Well fellers here's the problem. Subject:1986F150 with power windows and it's in the "down position" and won't raise up. Drat and curses! The drivers side window has been acting balky of late..slow going up/down or not going at all. Yesterday it went down an now won't budge. My next day off is Tue. but they aren't calling for any rain so I'm safe til then. I assume this requires pulling the door-panel off. Any special tools required, any tips or suggestions? No fuses blown and the motor does makes little humming noises on occassion. If I can just get the door-panel off at least I can prop the window in the up position till I can repair it properly. Don't want to damage anything removing the panel. My thanks to all in advance. YMHS..Audie, the oldfart..

 

Door panels are held in place by plastic anchors. Go get a bunch of replacements at O'Reilly before you start. You can use a stiff plastic putty knife to pop them free from the door. There is a tool for it and you can probably get one at one of the parts stores. Check around the door handle for screws. I don't know your year as well as mine ('84). When you get all the anchors popped loose you have to lift the door panel and clear the top oout of the door. Now you can reach behind and unplug the wires. Be very careful unpluggin the wires because the little tabs that hold the plugs in place can break and they are hard to come by. There's probably a special tool to spread those little locks. There is a screw in the top of the window motor. Don't know what it's purpose is, but turning it slightly one way or the other may put your window back in operation. I discovered that when I had a problem with my windows. I approached it with "when all else fails turn something." When I had problems with my windows I took a motor apart and looked at the gears, etc. To my surprise there are replacement parts at Autozone and you can rebuild the registers (I think thats what they were called). In any case, the parts were plastic and cheap but it's what the Dr. ordered. You can test the motor at your battery before reinstalling. Good luck on the job.

 

Try holding the window switch in the RAISE position and close the door with some force. Sometimes the extra vibration will jar the motor into working one more time...

Be sure to have the switch turned on.

 

i agree with holmes. give it a tap near the bottom of the door where the motor is. I had to do that on an old monte carlo ss that i used to own and also on my 02 mustang.

 

Well now fellers thanks for the replies. Here's where the situation is today. (monday) I spoke to the previous owner on Sat. right after I posted my concerns and he said just before he sold me the truck the motor went out on the passengers side window. Not wanting to sell it like that he took it to Keystone Ford in Greencastle to have it repaired. They estimated under $100 to make the repair. The bill came to $490.00!!!! Not a typo! Four hundred and ninety dollars! I rekkin at $90. per hr. it adds up quick..eh? That prompted me to do the job mysef'!! Rather than have this problem re-occure in the dead of winter I determined to replace the motor. Pulling the door panel was actually quite easy! Use a little screwdriver and pop off the controls for the window and power door locks. Unplug em' from the wiring harness and set aside. Now slide a "kittens-paw" under the panel and sneak up on the nubby things and pop it loose. For them that don't know what a "kittens-paw" is, it's a miniture of a "cats-paw-pry-bar" . Yup that tool all carpenters use daily. Didn't snap off a single nubby thing! Lift the door panel and slide it forward..don't forget the screw in the arm-rest. Next up remove the dust shield. (I'll be posting a story about that little nightmare tommorrow if time permits!) Finally, everything I read said to drill 1/2in. holes where the dimples are located on the door to allow acess to the bolts that holds the motor in place. That won't work. Even my smallest 1/4in. drive sockets won't pass thru a 1/2in. hole..the shoulder of the socket won't allow it. Grab a 3/4in. hole saw and make holes big enough to do the job right from the start! Then use tin-snips to "enlarge" the opening for the 3rd. bolt at the 4 o'clock position. Remove the bolts and the motor flops down to the bottom of the door. Lift the window up and reach in and ****** out the motor and the 3 bolts ya dropped. Now prop the window up in place and go find a motor. Ahhhh yes..thats another story! Coming up soon! Audie..the longwinded one..

 

Well now fellers the motor has been removed and I called around to try and locate one. Did a little search on the innernet as well. AutoZone had 2 in stock..and they were open on Sunday! Yeehawww! A rather shortlived YEEHAW I might add. I drove down to Hagerstown, Md. to AutoZone and they brought out this little bitty box and I said.."That cain't be right." I had my original 21yr. old Ford motor in hand and we did some comparison. Seems AutoZone only carries a "Universal Replacement Motor"..which seems to fit absoloutley nothing. That sticker on the side of the miniature motor that reads Made in Korea was my first warning. The motor was 1/3rd. the size of mine. There is no reduction gear-box. Just a plastic head where-as mine is a big aluminum gearbox. The drive gear was half the thickness of the Ford one. And only 2 of the bolt-holes lined up and they weren't threaded! "Just use the 2 bolt-holes and use longer bolts and install nuts on the backside!"..they said. "Horse-****!"...I exclaimed! Even the wiring harness was cheaply made and wouldn't fit my truck! And the motor was facing the wrong direction!!! I inquired about that and the nice salesman fessed up and said.."Yeah..most of these things come back on account of they won't work on account of that little fact." DUH!!! Well, at least he was honest! He said he could order in a re-manufactured unit..have it in 3 days for $122.00! I stopped at NAPA today at noon. Picked up a re-manufactured motor identical to my own. Price..$60. Tommorrow the re-installation begins. Audie..the oldfart..amazed at the stupidity that reins supreme in this world...

 

If the motor runs you may only need to repair the drive mechanism. Click on this link: http://www.partsamerica.com/ProductL...e=1327&PTSet=A

 

Piffery thanks for the advice. Unfortunatly the motor isn't turning so I'm buggered there. Also when I tried to install the re-man motor I picked up at NAPA yesterday it doesn't work either! Drat! What's the odds of that? I rechecked the switch and it's working fine. Tried hooking up the new motor (grounded of course) and nada. I even tried hooking it direct to 12 volts..nothing. Took it back to NAPA and of course there's no more in stock. I'll pick up another one tommorrow and hope to have time to install it this weekend. So today I'll just have a beer and write a story. Again, thanks for the information! Regards..Audie, the oldfart!

 

Have you tried connecting the motors directly to the battery using temporary jumper wires? You could have a wiring harness high resistance problem, especially in the connector(s) or where the wires attach to the connector pins.

 

fwiw here's a thread that helped me with my window motor problems.
https://www.ford-trucks.com/forums/1...ghlight=Window
they work on reverse polarity power to power and ground to ground make motor go up and power ground and power ground will make it go down. (I know your using a switch but when testing with battery I could never get it to move)