I did a forum search but I didn't find any discussion that resembled my problem so here goes..

I have a 91, F-150, 4x4, 302ci (I don't believe in litres.) Both window motors are aftermarkets installed about 6 years ago and they have worked fine ever since.... until.

A couple of months ago the passenger side window stopped working for a few hours.. a few days later is stopped for two days... a week later it stopped for a week or so... I was contemplating replacing that window motor when the driver's side window got into the act by doing the same thing. Working and not working at times, independent of the passenger side window which was still doing it's own thing.

By the way, they ALWAYS stop in the up position (thank goodness)

Eventually it settled on a working passenger window and a non-working driver's window and that condition seemed to be pretty permanent. So finally I got some spare time and I pulled both door-panels and went to work looking for the problem.

The levers and guides were well lubed and were not in a bind.. The window moved up and down smoothly after I removed the motor and according to my circuit tester both switches and all the wiring and plugs were fine.

Here's the fun part..

When I re-installed the driver's side motor it worked!.... for a few minutes... Then it stopped again. The passenger side kept working just fine. So I pulled the driver's side motor and re-installed it a few times and always the same result... works for a few then nothing. I tapped it, shook it, said a prayer over it, all of which made no difference. Simply taking it out and putting it in makes it work for a few minutes.

So I put it all back together and have been driving it for a few weeks since. Passenger side working, driver's side dead. That seemed to be the final condition until a few days ago when the passenger side stopped for a few hours... then both worked for two days. Now it is back to working on the passenger side and not on the driver's... and as I said, ALWAYS in the up position.

The one thing I haven't tried yet is switching the motors, one door to the other (they are the same aren't they?), to see what effect that would have.

Okay, if you've read my entire tail-of-woe, thank you. If you have a solution THANK YOU!! If you just have an idea of what might be wrong I'll take it.

I can only think of one question.. Can one motor going bad make the other motor act stupid? In other words are they wired in a chain?

That's all I got.. Looking forward to all your words of wisdom.

Gus

 

uhmm... about a third of the way through my above post there is the word "TIME". It seemes to have become a hot-link to a website in Long Island. I live in Texas and I have no idea what that's about. I didn't put the link there.

 

I drive a 90 F150 XLT lariet

Having battled the window motor gremlins myself a few times you have two choices. Replace the motors, or tear em apart and try to clean em up. In my case I had water get into the motors and cause corrosion inside the case. I have also had gears dissingrate! The disassembly is pretty easy, getting them back together you could use a third hand. If you decide to take them apart:
First things first,

gear check:

Remove the single screw on the gear housing cover plate, pry plate off. You will have the main nylon gear and 3 nylon "rollers" it rides on. This should be pretty cut and dry, either they will be good or the gear/rollers will be broken up. You may have to degrease it to check em. If the gear looks to be in good shape, move on to next step.

Remove two screws from bottom of motor, these are long and extend all the way up into the top of the case. The magnets in the motor will grab them once you unscrew em, just pull them out the rest of the way after backing them out 1/2 inch or so. With screws removed you can twist the top half of the motor counter clockwise and essentially it unscrews the top housing off the worm gear. The motor shaft can then be pulled out from the top, the magnets have it held in place so you have to give it a little effort to lift it out.

Take a pen of marker and draw a arrow on the motor case which way is up. You can then pry the bottom plate away from the metal body of the motor, this is where the brushes and switch contact are located. At this point you should have a pretty good idea what the culprit is. It will either be worn brushes or corrosion. I have had 50/50 luck in cleaning the contacts, etc... and having the motor work again. Take some fine sand paper and carefully clean the switch contacts and ends of the brushes. Clean the inside of the motor casing to remove any and all the junk out.

To reassemble I take the motor shaft and seat it back in the botom plate. You have to hold the spring loaded brushes into there guides to get the shaft seated properly, this is where a third hand helps. Once the shaft is seated place the metal housing back into place. The magnets will want to grab the shaft as you reassemble it, so hold the shaft centered in place as you do. Make sure the screw holes are lined up with the spacing between the magnets. Twist the top of the housing clockwise back onto the worm gear. Line up the top of the motor so the screws can be reinstalled. Reinstall screws.

