that the typical ability of the window to "relearn" is wonderful and will handle most issues. I'm grateful for that.

 

^+1

Electronics also have hiccups.

 

What you mean is, after releasing the up button the window drops about 3/4 inch. And I don't think the express up function was working, either.

I know this because last weekend (for the first time) my two year old C300 developed the same problem. And it took about ten attempts over two days to resync the window when finally it operated normally.

So, open the window, holding the button down for several seconds after it stops and then close it, holding the button up for several seconds after it stops. This should work the first time but perhaps not.

All this is not normal so there may be a component replacement coming up if it occurs again.

Let your selling dealer handle it the next time.