Procedures for Replacing the Power Window Motor in a Ford Ranger

[dboner1@msn.com]

Note: I developed these procedures while working my way through replacing my power window motor on my 1999 Ford Ranger in February 2008.

1. Remove the two screws under the door handle. After this, you should be able to pop the door handle and power controls section off of the door. Additionally, there is a screw in the bottom left corner of the door panel that needs removed prior to lifting the door panel off. See Figure 1 - Door Handle Screws.

2. After you have popped the handle and controls section off of the door panel, you will see the cables for the controls connected to the door panel. You will need to disconnect the power locks and power mirrors – they both have click locks. For the power windows, you can disconnect the unit by unscrewing the two screws next to the wiring or you can pop out the entire assembly. Either way works. See Figure 2 - Power Control Cabling.

3. Once you have the control panel removed and controls disconnected, there will be one screw that will need to be removed as noted in Figure 3. After you have removed this screw, the door panel can be removed. To remove the door panel, you need to lift (push up) the door panel about 1 to 2 inches and the pull the panel off the door. It goes up really easy and off really easy. If you are having to force it, something is wrong. See Figure 3 - Last Door Panel Screw.

4. The last step you need to complete to gain access to the power window motor is to remove the protective cover. The cover is on the door with an adhesive – similar to tape. I recommend removing it slowly and setting it to the side somewhere. This leaves the adhesive intact and makes it easy to put back on when you are done. See Figure 4 - Inner Door Protective Cover.

5. Hopefully when the motor failed, the window was up, however it most likely wasn’t. I was unable to locate any procedures for getting the gear loose and sliding the window up. I ended up loosening the motor and freeing the gear. At this point, I lifted the window and secured it in the up position. There are a several ways that you can do this. You can use duct tape to tape it up or you can do what I did and push a screwdriver up into the slide to hold it in place (as noted in the upper left corner of Figure 5).

There are four screws that need removed – each of these screws is pointed to by the three blue and one red arrows. One important note: The hole that you see above for the red screw did not exist. I fought with this for about 10 minutes trying to loosen the bolt by squeezing my wrench and fingers through the two tiny holes. The problem is that there is zero room to maneuver. I ended up getting frustrated and drilling a hole in the panel as observed in Figure 5 and pointed out by the red arrow. I bored the hole just enough to get a ratchet into the hole. Once I did this, it took about 5 seconds to remove the motor. See Figure 5 - Power Window Motor Access.

6. To reassemble, simply reverse the directions. One other note. I paid $45 for the replacement part from O’Reilly Auto Parts (O'Reilly Auto Parts - Home) – that includes turning the bad motor in for $20 - Autozone wanted $75. Didn't bother with Ford - sure it was twice the price.

[dentil]

Thanks for your post and pictures. My driver side window stopped suddenly the other day. After searching and finding your post I decided to at least try to attempt the repair. The only thing different from mine was that lower left mounting bolt (left blue arrow on the last picture) was a rivet that I had to drill out. A pleasant surprise for me was that after taking out the motor I plugged it back in to the circuit and it worked. Then I re-installed it and it still worked. It must have been a dirty contact or just a dead (weak) spot in the motor. Anyway, thanks to your post, my window is fixed for $0 at least for now.
Dennis

[khooper]

How do you remove the power window motor on the drivers side of a 1994 Ford Ranger you have the panel removed and can see the motor But do you remove the whole unit or just the motor?
__________________________________________
Have you heard what happen at Autopartswarehouse?
It really makes me shout!!!

[Hoovcat]

dboner1
I think this post is super and how drilling a hole made the job so easy.
dentil my motor also spins with it out and I too will reinstall and hope that it works, if not it is now a 5 min job thaks to both of you.

[ftownroe]

dboner1
Great post. I had a similar situation with the driver's door motor on my 1994 Taurus. The only point I would add is that I had to remove the two upper rivets in the regulator before the motor would release and the rivets were hardened. I found that a small rotary tool with an abrasive disk ( the fiberglass one, not the thin ceramic one that breaks too easily) worked great to cut the heads off the rivets. A quick smack with a pin punch then drives the residue out of the hole.

[deslauri]

Hi, My window goes up very slow. If the truck is not running, but the key is on, it barely makes it up. Is this likely the motor going or a lubrication problem? After reading these posts, I don't want to get caught with it in the down position. Any comments?

[glassman2]

Originally Posted by dboner1@msn.com

Note: I developed these procedures while working my way through replacing my power window motor on my 1999 Ford Ranger in February 2008.

