This is a post on how to replace the window motor on your 04-08 F-150. Mine is an extended cab and this is for the drivers side front door. The other doors will be similar. If I get to the back ones some day I'll do another one for that.

The other day I came home and parked the truck, and rolled up the windows as I've done thousands of other times, and everything was fine until the drivers door window topped out, and I heard a slight "clunk"...clunk? WTF was that...as if I didn't know. The window didn't fall down into the door, and it rolled down fine but I had to pull it back up. Word to the wise, if your going to roll the window down after you hear the clunk don't roll it down so far you can't grab it and pull it back up. When I pushed up on the switch, it just made a clicking noise, like it was rotating but nothing was moving. That said, here goes.

First I needed to determine what the problem was. The only way to do this was is to remove the door panel and look into the door at the window/ motor/regulator/ assembly.

TOOLS

You will need a 1/4" drive ratchet with short and long extensions, metric sockets 6mm, 7mm, and 10mm, a small pry bar or bladed screwdriver, a T20 Torx driver, and about 1.5 to 2 hours if your going to replace, more if your going to fix.

To remove the inner door trim, begin by removing the two 6mm screws at the very bottom of the panel.



The door trim panel hangs from heavy plastic hangers molded into the door so don't worry about the panel falling off or away from the door skin while you do all this.

Next, pop out the little cover behind the door handle. A pocket knife or small bladed screwdriver works best. It rotates down and out and has two small tabs on the bottom side. Put this somewhere where you won't lose it. Again, I use empty tuna cans because they label well with tape and it keeps things separate. Behind this cover are two 7mm stainless fasteners, remove them both. They will be tight as they are in a self locking nylon-type clip, and they only get easy at the very end. They go back in the same way, so don't let that worry you.

This is the cover you need to remove:



And remove these two 7mm fasteners.



Once you have that done, pry the control panel up. It should pop up pretty easily. Just push the blade of the screwdriver, little pry bar, whatever up in the gap and twist gently. It has three tabs in the back, so again tilt up and pull toward you to remove. It will have wiring harnesses attached to it so be careful. The harness should be long enough to lift it out to where you can disconnect the connectors from the panel. Do this now as well. You should not need tools to pull out the connectors, just press the releases and pull gently.

This is the panel and pry points. Twist the pry bar to pop up.



Then pull out the connectors to free the control panel.



After you have the control panel free, you'll see a 10mm bolt hiding back there.

Go ahead and remove it.





Now for the only PITA part of this disassembly...the speaker and speaker standoffs.

I say PITA because the standoffs might break the first time you take them out. You can get new ones from Ford for a few bucks, but they're a pain to remove. First start by removing the speaker cover. It is clipped in with plastic clips and the whole piece is a little flimsy. In other words, work your way around it and don't pull until your sure it is free.

Here is the speaker cover,



Once you have that removed, you should be looking at a speaker with four 6mm screws holding it in. Remove these screws and pull the speaker out carefully. There isn't much play in the harness, but you should be able to disconnect it without tools. Set the speaker to the side.

This is the speaker showing the (4) 6mm screws.



Once the speaker is removed, push the harness back into the door skin so you don't catch it when removing the panel. Before you do that, however, you have to remove the 4 standoffs that the screws screw into. There might be a rubber seal along the bottom of the speaker hole that goes about half way up the opening. It just sits there, remove it. Now this is what you should see:



These standoffs have to be removed before the door panel can be lifted off. The only way to remove them is to pull them out by grabbing them with a pair of needle nose and pulling straight out. STRAIGHT OUT... You might slip off a few times, but they should pop out. Working them didn't seem to help much, but they came out eventually. With everything removed it should look like this:



What you see in this picture is the removed speaker and standoffs, the forward window slide, the window glass, and the window glass guide sheet metal.

Ok, now grab the door pull and give it a good tap from underneath and it should move straight up about 1-2 inches. Pull it away from the door skin about 6 inches, leaning the top out more than the bottom for now. DO NOT forget that you have to detach the inner door handle from the back side, and snake that harness for the window control panel through it to get it off the door. The door handle is the hardest part, as it sits in its own sub assembly, but with a little finagling the whole thing comes out as a sub assembly. Once this is done the inner door handle and the harness should be hanging there and you can sit the door panel to the side.

This is what you should be looking at:



As you can see I re-attached the control panel after I took off the inner door panel. The reason is two fold: I needed to be able to operate the window motor to check it, and it keeps the harnesses from getting tangled or stuck in that goo they use to stick on the barrier.

Pull the barrier off slowly and carefully. You wont tear it but you will think your going to at times. Take it down to the bottom of the door and let it hang by the last few inches. As long as the goo doesn't get dirty, it should stick back like new, so be careful not to get it covered in dust, sand or mud. It will also stick to you and your clothes, so be aware and don't lean against the inside of the door or let your tools get it on them. The plastic is slit so that the cable for the door handle will be free, and the control panel harness is the same way.

