Driver side window problem

[soduka]

Searched about windows falling off track, but none that seem to talk about my situation.

For the last few months the driver side window had this problem where you could lower it no problem, but when you went to raise it the thing would get stuck about halfway up and pop forward a little bit. You had to let off the switch, pop it back into position, and then it would go up fine. Repeat the process.

Tonight however it finally stopped working. I popped it back into position like normal, pressed the switch to close it and it got to within a 1/4 inch of being closed and suddenly stopped moving, but the motor was still going. Passenger side works fine. When I press the button, the motor makes a continuous noise like it's trying to pull on the window but it's just catching air.

Before I pull the panel off I wanted to ask if anyone knew more specifically what the problem could be. The window stays up by itself, didn't fall into the door or anything. If I get on both sides of the window with each hand and exert a lot of force up or down while tapping the button a few times I can make it move, but the motor still isn't catching anything. Right now I just forced it closed using the above method.

 

[soduka]

Pulled the panel off. The large gear that seems to be what moves the window *sounds* like it's jamming on something. It'll move the window with extreme amounts of help from me. If the window is all the way down, it has no problem pushing the window up about 1/3 of the way, then starts jamming out and won't really go up or down.

What am I looking to replace here? Is the motor no longer powerful enough to move the window? And how would I do that? I didn't see how to remove any of the power window assemblies, it all looked riveted into the door.

 

[Sapperfire]

Gen1 or 2?

The motor can be removed easily from either..its in the hole just above the door speaker ..is bolted to the track frame

 

[soduka]

Gen1 or 2?

Gen 1. I'm still searching on this, I think I've found what could be my issue. This guy on another site talks about these nylon bushings/cogs that warp up on the main gear and causes this clunking noise and window not moving I'm hearing.

there are three nylon (plastic, not panty hose) "cogs" that are inside the window motor between the metal gear that operates the mechanism and the plastic ring gear that the window motor drives.

These cogs are what prevent stripping the plastic ring gear when the window reaches the top or bottom of travel. Over time, they get old and brittle and literally fall to pieces.

Go to your local autozone and look for these items in the "Help" section. They're about 1/2" diameter by 1/2" tall - white in color - they come 3 to a pack. Sorry, I don't know the product #. I paid $5.99 for a set here in Houston just the other day.

Remove the door panel (easy to do - just do an advanced search for how to), the motor is held in with 3 8mm bolts. Don't even need to secure the window - it's spring loaded and will stay up by itself.

Remove and unplug the motor. There's a single phillips screw that holds the gear cover on the motor, plus if you flip the cover over, a couple of corners are "clinched" onto the motor housing. You'll also need a pair of snap-ring pliers for the external snapring that holds the metal gear on. Be careful, that little ring is fragile.

Open the motor up and dump out all of the crumbled plastic pieces (the remains of those cogs you just bought). Slide the metal gear part way onto the shaft and one-by-one slip the cogs into their proper positions. Press the gear fully down and reinstall the flat washer and snap ring. Replace the cover and reinstall the motor.

I like to leave the motor a little loose and bump the swithc to make sure the gear on the motor properly engages the window mechanism - then tighten everything up real good.

Think there might be any stock to this?

 

[Sapperfire]

You'll have to take it apart to figure out what's broken...but yeah, that could be your issue

 

[soduka]

Worth a look I guess. The button works, the motor works, the gear just wiggles and doesn't want to move the window much. Has to be something with the gear I would think.

 

[soduka]

http://www.lincolnvscadillac.com/showthread.php?t=22842

GMAN's link would have been very useful for the diagrams, but the linked site no longer works for me. Tried archive.org but that didn't capture the actually diagram pictures, making the web page useless.

That sure would have been great.