So I'm 30 minutes from home, paying for parking (put my driver window down) and it won't go back up. So I'm 30 minutes from home, raining and 36 degrees outside with my 3 yr old son and wife in the truck!

I left them there and had someone pick them up while I drove home in the rain and cold looking like an idiot.

I took the door panel off and everything is still connected, but iit just won't move. The motor runs and I can see it nudge the cables a little but it doesn't move anything. There's not a gear stripped out inside the motor box or something is there??? I pushed the window up with my hands to at least get it closed for now, but if possible, I'd like to fix it myself (assuming there are no broken parts). So that means if something is just loose or off track, I can do this maybe. Broken parts means it goes to the dealer. It's out of waranty too.

Anyone had this problem and if so, did you fix it yourself?

Mine is a 2004 F150 Lariat.

HELP!!!!!

 

Sounds like the window regulator is broken. It happened to mine a couple years ago, rolled it down at a drive thru and heard a "POP" as the window fell into the door. It'll take about an hour (two if you have a few beer breaks in between) and $150 or so worth of parts to fix.

 

I was worried about taking the motor loose for fear of getting the cables all out of whack. Is it pretty painless? I mean, do the cables stay where they need to be or do you have to take them loose and know EXACTLY how they go back or it won't work? I assume the motor assembly with the part you're talking about is all one piece and easy to replace? I've already got the panel off...so how much more time from here?

 

My other fear is that I don't want to go buy parts only to find I bought something that wasn't the problem in the first place. So if I do this, I'll need to be sure I get the right thing the first time. If I can't be sure, I better take it to the dealer

 

Just found this:
http://www.fordf150.net/articles/idx...or--Motor.html

Crap...I better just take it to the dealer. I don't want to take the chance in screwing it up. I have a road trip coming up at the end of the month too...

 

Well, you're gonna take the motor off the old regulator and transfer it to the new regulator. It's really not that hard of a job, you'll want to wedge a piece of paper or something in the window track to hold the glass up while you work, and once the motor is on the new regulator there's no chance of getting the cables misrouted or screwed up anyhow.

 

My dad just did his at the end of last year. You can take the motor part away from the regulator to glue the fingers together and maybe get a day or two out of it or just prop it up closed.

You buy the whole regulator assembly and put it in. If you are reasonably mechanically inclined, you can do it in a bit over an hour with regular hand tools.

 

Let me ask you this. Is it pretty much hard to put it in wrong? To me it looks like it wouldn't be too bad really. So I buy the assembly and I need to take the motor off the bad assembly and put it on the new one?

Then the whole thing mounts up completely assembled and you just put it back on the mount holes it came out of and bolt it in? And then just clamp the window onto the new unit?

The directions I posted the link to says you need to remove the window, but I'm guessing that's not necessary if you can support the window up until you get the new unit it, right?

Any help is appreciated. Thanks! I'm leaning towards doing this myself now...but I want to be sure I'm ok with it. I do have all the tools necessary.

 

Its almost impossible to do this repair wrong. The new assembly comes complete with the motor. Do not remove the window. Push the window glass all the way up and hold it in place with a length of wood (broom stick works great) Loosen the fasteners that clamp the regulator to the window glass. Next, disconnect the electric connector. Then simply remove the old assembly from the door panel as an entire unit and replace with the new assembly. Total time to do this repair is only about 30min. Simple hand tools (socket set and screw drivers) is all that is needed.

 

Ok, that's it...I'm doing it myself.

I love you guys. (in a friendly way, not THAT way...LOL )

Seriously, thanks

 

That sucks, I hope you get it fixed soon. Out of curiosity, how far were you from home?

 

I was about 30 minutes from home. We had just pulled in to a parking garage. I put the window down to pay for parking and then it wouldn't go back up. It was raining and about 36 degrees. So I must had looked crazy doing 80 down the highway with the window down in those weather conditions. I felt like an idiot LOL.

 

I just put new regulators in my truck. $150 for both. $75 each. So easy to install, hardest part is gettin the door panel back on.

 

I've got an extended warranty on mine. My tranny has been making some noise, the center seat belt buckle fell apart, but it was the window regulator going bad on a 30 degree night that convinced me to take it to the dealer... I feel your pain...

 

i only read a few posts but ill chime in with my story

ok so my windows were starting to get slow going up and then it got to where some of them i would have to hit the button a few times before it started to go up then they wouldnt go up at all, well i took apart the switch to try cleaning them like some people have and that worked for about a day, and once again the driverside window was stuck down, so got a new switch from ford for about $50 and worked like new......

so try hooking power to the window motor to see if it works that way, if it does then its just a bad switch....