[gijoe50000]

So I've taken off most of the headlining, pulled out the blinds, replaced or repaired the clips and rubber bits and plastic bits. Thing is that it still doesn't want to work properly.

Previously when I put it back together and ran the motor the blinds either fell into the first slot instead or the second (rear) slot causing the whole thing to crunch and bend the clips. Or else the blinds didn't separate properly and the rearmost blind just kept going past the rear of the slots and popped out the back, again, crunching up and bending or breaking the clips.

At the moment: I've fixed all the clips again but when I try retracting the rear 3 blinds with my hand (afraid to use the motor) the rear blind doesn't separate from the rest of them, if I use the motor it'll just crunch up again.

It's like the spring-arm is keeping the rear blind pushed up too far or something. I realise this probably doesn't make much sense to people who haven't repaired an issue like this but I'm hoping that someone who has had the experience might shine some light on it..

What a PITA of a system!

 

[gijoe50000]

Ok so I finally got it working after lots of bending, straightening, plastic welding. There were also two black plastic bits\guides that had broken off, that I found when I removed the back pillar cover They seem to have done a bit of travelling and I was lucky to find them. Even though they were basically just two small lengths of plastic it was easier to weld them back in their original place, rather than making new ones and trying to figure out their dimensions. I did have to drop the whole rail to weld them back on though, with a few chunks of plastic welded underneath them for support.

Once these were back in place (around the circle in the image) the blinds seemed to travel down in the back a little easier, so I assume they guide the blinds in somehow. I didn't even know they were missing before I had found them because they broke clean off. The headlining was much easier to remove than I thought it would be, and for some reason I found it really satisfying clipping the whole lot back in again, especially the Jesus Handles..

During all this I also widened the gap that the blinds slide through, since they seemed to get stuck in a few places. A bit of gentle prising in between them with a small spanner done the job. I done this partly to account for some of the bends in the clips, but mostly I think, due to the broken blinds coming out of the tracks previously and bunching up against the roof and bending the rails.


Anyone doing this should also make sure the springs are straight (left of the red circle in the pic). The left spring on mine would partly pop out when it was pulled aside and needed to be popped back straight again or it would slip off the blinds... which I'm sure would cause the blinds to bunch up and crack and slip out and bend and break all over again!

Also, don't even try fixing it and running it with the motor unless you've fixed all the parts of the clips and tested with your hands beforehand. Even the little slots that the white brackets go onto are there to help guide the blinds back down into the correct place. I made the mistake of trying to run it with a few of these broken off thinking "It'll be grand, sure they're only little bits at the end" but then the blind just pops out the back and breaks the other side off! lol

I done a lot of plastic welding on the clips, sticking bits back on and smoothing them out, and melting the white brackets into place and squeezing them back with my hands, since they absolutely love breaking. I was lucky I picked up a partial set of 9 clips on ebay for ~€20 including brackets. It was just about enough since I broke bits when testing it too.


These are all the main tips I'd give anyone attempting this, everything else is just common sense really, how to take out the blinds, remove the headlining, etc. I think the main problem with this system is that there's so many things that can go wrong or break or go out of alignment, that then cause more damage to everything else. What a mess..



Not a nice job to do if you lack patience!