Dead window motor?

[TTG]

Was driving around today and when I parked, the window on the passenger side wouldn't go back up. Doesn't makie any noises or anything, it just sits there. Advance Auto Parts wanted $100 for the motor and they'd have to order it in which would take a week or so.

I was told when I got it that the window motor might get too hot and not work for a while, but it's been sitting out of the sun for hours and its now night time. Anyone have any ideas? I was thinking of getting some needle nose pliers and pulling the window up so the window wouldn't be down, but will that cause any further problems?

 

[BigDakota]

I would try to VERY CAREFULLY try to pull the window up..If it does not cooperate..I would suggest pulling the door panel off and working your window up. Did you check all fuses,connectors, wires,switches to make sure that you window motor is fried...was it not working right before this happened...Just food for thought for Ya!!

You can do a SEARCH and find a link on how to pull your door panel etc....

 

[fiftyfeetup]

definetly check all your fuses before you go buying a new motor. also go through the trouble of testing the wires with a test light or multimeter. just get one with sharp probes and stab the wires, then try the switch up and down. also try the test light with one probe on a good ground like a door hinge bolt and the other probe on the power wire and hit the switch. if your not getting power and its not a fuse, then you probabally need a new motor. you can definitely put a new motor in yourself, but they do require a little patience to install.

 

[TTG]

I did the little test I found by searching to check it the motor was dead, its definately getting power. You're supposed to Put the key to On, open the door, press the window button, and if it dims the lights and doesnt move the window the motor is dead. I'm not worried about putting the motor in, just don't want to have to drop $100 buck the motor, kinda sets back the upgrading stuff, but I guess I don't have much a choice. Little worried that the Driver's side one might go soon too though since the motors usually go in pretty close succession.

 

[Jopel]

I had the same problem about a month ago. I took the door panel off, and loosened up the motor, then re-tightened it out of desperation and it worked for about a week, then it happened again. ford dealership charged 250 to replace the motor for me.

 

[TTG]

I've managed to get the door panel off, but I can't figure out how to get to my window motor. It's sitting behind a big metal piece. The window won't budge either, so its still stuck down. Which bolt do I use to loosen and tighten it?

EDIT: looked around more and looked at the door more. I now see the 2 bolts and the hole for the other bolt I need to get to. Unfortunately, it looks like I'm SOL until Friday at the earliest as I have no way to drill out that one hole to be large enough to get a socket in. And to make matters worse its raining right now. I got some trashbags up over the door, hopefully that'll be enough. Maybe I'll get lucky and be able to move it with loosening just the two bolts.

 

[rookieshooter]

I had the same problem in my 97 xlt. the pass. side would go down but not up. Did the probe test on the wires and was not getting power to motor from switch on the pass. side door. This switch would also not let the power from the driver side to operate it also. I also thought it was the motor at first. I would test the wires for power like fiftyfeetup said. Also on mine there were 3 rivets that would have been drilled out to remove motor. If you have to take it out be very carful there is a coil spring that could hit you when you take the motor out. The spring is wound tight when the window is down. The switch reverses the polarity, thats how the motor changes rotation. Sounds to me it is the switch or some relay, thats just my opinion.

 

[TTG]

Well, the more I hear and read about the switches the more it sounds like that might be the problem. Gonna have to see if I can get my hands on a test light. The main reason I thought it was the motor was because before it stopped working completely the passenger window went up slow. But if the switch isn't giving it enough juice then that'd happen too.

 

[762mm]

This sounds exactly like a problem I had on my older Pontiac w/ electric windows... I thought the motor was fried and stuck in the "down" mode, because the switch would get an ok positive and negative wire and the motor would roll the window down, but not up. This would happen with both the passenger and driver side control switches (the faulty window was front-passenger side). After spending $50+ on a new switch at GM (wanted to try the least expensive solution first), I got the same result! :fire: Window still rolling down, but not up (bummer, because the GM desk clerk said that the part is not returnable - no returns on electric/electronic components).

I resumed scratching my head, and then found that if I would swap the wires places on the switch itself (there were like 5-6 wires, each with its own tiny connection), then the window would go up (but not down) - some progress there, at least now it closed... So finally I concluded that there's a second wire that's supposed to be a hot (positive) wire.. And guess what, the wire happened to be "cut" due to rubbing inside the door panel. A problem that looked like a $300 repair, that actually cost $0.10 to fix (plus my damn $50 GM switch that I never used). I bet you if I went to GM with this in the first place, they would have changed the whole door and half the dash to get the window to roll up again (just the diagnostic was supposed to be $75 for the first hour, and no guarantee on how many hours their Einsteins would "diagnose" the electrical system, lol).

I hope this will help, it's likely that Ford has similar wiring for their electric window motors. It all came down to a second hot wire in my case. Yours might be partially cut too, due to rubbing (which would explain lack of power, then a complete "kaput")... Good luck.