04' power window cable?
 

Hey guys, I posted in the Electrical forums but haven't got any hits yet. I came back from lunch and found that my drivers side window was all the way down. After taking off the door panel and plastic vapor barrier, I saw that the cable had somehow came unspooled. Has anyone ever had any luck respooling it and any ideas on what may have caused it?:help: Sorry for the poor photo attempt, it's a biatch trying to get a camera in your door panel.




http://i171.photobucket.com/albums/u...p/P1010001.jpg

Your window regulator went out ... possibly because the plastic clips holding the cable broke. Anyway, I'm quite certain you won't be able to respool it. This is actually a very common problem with our trucks. Search for "window AND regulator." Anyway, I didn't have time to wait for parts and had the dealership fix it --> $321! So, if you can buy the part yourself from a dealership (most will have it in stock), then you can try to change it out yourself. Check out http://www.fordf150.net/articles/idx...or--Motor.html. There's also a window assembly diagram (Adobe .pdf) in my gallery.

Thanks Gordo, with all the info I have now I think I'll try it myself. I have the window wedged up with a survey stake:eek: , but it seems to be holding it up just fine for the time being. Wouldn't you know this would happen right after the warranty expired. How many miles were on your truck when it went out, mines at 39,900?

Take it back and ask them to fix it under warranty.

I had the same thing happen in my 99 Mustang GT when it was 3 months out of warranty. The dealership that I deal with fixed it under "After Warranty Assistance". I only paid 20%, and Ford picked up the other 80% of the total.

Now with all that Ford has been going through in the past few years, I don't know if they are still doing this, but it is worth a try. It is something that they do not need to do either, so be very nice to them as it is done on a case-by case basis only at the descretion of the service dept.

I posted about this in the electrical forum, same thing and I was 1 month out of warranty. They fixed it...:)

But now Im very leary of a power window motor/ regulator that breaks after 31,000 miles (which is what i have on my 2004)

It just happened to me today right when I got home from school. I am now worried that it can happen at anytime, what if it had happed after I parked and left my truck at school? It happened like 2 min after I walked inside so now I am super worried about it happing anywhere and my tvs getting jacked. Is there anything I can do to prevent this?

Same thing happened to me, here's a picture of mine:

https://www.f150online.com/galleries...810-198378.jpg

GordoPanocho is right on, needed a new regulator - was less than $200 out the door to have my local shop do it.

I had BOTH of mine go out, drivers about 6 months ago and pass. about 3 weeks ago. Of course, my warranty had also expired. I talked to the stealership and found out that this is indeed a common problem. I needed the part ASAP so had to go through the stealership. It was around $135. If your survey stake can hold up for a few days, go to www.fordparts.com . You can find them there for about $85. Total labor time I would say max around 1.5 hours. Its pretty self explanitory, but like Gordo said, theres more posts here. Hope this helps, let me know if theres anything elses you need to know.

This seems to be the most popular topic on this forums recently. To the point we may need to sticky the part numbers and how to DIY.

PART# FROM fordparts.com
 

www.fordparts.com
OEM Parts catalog
In the REPLACEMENT PARTS block, fill out year, make, model.
From the list, select: body hardware, door, front door, window reg.

There are different ones for different models. $30-$60, cant beat it.

Thanks for the info fordabbits, I'm taking it to the stealership tonight to get a quote. I'll see if I can get some sympathy for only being out of warranty a few months and miles, plus since it's such a common problem, maybe I'll milk that to for some extra sympathy points. If not, the survey stake is doing just fine, but it's amazing how much I miss being able to roll down the driverside window (plus the wife gets real cranky when I roll down her window to throw my gum out;) ). Hope ford comes up with a new design in the 09's.

mine is at the dealership now 350 to fix and it is a common problem but like a lot of other ford things they dont care and rake in the money.

350?:eek: Ouch!! I wonder why there is such a spread in the cost to have it fixed when the warranty is expired? Some are getting it done for under 200 and then some in the 300's. Hope I fall in the under 200 range.... I feel for ya extremeethan.:(

I dont have time to do it myself or wait to get the part from online so 350 out of my pocket, my contact at that dealership up and went to toyota on me no word or anything so I am back to square 1 no rate discount or cheap parts.

Also is there anyway to prevent this I am soo worried about another window doing this out in a praking lot or something now

When mine fell down, I was out to lunch, I had my $400 spotting scope just laying out in plain site on the back seat. Not to mention CD's, avalanche beacon, tools, etc..... Fortunately I live in Crested Butte where everyone leaves thier doors unlocked on thier vehicles and houses. It's starting to snow already and I'll be really pissed if I come out to a truck full of snow if one of the other windows decides to roll down. Guess I better start keeping survey stakes in my truck in case it happens, cause the one holding up the drivers window is doing a heck of a job.:lol:

you had to pull the pannel off the put the stake in right? nothing i could do while i was out and it fails again.

I just picked it up 305 OTD :coffee:

No problem. Prices do vary dealership to dealership. Im not sure if you can call it luck, but luckily I was already planning to rip apart my door to replace my mirror, which I broke, so I killed 2 birds w/ one stone. I got my mirror from fordparts.com, they charged me like $80. The dealership here in town quoted the mirror @ around $150 and the worst dealership in the world back home (Lawley Motors) quoted me @ over $200! Also luckily both my regulators went out at work in a secure parking lot. Hopefully these new ones last longer.

Taking it in Monday to have it fixed. They first started out by saying "oh, thats going to be at least $250 for the parts and at least $200 for labor", but after I laid out all the info I have got from the forums here, they changed thier tune to the amount of $233 out the door, before taxes of course. So thanks to everyone for thier help, makes a big difference when you go to the stealership and you know what you are talking about and have prices for parts.:beers: Now I just hope the other 3 windows don't crap out.:rolleyes:

Well mine just did the same thing. Passenger front window. 100k miles on my 04. I pulled it apart and was able to respool it. But the cables were kinked up from my wife pushing the button up and down a few times thinking that would fix it. :mad: anyway the plastic part that the cable mounts to cracked. I was able to rig it for a temp fix until I find parts.

has anyone ordered the window regulator assembly from anywere? Fordparts.com doesn't have a very good description of what it contains. I don't want to go to a junkyard if this is a common problem

Although fordparts.com is vague in thier description, it is all you need and it is all there. I cannot find the phone number I called to verify, but I found one on the site. Id look up the part for you but the site is down right now.