My driver's side power window has been locked in the up position (lucky for me) for the past several weeks. When I press the up/down switch, I hear a relay clicking in my fuse box. The passenger side window operates fine. From what I can tell, I believe the door window regulator motor is bad.

Tonight, I pulled out my Haynes repair manual and removed the door liner. The next step is to remove the door glass & weatherstripping; however, the manual says to lower the window. I cannot get the window to budge!

Any suggestions to continue the repair, or am I going down the wrong path?

Thank you.
Chris

 

is the window bolted or rivited the the track that it sits in? you may have to unbolt or drill out the rivits to remove the window itself to start working on it, but if its all the way up im not sure if you can even access the bolts/rivits?might have to drill out the regulater rivits inorder to get to the doorglass rivits. can you force the window down atall?

 

It is probably the motor. Drill out the rivets to the motor and the four nuts attaching the regulator /motor assembly to the glass and remove. You may be able to give the motor a whack and get it working again but this will likely reoccur. New motor will be around $60 from autozone or advance. Lubricate the regulator before you put it back in. Mine took about an hour.

 

Thanks for the motor whack suggestion. Ironically, I was on my way to an appointment yesterday, and the window worked! Of course, I could not turn around and return home. 5 minutes later, it stopped working again. I will try the wack suggestion.

I replaced many manual window regulators, but this is my first power window repair. The regulator seems to work okay, but the motor is sketchy. Did you replace the motor only? Anything specific on the regulator that I should look for, such as bad bushings, slop in the pivot pin, etc?

BTW--The motor/regulator are riveted to the truck door, as well as some bolts/nuts exist on the bottom regulator channel.

When I search for a replacement part on Autozone online, seems I have many choices of motors. Any recommendation between Dorman, Parts Perfect, Siemens, A1Cardone or ARC?

 

The motor assembly is riveted to the door. You will have to drill out the 5 or 6 rivets. Use some duct tape an secure the window in the up position Before you remove the four nuts attaching the regiulator (two to the window and two to the door. This will allow you to remove the regulator with the motor still attached. You can then disconnect the motor from the regulator (3 or 4 bolts). Most auto parts dealers will have a core exchange for the motor.

 

Thanks for the tips. Hitting the motor with some pliers did the trick. Also, I got a tip from another board about drilling two holes to access the other 2 motor bolts (drill holes where two divets exist in the sheet metal). I replaced the motor without removing the regulator assembly, which saved time drilling out the rivets and finding replacement bolts or rivets. I hit the bare metal with some spray paint, so the two holes won't rust.
Thanks again,
Chris

 

That's how I always do them too.

 

1997 Ford F150, supercab
Driverside power window is not working. I have removed the door panel, and peeled off the protective cover.

I dont know where this motor is! From what I read it is on the inside and reiveted ... how did you guys take the motor out without removing the regualtor? Please help.

Thanks

 

Is it a bad window motor?

Or is the window motor's plastic gear stripped? (D0AZ-62234A24-B.. Gear Kit)

It could also be a broken plastic window roller.

On the end of the regulator arm is a plastic window roller. The movable stud of the roller bolts to the arm, the plastic roller fits into the window channel that bolts to the glass. The stud breaks off from the roller, causing the window to either bind in the door, or fall down into the bottom of the door.

 

I will check that out also, btw I figured out how to pull the motor out. Incase someone wants to do this, drill the 2 divits (yes I found those ... needed more light that is all )
I removed the speaker that is just above first
Then removed the 3 bolts and that was it! Got the motor in my hand. Very clean and quick.

Will post once I am done ... see if it was the motor or the stud.

 

Continuing my posting, it was the motor. I had to speacil order it at the local checkers ... took them about 2 days, and the new one was about $50/ - no core! It also has a plastic finish ;( so dont know how long it will last

Anways, the install was very very easy! Note, the platic one didnt have the threads cut, so as you screw in the bolt, the threads get cut. And that was it. All in all, I spent about 2 hrs of my time, and about $50/

 

- Recall near Thanksgiving: I changed the power window motor in my truck, thanks to good suggestions from this board.
- Before Christmas, I lowered my window at a restaurant drive-thru window, and the window would not lift. Of course, I was 3 hours from home in Nashville at 9pm, with an additional 4 hour drive ahead of me (traveling to family's house for a holiday visit).
- After eating a quick meal, I pulled over in the local Kroger lot, removed the door panel, grabbed the window with one hand, and coaxed it up while pressing the switch. The 20 minute pit stop took an hour...
- Today: Since I just replaced the motor, I removed the regulator & motor (I dislike drilling out rivets, so I was really avoiding this step). I could not see anything wrong with regulator, so I plugged it into the door harness. To my surprise, the NEW motor would reach 2 points where the output gear would stop turning (the motor/gearcase made a loud grinding noise). I plugged in my old motor & gearcase, and it worked fine. Seemed like something was wrong in the NEW motor gearcase...
- I separated the NEW motor from it's gearcase. I noticed 2 sections on the plastic internal gear, where the teeth were worn away! Upon further comparison of the new & old motor, the worm gear on the old motor had much deeper teeth than the NEW gear (which should reduce gear stripping). Looks like the "new design" plastic gear could not handle the window load.
- After 10 minutes of cursing, I took the old motor completely apart, cleaned the brushes/bearings/etc., and oiled the bearings. The gearcase looked fine, just bone dry, so I added some grease to it. Plugged it in, and it purred like a new one (Now I see why my grandfather would always rebuild an electric motor before buying a new one).

- Moral: Advance Auto sells crap motors assemblies (motor & gearbox were from ACI in China)! Save yourself some time, and do not purchase a motor from them!

I plan to return the stripped motor/gearbox to Advance tomorrow (with some choice words) and order a new motor/gearbox from Ford. Until my old motor dies, I will leave it reinstalled in my truck.

I will update this string if my old motor dies, or the regulator goes goes bad.

 

I had a similar issue on my truck. The passenger side window quit working, I could tell the motor was trying to work because the dome light would dim when the switch was pressed. Took the door panel off and removed motor, tapped on it and it started working. Got a brand new motor and put it in. That worked for about a week and quit again. So, I got another motor and put that one in and has been fine ever since. This was even a ford part, I talked to the ford parts guy and he said the motors were getting hard to find. He had to do a dealer part locate to find one. I think they had a bad batch maybe.

 

Does anyone have any pictures? I have to fix RF and LR on my pastor's Expy next week. It would be nice if I knew what it looked like before I get there.

 

I have a similar problem with my truck, on both sides. '98 supercab. Both my windows would stick in the up position. With continual window button pushes, it will eventually work again, for a little while. If it won't work at all, hitting the motor with a hammer does it. Here's how I stopped my problem. I let the window go all the way up, then give the button a very slight tap down. Just enough to move it, but no air or water comes in or out at the top. I have washed my truck numerous times with it like this with no water getting in at all. That seems to have eliminated the problem. They have not gotten stuck one single time since I started doing this, and that was well over 2 months ago. Just a suggestion to try, since it may save some people $50 and a couple of hours of work.