Plug the motor in and test it before reassembling. If it operates normally reinstall carefull so the motor gear is lined up with the lift mechanism with no binding. On a end note to answer your question the two motors are not switchable, driver side and passenger side are mirror images of each other.

I hope this helps and good luck. If you do have to replace the motor I would recommend buying a new one with a lifetime guarantee, Advance auto have them for $65. I have replaced the passenger side 4 times, and driver side twice with remanufatured motors before wising up. If your window weatherstripping is worn, you may want to replace it as well to keep the motor dry.


Brian

 

Welcome to FTE

There are a number of us that have this problem. In my case it is the passenger window. Mostly it seems to be when it is a really hot day or days. Like you, I have had the door panel off and saw nothing that was bent or broken. Lubed everything well and reinstalled. While the panel was off..the window worked flawlessly. Panel on....it would stop and go. I sprayed Silicone in the rubber tracks and it started working normal. I also drenched the switches with electric contact cleaner. That was a few months ago and now.it's started acting up again.

I'm pretty well convinced it's in the motor. Either the gear/roller thing or the motor itself. As we have reached the dogdays here in SC.....I'm going to leave that window about 2-3" down(window visors keep the rain out) until it is cooler and I won't die of heatstroke when I undertake removing all of it.

Not a solution for you I know....but hopefully you'll feel better about not being the only one.......

Good Luck
Bob

 

mine does it too on drivers side and always when up,i think it is the switch myself because if i play with it for a few seconds window works??????

 

sounds like the brushes inside of the motor are worn
to the point of almost total failure

 

The aftermarket motors/power windows I can't comment on. Never played with them.

There is usually a "left" & "Right" motor. They do not interchange.

Some times you can have bad brush's in the motor. Here's a easy check that was taught to me and has worked well.

1] Crank the engine. This will make the alt. put out more voltage than just the battery.
2] With the door open hold the switch to make the window go "down" if it is in the "UP" position.
3] Now take your other hand a smack the hell out of the door panel.

This will usually be enough to jostle the brush's in the motor and make it work.

Nothing has been taken apart at this point.

If it moves you have successfully check the wiring,fuse and switch all at the same time.

If it doesn't move start at the fuse box.
Check the fuse.
Check to see if there is power on both sides of the fuse. [Key On]
If that check's OK, your going to need to pull the door panel and check for power at the window motor. [key ON] [Window SW activated]
No power there, then back up to the switch and check.

Don't forget to check your grounds!

Onto the window motor transmission.

Motor runs, but you hear a clicking sound. The nylon ball's are decentrigated.[sp?]

Once the window motor is removed and the transmission opened up. Replace the nylon ***** with standard 1/4in nuts. It works very well.

The idea of the nylon ***** is that tey are supposed to strip should a kid get his head stuck in the window being closed.
Now I've never seen this happen, but I bet if the nylon ***** are in good shape they are not going to strip anyway. Of corse the kid will be screaming until his face turns Blue.

I have used the 1/4in nuts in several trucks. You don't have to make a run all over town and buy a bunch of expensive crap to get the *****. Just go into your shop to where you nuts and bolts are.

 

my choice would be to start with electrical look at all connections ie power and ground try replacement switches they are fairly easy to replace look closely and see if you have any other electrical problems in the cab or on the truck dirty/broken or poor grounds are a big cause of electrical problems they are hard to find but usually give off symptoms like lighting up lights that arent to be lit also things working that are not turned on because it is trying to get a good ground thru where ever it can

 

mine i just hit up and down quick a few times and its good 4 while

 

Im with Linemo here, grounds can be mean at times.

My buddy used to own a 91 F-150 that someone installed a radio in previously. Well, whenever you rolled down the window, the cd player would pause, and WOULD NOT start again, unless you opened the drivers side door. And you all think you have problems.