This is what you should have at this point:



Now, a little insight. The window motor, regulator, slides, pulleys and window keepers come as a unit. Some people attempt, successfully, to repair them. You cannot get parts for any part of the assembly from Ford. If you want a Ford part, be prepared to spend 200.00 for the new window motor regulator assembly. Regardless, once you get to this point, the weather stripping has to come off from around the window opening and the glass has to come out to get the motor/regulator assembly out. You don't want to have this thing out in the rain again until the weather stripping is back on and the window is back in. So, be prepared to finish the job or shelter the truck until the job is done.

Removal of the window motor.

Getting the window out is the next, and pretty much only other, difficult thing to do in this process. I don't have pics and that sucks, but I'll get you through it.

The window retention clips are made so that the window sits in the keeper, then a tension screw is tightened to keep the window from slipping out. Slide the window up until you can see this in the big opening in the door. If you need to, prop up the window with something (block of wood, rag, whatever.) Loosen the tension fastener on both the back and front window keepers. The front one is harder to get to, but with a 1/4" drive and a standard length socket, you can do it. Once their loose, you can wiggle the window until it frees. The window should now be loosely sitting in the keepers free to be removed.

Take all of the weather stripping from around the window opening. The part where the window comes up is separate from the upper part, and the upper part, if you look, goes down in the door about 6" on the bed side and 8" on the hood side. It should just pull off and out of the opening. It is not all that delicate, but you shouldn't have to force it either. Remove the part where the window comes through first.

***If your windows have tint...odds are your going to at least mar it along the edges. If you want to tape the edges to protect it...now is the time. I found that if you protect the top half of the window, your pretty good, as this is what has the least clearance. Still, odds are you might scratch the tint. I did.***

Now for the tricky part. Two people get this done much better than one. Slide the window up out of the keepers and begin to rotate the window toward the front of the door, so the big end is coming out first. When you actually take the window out, it should be practically straight up and down with the back side (wider end) up, and outside of the window frame (the window comes out outside the door as opposed to inside). You will have to be careful because as you rotate and lift the clearance gets to nothing between the front (narrow end) of the window glass and the upper slide bracket. This is where most of the damage is done to my tint. I tried to keep it away from the brackets but there is just no clearance at all toward the end. You will have to work it up and out, always looking down inside to see how much clearance you have. Eventually you will get it. Set the glass somewhere safe.

Now, with the glass removed, we can finally remove and inspect the window motor/regulator assembly.

Use this photo for reference ignoring the fact that the glass is still in the door in this photo:



Begin by loosening the 4 slide retention bolts (do not remove them) and removing the motor bracket fastener at the center of the door as shown. They are all 10mm. Don't worry about the motor falling as its mainly attached to the forward slide. The bolt is only to take load off of the slide. Once this is done, reach inside through the door at the large opening and disconnect the motor harness . Through the speaker hole and large opening, grab the slides, then push up and back to release the whole assembly from the door skin (this will all be intuitive). Then, through the large opening, remove the whole assembly as a unit. It's as simple as that. Take the assembly to a bench or hard surface somewhere and lay it out the same way it came out, with the cable pulley facing you. It should look like this only dirtier because this is actually the new one:



Look to make sure all of the pulleys are in good condition and that the cable covers and guides are not abraded or torn up in any way. Inspect the cable around the pulley itself for fraying or loose play. If all this looks good, I can almost guarantee your regulator is shot. These things are made to break, in my opinion. Assuming everything else is ok, turn you attention to the motor/regulator assembly. You will find a T20 Torx screw holding the bracket to the motor, and you will find that upon removing this screw the bracket is the only thing holding the pulley to the motor. The pulley should come away from the motor, and inside you will see three broken tabs that used to be attached to the pulley. These tabs engage the motor and transfer its work. When they break there's nothing left to turn the pulley. If you can find one it might pay to go to a yard and get a working motor with parts because if you have one you can replace most any part. Its not that you can't replace them, its that Ford doesn't offer them individually. Here is my broken motor.



You can see the pulley with the broken tabs in this picture. If Ford offered the pulley it would be about $15.00 of injection molded thermoplastic as opposed to 200.00, but hey, its not like some unemployed, shade tree mechanic guy in engineering school might be fixing it, right? Anyway, enough whining.

If you do decide to fix the assembly, assuming you can find the parts or get your own, pay close, close, CLOSE attention to how that cable is wrapped around the pulley and how tight the cables themselves are (T-I-G-H-T). Proceed carefully and mindfully and I have every confidence it can be fixed for less than the $200.00 new one. The only reason I bought a new one from Ford was that I didn't want it to break again any time soon and I wanted the old one for parts. Everything else but the pulley was in great shape after almost 90,000 miles, most with the windows down.


The empty door ready for re-assembly.

