TheJackal
Explorer Addict
- Joined
- August 11, 2007
- Messages
- 1,060
- Reaction score
- 4
- City, State
- Mandeville, LA
- Year, Model & Trim Level
- 1999 Explorer XL 2WD
OK, I probably should've taken the advice of whoever posted that the Cardone reman rear wiper motors weren't any good, because they aren't. 
After much arguing with the guy at Advance Auto, who was trying to swap that one with another visibly broken reman motor, I ordered a new Dorman motor. Of course, that one wouldn't be in until tomorrow, and I already gave him the old one, so I had to come up with something to keep crap out...
Yes, that is a prescription pill bottle.:
While I was at it, I took some pictures of the removal process. It's really simple, I've done this 3 times already, but I know people are still curious as to how the magic is done so I'll tell it.
First, you gotta take that little cap off of the trim panel. The big one over the latch can stay, but there's a screw behind the little one that has to be removed.
And, there it is. You can pry the cap off with your hands, it's easy.
You have to take the 2 screws out from behind the strap, then work it out of the hole. It has a hook on the back that's holding it in, like this:
There's 4 snap-in tabs at the top and one on each side of the glass opening. To remove them you need to get your hands behind there. You can use a panel tool but I don't have one, I just got one hand on each side and pulled it.
One thing to note for when putting this back, is that there are notches on both sides for the rear defroster cables. Also, if you seem to be hung up on something when trying to snap the left side back in, make sure the alignment peg is in the hole.
Now, the only way you'll get that panel off is if you do this:
I don't know why but I always find that part funny.
You now slide the trim panel towards the front of the Explorer (with the gate open of course). It comes off pretty easy. I usually lay it down inside the cargo area, it fits if you put it in diagonally, and then it'll lay down just fine. If you've got a lot of stuff in there tho, you might need to find another safe place to put it in the meantime.
You can close the gate now (carefully, remembering the glass is open) and work on it from outside.
Carefully peel back the liner so you can see the inner workings.
Yes, that is paper. It's holding the prescription pill bottle in. The metal bracket you see needs to be removed. It's held in place by 3 8mm bolts and removes easily. However, you probably have a motor installed there, so you first need to remove the 10mm bolt holding the wiper arm to it, then tug the washer line to remove that. (Note the line attaches to a nipple, which is visible in the first pic) Also, disconnect the wiring harness.
This is the bracket that holds the rear wiper motor on. 2 bolts hold the wiper motor onto that bracket, and there is a plastic clip that holds the motor's end of the wiring harness to the bracket. A new Motorcraft motor comes with the bracket, the reman and Dorman ones do not. The Dorman motor does come with a new plastic clip for the wiring harness, but the reman one didn't. You should be able to use the one that's there, all you need is a slotted screwdriver to pry it back a little and slide it through. The connector for the new motor will slide and snap in.
New Dorman motor:
New Motor installed (note orientation of motor):
Once installed, you need to connect and run the motor first. This not only tests it to make sure it's working, but when you run it and turn it off this makes sure that the motor is in the "park" position, so when you attach the wiper arm, it's in the right place. You must make sure tho that the liftgate and glass is closed or it won't run.
If everything's working properly you can begin to reverse the panel-removing process.
Bonus points if you can spot the irony in that picture.
One thing I do notice is that the wiper seems to wipe too far to the driver's side. The old one did this too. I don't see anything on alldata nor did the motor come with any kind of instructions, so I don't know what the deal is with that.
After much arguing with the guy at Advance Auto, who was trying to swap that one with another visibly broken reman motor, I ordered a new Dorman motor. Of course, that one wouldn't be in until tomorrow, and I already gave him the old one, so I had to come up with something to keep crap out...
Yes, that is a prescription pill bottle.
:While I was at it, I took some pictures of the removal process. It's really simple, I've done this 3 times already, but I know people are still curious as to how the magic is done so I'll tell it.
First, you gotta take that little cap off of the trim panel. The big one over the latch can stay, but there's a screw behind the little one that has to be removed.
And, there it is. You can pry the cap off with your hands, it's easy.
You have to take the 2 screws out from behind the strap, then work it out of the hole. It has a hook on the back that's holding it in, like this:
There's 4 snap-in tabs at the top and one on each side of the glass opening. To remove them you need to get your hands behind there. You can use a panel tool but I don't have one, I just got one hand on each side and pulled it.
One thing to note for when putting this back, is that there are notches on both sides for the rear defroster cables. Also, if you seem to be hung up on something when trying to snap the left side back in, make sure the alignment peg is in the hole.
Now, the only way you'll get that panel off is if you do this:
I don't know why but I always find that part funny.
You now slide the trim panel towards the front of the Explorer (with the gate open of course). It comes off pretty easy. I usually lay it down inside the cargo area, it fits if you put it in diagonally, and then it'll lay down just fine. If you've got a lot of stuff in there tho, you might need to find another safe place to put it in the meantime.
You can close the gate now (carefully, remembering the glass is open) and work on it from outside.
Carefully peel back the liner so you can see the inner workings.
Yes, that is paper. It's holding the prescription pill bottle in.
The metal bracket you see needs to be removed. It's held in place by 3 8mm bolts and removes easily. However, you probably have a motor installed there, so you first need to remove the 10mm bolt holding the wiper arm to it, then tug the washer line to remove that. (Note the line attaches to a nipple, which is visible in the first pic) Also, disconnect the wiring harness.This is the bracket that holds the rear wiper motor on. 2 bolts hold the wiper motor onto that bracket, and there is a plastic clip that holds the motor's end of the wiring harness to the bracket. A new Motorcraft motor comes with the bracket, the reman and Dorman ones do not. The Dorman motor does come with a new plastic clip for the wiring harness, but the reman one didn't. You should be able to use the one that's there, all you need is a slotted screwdriver to pry it back a little and slide it through. The connector for the new motor will slide and snap in.
New Dorman motor:
New Motor installed (note orientation of motor):
Once installed, you need to connect and run the motor first. This not only tests it to make sure it's working, but when you run it and turn it off this makes sure that the motor is in the "park" position, so when you attach the wiper arm, it's in the right place. You must make sure tho that the liftgate and glass is closed or it won't run.
If everything's working properly you can begin to reverse the panel-removing process.
Bonus points if you can spot the irony in that picture.
One thing I do notice is that the wiper seems to wipe too far to the driver's side. The old one did this too. I don't see anything on alldata nor did the motor come with any kind of instructions, so I don't know what the deal is with that.
beautiful pictures! Good write-up!!
