How to change motor system on the side windshield on VW Polo 2004

Question

I wanted to take some heat out of the car and lowered my side windows. When I pressed the button for them to go up, the window on the co-driver didn't go up. In fact, when it was supposed to go up it produced a sound like glass was shattering. When I looked up, I saw that somehow it had shattered. I also want to mention that a co-driver's door, sometimes during the winter or when it is really cold, wouldn't open. I don't know if it is related to leaving it here just in case.

Does anyone know how this happened and if there are any instructions about how to replace the side windshield or is it better to take it to a mechanic and him to do the job?

Update: The side windshield isn't broken. After further inspection I found out that the window motor system that pulls window up and down is broken and that caused the window not to roll up.

Update 2 (Final): Opened the co-driver's doors unmounted everything and I found out that a cable that pulls the window down and up was twisted on one side and the other was disconnected. I pulled the window up with hands used good old silver tape and drove the car to mechanic. Fixed the issue.

Answer 1

How to replace the glass:

Search the net via Google or YouTube for "change 2004 Polo door glass" to get an idea what's involved. Basically, you'll have to remove the door panel (the upholstered panel on the inside of the passenger door, sometimes called the "door card"), clean out the broken glass, then install a new glass window into the up/down mechanism, and replace the door panel.

Whether you can do this work:

No one here can know. We don't know your experience or interest, nor if you have a suitable workspace and appropriate tools. This part of your question will generate only opinions, and opinions — compared to declarative answers — are off-topic.

Take a look at what's involved, and decide what to do.

Answer 2

This answer was written after you revealed that the glass is not broken. My initial comment said:

Some models of VW in the years 1999.5 to 2004 were recalled and the clamps that raise and lower the driver and passenger side windows were replaced at no charge. The original clamps were a bad design and they pulled off from the glass and allowed the window to fall inside the door, sometimes breaking the glass. Ask any VW dealer in your country to look up your Polo by VIN number to see if it is still eligible for a free window repair for this known defect.

If VW tells you that you are not eligible for free replacement of the glass clamps, you can still repair your window by following the suggestions in David's answer, except you must carefully loosen the glass clamps, re-seat the window glass in the clamps with the mechanism partially raised so that the glass engages the guide channels, then tighten the glass clamps and reassemble the door.

The clamps grip the glass very poorly (pot metal on glass), so in the future if you don't want the window to come loose again, never lower the window using the automatic stop, because this causes the clamps to pull off the glass when the window reaches the lower limit. Instead, stop the window manually before it reaches the bottom of travel.

After I repaired one window on my 2000 Jetta/Bora/Vento, VW announced the recall and replaced the glass clamps on both sides. The replacement clamps grip the glass better. Perhaps they are available for purchase?

If I were doing this repair again on the original clamps, I would use a short length of Scotch (3M) Extreme Mounting Tape between each clamp and the glass to help prevent the glass from pulling out of the clamp.

Be careful when you tighten the clamps. Too tight and you will crack the glass. Too loose and it will not hold well. Sorry I don't have a torque spec.