Window Motors
Dead Switch Disease
If your power windows stop working, work intermittently, or work in
"ghost-mode" where the go up and down on their own, don't immediately
conclude that the window motor is dead. Many Esprit owners have gone through
the same experience in the past. It turns out that the more common culprit
is the window switch and not the motor itself. So which would you rather try
to test and replace first?
If it turns out to be your motors after all, list member Tim Miller rebuilt
his window motors and wrote detailed steps on the procedure. Here's what he
did:
First, the things you'll need:
1. A Phillips head screwdriver - used to get the door panel off
2. Both a 10mm and a 11mm sockets
3. A star head screwdriver (I don't know what size) - this is to separate
the motor from the gear section.
4. Some sort of instant bond or super glue. I used "Instant Bond" from Radio
Shack -- $1.59.
5. Some sort of lube oil, like "WD-40". I used "Slick 50: Oil One".
6. (optional) a very fine sandpaper or soft scrub and a toothbrush.
First, I'll assume you know how to take the door panel off. (If not, read
that elsewhere on this Fact File.) After this, disconnect the two door panel
electrical connectors and the motor lead wires (the latter should be a green
wire connected to a slate/light green wire and a red wire connected to a
slate/pink wire)
Next, remove the four nuts holding the whole window lift assembly to the
door crossbar with your 10mm socket. NOTE: In order to remove the bottom
bolt, your socket's inner hole must be big enough to go over the screw (test
it on one of the upper screws to make sure that it does). Next carefully
remove the assembly from the door and CAREFULLY slip the arm roller from the
window holder. Next, remove the four bolts that secure the lift bracket to
the lift assembly with the 11mm socket. Now, remove the three bolts that
hold the arm assembly to the motor assembly with the 10mm socket.
Now for the rebuild: Remove the two star-headed screws to separate the motor
from the gear and CAREFULLY pull the motor out -- you may have to rotate the
gear manually to get the motor out clean. Now the fun begins. The plastic
housing and set it aside -- out of the way. Now, pull the motor out of the
casing. If the two magnets came out with the motor, this is the cause of the
motor failure. When the magnets are right up against the motor, it can't
move and so it seizes.
All right, you now want to clean the housing and both magnets THOROUGHLY. I
used soft scrub and a toothbrush. If there is a lot of rust, you might want
to use fine sandpaper to get it off. After these pieces dry, add an
appropriate amount of glue to the magnet (i.e.. one drop per square inch)
and place them into the housing. Make sure that the magnets are lined up
correctly and pushed all the way to the bottom. While you are waiting for
the glued to set up (make sure you let it set a little longer than even the
glue manufacturers recommend) check the two copper leads on the plastic
housing. They are the two small copper blocks that are loaded on either side
of the housing's inner circle. If there is any corrosion, clean it off,
usually with VERY fine sandpaper.
All right, now that the glued has set up (you did wait long enough, didn't
you? Try to pry them off with your fingers to be sure), spray a small spot
of the lube onto each magnet. It's o.k. to let the excess stay on the
bottom, it'll help lube the bottom part of the mast on the motor. Now push
the motor into the casing between the magnets, making sure that it goes ALL
the way to the bottom. Try to rotate the motor with your hands. It won't
necessarily spin like a top, but it should be possible to crank it gripping
the copper ring below the "screws" of the motor. Do this for a little while
to let the lube distribute evenly across both magnets.
Now for the hard part: In order to get the plastic/electrical piece back on,
you must push the two copper leads outward so that they fit over the copper
ring below the "screw" of the motor. This can be tricky, but DO NOT FORCE
THE HOUSING, this could ruin the leads, and all your hard work will have
become much harder (I found this out first hand). Now slip that rubber
"gasket" over the motor casing from the bottom up and place it between the
plastic housing and the motor casing upper lip. Next, carefully place the
gear assembly back on the top of the motor assembly. Again, you might have
to turn the gear manually to get it in correctly. After you screw the two
star-headed screws back into place, it is time to check to see if you were
successful. First, connect the motor back up to the electrical system --
green to slate/light green and red to slate/pink. Then you have to connect
both of the door panel electrical connectors back up. Now for the moment of
truth: start the car or turn the key to the on position and try the switch.
