2002 window problems

[R-Key Offroader]

Got married and inherited an 02 4 door 2 wd. Windows, all of them, stopped working. Read some posts here indicating likely wiring harness to driver's door. Checked all fuses (since factory manual typo'd and does not list a fuse for power windows- think it's actually #17). Fine. Any easy ways to check the harness- the wires in the black rubber pass-through tube from body to door located in door jamb?

I assume not. So, how in the heck do you remove the driver's door panel? Got hte 2 screws on the bottom off, and can wiggle the panel around, mostly up, but can't get it to let go. Searched rest of panel and can find no other screws. I said screw it and put back together, and the dang windows worked .....for about 20 seconds- enough time for me to roll one down and feel all handy-mannish, only to roll it back up, close the door and have handy mannish feelings evaporate.

 

[rrgone]

Ha ha. You definately got a wire in there about to let go.

There is a hidden 3rd screw holding the door panel in place. Pry the small piece around the handle out, then pry the piece around the controls up. Disconnect all the connectors. The extra screw is behind the handle trim, take it and the two at the bottom out. Then pull up (not out) on the door trim to unhook the clips.

 

[thammel]

More info

I went through this very same problem recently. The trick re the 3rd screw should help get the door panel off. I then pulled off the grey plastic weathershield. Then I disconnected all the connectors (you'll also need to remove the speaker) and carefully cut through some of the black tape holding the harness together and pulled the harness out of the door through the hole in the door where the black rubber pass-through is attached to the door. Pull it out of the door first. Then you can actually temporarily remove the black rubber pass-through. Now you can finally get to the wires!! You'll probably find that the big black ground wire is broken. You''ll need to get some wire that size (14 gauge?) to repair with a splice. I soldered and taped it up - heat shrink tubing would work well too. While you're in there, look for other wires that have cracks in them. I taped a number of wires that had cracked insulation. What happens is that the insulation fails and then this sets up a weak point where the metal flexes a lot and eventually breaks. I've been told by a friend that the teflon insulation on these wires is not good for flexing situations. So if you're really motivated you could replace all of them with a more rubbery and flexible cross-linked insulation type wire. I did not do that however!

So once you locate and repair the wires, put it all back together (test first with the switch installed!) and you should be fine.

Tom

 

[6772owner]

Would this repair also apply to the 97' model year Explorer XLT? (Im new to these)