I looked up recalls on my 05 Explorer and there were none listed. However the LH side rear glass hinge looks partly seperated from the glass. What do I do? How do I know what part to order? and should this be a dealer covered repair?
Thanks.
On the left hand rear glass hinge, is the small, round headed, threaded bolt (star pattern I think?) that secures the glass pane to the hinge still there? If it is, just try and "carefully" tighten that stud up in case it worked it's way loose over time. If one of those bolts is missing, you'll probably need to get one from a junk yard or buy a new set of "glass to tailgate" hinges. FYI, under that stud, is a small, black colored plastic washer (kinda looks like a "top hat") and they fall apart overtime and allow water to leak into the rear window pane thru the bolt hole in the window pane.
I spoke to a Collision shop owner 2 years ago and he said the hinges on these 3rd gen Explorers tend to go bad or break and need replacing. My glass to hinge bolts were a little loose so I snugged them up.
You can find these hinges at dealerships (more expensive there) or online places such as fordpartsgiant.com, maybe rockauto.com (didn't look there) and ebay. New ones should run around $50 for the pair of hinges unless you go to a Ford dealership where they will cost more. You should be able to find them without a part number by using the year of your Explorer. I "think" they are the same for all 2002-2005 Explorers, not 100% sure on that? Some of the online parts sites let you use your VIN number for looking up the exact fit part.
BTW, If you have to change out the "glass to tailgate body" hinges, make sure to remove the "window pane struts" (use a small flat headed screwdriver to lift up the metal clip on the strut tip and pull off) first from the glass panel, before you go to remove the glass hinges and only remove & replace one hinge at a time leaving one in place as you do the swap out. I would also leave the window pane closed and latched to the tailgate door when doing this. It will help to safely hold the pane in place while you replace the hinges. Just raise the whole tailgate and work from underneath since you will need to remove the inner, tailgate door panel to get at the "upper window hinge bolts to tailgate body" thru there. Whatever you do, DO NOT BREAK THAT WINDOW PANE in any way. They are very expensive to replace. Hope this helps!