Your gear should be turning. If not, either the magnets weren't the problem,
i.e. the motor is "burned out", or something went wrong in one of the above
steps remove the gear again and make sure that the motor still turns freely
between the magnets. If it doesn't you'll have to go all the way back to the
beginning of the rebuild section (maybe you didn't wait long enough for the
glued to set) or, more lube is needed.
Disconnect all the electrical connections, and re-attach first the arm
assembly (you may have to shift the arm a little to get it to match up with
the gear) and then the lift holding bracket. If you can't remember which
bolts go where, the 10mm heads hold the motor assembly to the arm assembly,
and the 11mm heads hold the lift assembly to the lift holding bracket.
Reinsert the arm roller back into the window holder and replace the whole
lift assemble onto the three bolts on the door cross-bar. This is another of
those tricky jobs, but be careful -- you wouldn't want to damage your hard
work, would you? Replace the nuts that hold the lift assembly to the door
cross bar not forgetting to re-attach the grounding terminal to the forward,
top bolt. I recommend that you close the door while tightening these down,
else you might not be able to close it later (again, I'm speaking from first
hand experience). Reconnect all of the electrical connectors and try the
window again. If it doesn't work, something may have caused the magnets to
come loose and you'll have to try again, or there is something wrong with
the arm (I'm sorry that I can't be any help in that situation). If
everything checks out, make sure that the electrical connectors are inside
the door and put the door panel back on. If everything has gone as planned,
you now have a workable window and CONGRATULATIONS, you've just saved
yourself a bundle of money. If not, I'm sorry, but I tried.
Steve Brightman added the following points:
1. Before removing the motor assembly get the window glass into the desired
position and clamp it there. On the newer Esprits (Steven's body) this seems
best in or near the fully "up" position. On the older Esprits, if I recall
correctly, there is a cutout in the bottom side of the glass carrier piece
to allow egress of the roller on the end of the actuator arm. Position the
glass so the roller is near here. Now take some vise-grips and clamp them to
the aluminum runner just underneath the point where the glass carrier and
its four plastic rollers are located. This will stop the window from
dropping as you remove the motor assembly. (Be careful not to deform the
runner!).
2. Once the motor is out of the way, you may want to move the glass up and
down and check there is no binding. If there is binding you have the
delightful task of fiddling with the door frame and spacer washers until you
get it right. If you've ever had to do this I know you'll never lean on an
Esprit door frame again - and will probably inflict grievous bodily harm on
anyone you catch doing this!
3. Once you have removed the lift bracket and BEFORE you take out the three
bolts securing the motor - clamp the lift arm to the motor support
bracket (use a second pair of vice grips in a suitable location which will
not deform anything). Otherwise once the motor is removed the spring in the
mechanism is free to swing the lift arm around.
4. When reassembling do not over-tighten the three bolts, they are screwing
into really wimpy metal in the motor casing.
Now some notes on my specific problem: The problem was not binding or the
motor itself. Nor did I have any broken teeth on the inner gear wheel as I
suspected. I did find there was a clutch of sorts embedded in the gear wheel
but it wasn't that either. In fact when I cranked up the motor everything
was fine in both directions. Only when I re-attached the lift arm did the
problem become evident. At certain points of the travel the worm gear was
actually disengaging from the plastic (bevel?) gear producing the nasty
rasping sound. I can only conclude this is due to wear on the plastic teeth.
So, before you put it back in the car check this sub-assembly first.
I also figured out the purpose of the screw on the top of the gear unit. On
other units I have seen this screw with a lock nut. Mine is too short for
that - no idea why. Anyway it seems to function to stop the worm gear from
lifting itself off the motor spindle. It should be snugged down but not too
tight or it will load down the motor. It also is a convenient way to
introduce some lubrication into the mechanism - judging by what was in there
I guess this would be grease.
If you're interested in having your window motors professionally rebuilt,
you can send them to South Florida Window Lift. They usually charge about
$90 to rebuilt one motor, which is far cheaper than buying a new one.
Click here to see a step-by-step guide to removing the door trim and
accessing the window motors.