1. Remove the two screws under the door handle. After this, you should be able to pop the door handle and power controls section off of the door. Additionally, there is a screw in the bottom left corner of the door panel that needs removed prior to lifting the door panel off. See Figure 1 - Door Handle Screws.

2. After you have popped the handle and controls section off of the door panel, you will see the cables for the controls connected to the door panel. You will need to disconnect the power locks and power mirrors – they both have click locks. For the power windows, you can disconnect the unit by unscrewing the two screws next to the wiring or you can pop out the entire assembly. Either way works. See Figure 2 - Power Control Cabling.

3. Once you have the control panel removed and controls disconnected, there will be one screw that will need to be removed as noted in Figure 3. After you have removed this screw, the door panel can be removed. To remove the door panel, you need to lift (push up) the door panel about 1 to 2 inches and the pull the panel off the door. It goes up really easy and off really easy. If you are having to force it, something is wrong. See Figure 3 - Last Door Panel Screw.

4. The last step you need to complete to gain access to the power window motor is to remove the protective cover. The cover is on the door with an adhesive – similar to tape. I recommend removing it slowly and setting it to the side somewhere. This leaves the adhesive intact and makes it easy to put back on when you are done. See Figure 4 - Inner Door Protective Cover.

5. Hopefully when the motor failed, the window was up, however it most likely wasn’t. I was unable to locate any procedures for getting the gear loose and sliding the window up. I ended up loosening the motor and freeing the gear. At this point, I lifted the window and secured it in the up position. There are a several ways that you can do this. You can use duct tape to tape it up or you can do what I did and push a screwdriver up into the slide to hold it in place (as noted in the upper left corner of Figure 5).

There are four screws that need removed – each of these screws is pointed to by the three blue and one red arrows. One important note: The hole that you see above for the red screw did not exist. I fought with this for about 10 minutes trying to loosen the bolt by squeezing my wrench and fingers through the two tiny holes. The problem is that there is zero room to maneuver. I ended up getting frustrated and drilling a hole in the panel as observed in Figure 5 and pointed out by the red arrow. I bored the hole just enough to get a ratchet into the hole. Once I did this, it took about 5 seconds to remove the motor. See Figure 5 - Power Window Motor Access.

6. To reassemble, simply reverse the directions. One other note. I paid $45 for the replacement part from O’Reilly Auto Parts (O'Reilly Auto Parts - Home) – that includes turning the bad motor in for $20 - Autozone wanted $75. Didn't bother with Ford - sure it was twice the price.

dboner, While I wasn't able get the motor for $45, I was happy with the $51 price w/core I got at O'Reilly. Mine had one more fastener than was shown, a rivet to the left below the bottom of the largest access hole. That extra hole was a real timesaver. Thanks for the good tip.

[dprozzo]

My heartfelt thanks for taking the time to post the instructions and the photos. Because you took the time to post, I was able to successfully replace the power window motor on my 2002 Mazda B3000.

May I add a couple of comments?

As mentioned, the motor was attached by four screws, three of them directly into the motor. (It was one of these three that required drilling the hole.) The fourth screw went through the door and into a bracket that was in turn attached to the motor. (This is the screw that is located nearest the bottom and the rear of the door.)

I purchased a new motor at AutoZone for about $70, but found that while it looked very much like the old motor, it wasn't exact. It did not come with the bracket attached and it wasn't designed to accept the bracket, which I could have removed from the old motor. Still, because the remaining three holes lined up, I gave it a try.

Didn't work, at least for me. The window went up and stopped properly, but when it reached the bottom of its excursion, the motor moved around inside the door and the motor's gear teeth became disengaged from the regulator teeth. A terrible chattering ensued and I could see that the regulator's teeth were being damaged.

My point is, it appears that the fourth point of attachment, provided by the bracket mounted on the motor is important for stability of the motor and without it the motor may move, disengaging the gear from the regulator.

I returned the motor to AutoZone and went up the street to O'Reilly's. They sold me what I needed for $45 (after swapping out the old motor). The remanufactured motor looked identical to the old motor and included the bracket I mentioned.

Took 5 minutes to install, worked beautifully.

(I applied a little grease to the gear and to the regulator teeth. Seemed like a good idea.)

Thanks again.

[Oldbaldy454]

Thanks if I ever need to do this I will check back

[chose]

Just placed my first message on this board about an hour or two ago and forgot to thank " dboner" for the pictures and steps on how to change the
motor for my power window. Again, merci, (French for thank you). Chose.