Reassembly:

Begin with putting the motor/regulator/slide assembly back on the door. Sit the slide bracket bolts in place and re-attach the motor harness. Replace the motor bracket bolt and tighten, then tighten the 4 slide bracket bolts to the door. You may want to check with your local garage for a torque spec if it concerns you. Now, re-insert the glass into the door the same way it came out (refer to earlier dis-assembly) being careful of the tint and the pressure you put on the window, because it will shatter if you force it too much. Curved side to you, inserted from outside the door frame as it came out, narrow end down, starting straight in and rotating toward the front so that the rear of the window goes in last. While that other person holds it, go to the inside and let it down into the slide mounted window keepers. Make sure, if your assembly is a new one, that they are loose before you reinsert the window. Once the window is in, tighten the bolts on the keepers until the window is secure. Again, don't over tighten these as you can shatter the window this way as well. Just make sure that when you press the up and down button that the window moves without any play and your comfortable it wont come out.

Next, reinstall the weather stripping around the window frame of the door. I found that it was easier to install the larger, upper part that goes down in the door on the ends first, the the part on the sill after. It pops into place press fit to a metal lip. Use the other door for reference if you get confused as to how the two pieces fit together around the mirror trim at the front of the door. You will find it a good idea to loosen the 5 nuts from the mirror studs so that you can work the weather stripping behind the mirror trim where it belongs. Otherwise, you'll crack the mirror trim trying to get it right. As soon as you get the weather stripping where it belongs, remember to re-tighten the mirror studs. There's nothing worse than getting whole thing back together and having a loose mirror...don't ask me how I know. Operate the window up and down making sure the system is solid and everything works as you expect it to, and that the window is sliding in the weather stripping properly. If not, adjust until its right. Sometimes the stripping that goes down in the door along the window guides can be tricky.



The inside of the door panel.

If your satisfied with the progress so far, put that plastic membrane back in place, around the door handle cable and control panel harness. It should now look like the previous photo at this stage. Disconnect the control panel and get the door panel. Replace the door handle assembly (this is easier than removal for some reason) and snake the harnesses back through the control opening and speaker opening. You can leave the speaker harness inside the door skin, just remember its not overly long, and it can get caught in between the door panel and the metal skin if your not careful, causing you to have to remove the door panel again to get it. When your ready, fit the door and slide down so the clips engage the slots in the door. It should feel solid if you did it right. Check to make sure the speaker harness is where it should be at this time.

Replace the speaker standoffs and reconnect the speaker harness to the speaker, then replace the thin rubber seal (if you had one) over the lower part of the opening. Screw the speaker in using the (4) 6mm screws you took out earlier. Don't over tighten as these are screwing into plastic standoffs, remember? Replace the speaker cover, it should just snap into place. Replace the two 6mm fasteners at the bottom of the door, but do not over tighten. I don't know how but I striped one out when I put them back in. Moving up, replace that 10mm bolt hiding in the back of the control panel opening (see previous photo). Then reattach the harness to the control panel and replace it by inserting the back tabs and rotate down, pressing into place. Move to the door handle and replace the two 7mm stainless fasteners that belong in the access panel there. Replace the access panel cover in a similar fashion, placing the tabs in and rotating closed.


The Finished Product


Well, that's it. You should be good to go for another 5 years.

Hope this helps.

JDB

 

Do you know how do i get the right side back door panel off? The front window has been inoperative for some time. I have diagnosed that the problem was the window motor. I'm thinking used parts are always an option but I am hesitant in putting it up.

 

I own a 2004 f-150 dont know what u own but here is some advice on the back door panel...The back door panel is very easy...A ton easier than the front...If I remember correctly the plastic panel on the top pops off and there is a screw holding the panel on...on the opposite side pops off as well. be very careful as the plastic pops r fragile...I learned that out the hard way lol... Never done it on my truck but have done it like twice on customer's truck's. I own an auto glass shop in NY...The panel for the window control DOES NOT pop off I also learned that the hard way...Cant remember if there r screws on the bottom of the panel or not as does the front...actually not quit sure so check or u will get very frusturated lol... Its a cake walk from there on out...Sorry not completely accurate on the details but that will give u an idea...Hope it helps

 

I have an '07 XL and am looking into converting my manual windows into power. My door panels appear to be equipped with the wiring already; it looks like i'm just missing the motor assembly and controls. Am I overlooking anything? Also, i'm willing to fab custom switches/arm rest, but any idea how possible it is for me to end up having control of the passenger window from the driver's side?

 

Just wanted to thank all the Technical article contributors. This section has saved lots of money by doing it my self. I just replaced my rear window regulator with ease and confidence. I had a dealership do the driver-side door last year and paid almost triple what it cost to do myself. Thanks guys!

 

Great article. I used it today to replace the motor in my '05. I was able to replace just the motor by removing just the regulator/motor screw and sneaking out . It took a little while to remove and replace the t20 screws holding the motor in because you are doing it blind, but I got it done. Thanks

 

Awesome pics helped a lot thanks. Only thing I did different was instead of removing the window and weather stripping I just wedge the window in the up position and removed the motor/regulator assembly through the hole in the bottom aft of the door.