This forum has been a tremendous help so far and Im hoping you guys can help me repair my power windows. I know they have worked recently as the dealership face timed me before I bought the car and I was able to see them operate. Thanks to some keen eyes what I thought was a factory power window car, was in fact later modified by a PO using some factory ford parts. I was able to trace some wires under the hood that led into the firewall, they look like additions:
One wire goes to the positive side of the starter solenoid ( Red arrow), the other goes to the yellow arrow. The yellow circle appears to be some sort of relay?
The blue arrow has two wires, one of which leads to the back of the alternator, the other leads to a fusible link ( Red arrow, second pic). I used my multimeter and the blue arrow wires are Key on Hot, but the yellow wire doesn’t seem to get voltage when they do, shouldn’t it?
I noticed a loose ground wire under the dash, I will reconnect that and see if it has an effect .
Right now none of the windows are rolling down, which leads me to believe its a wiring/relay issue.
The item in the yellow circle appears to be just a junction block, not a relay. If all the windows quit working simultaneously, I would suspect a fuse, or a loose connection between the master window switch and either the power supply or ground.
In your first post the piece inside the yellow circle is a junction block and those were used from the factory on a car with power windows and also on convertibles. I would guess that a previous owner pulled a complete power window setup out of a parts car and put it into your car.
In your post #3 with the door panel off it shows a lot of pop rivots. I do not know why they are there as they are not factory. What are they holding together? Since power door locks were not an option for your car if it does have them they were added by a previous owner. Did you shine a light down into the rear lower corner of the door to see if a later model lock actuator has been added?
Now as to why your power windows do not work. Did you check the condition of the fuse? Did you check to see if power is coming into the fuse? Also on the drivers door control panel there is one switch marked LOCK. This is not for door locks, rather it turns off the power to the other 3 individual switches. Make sure that switch is not turned on. If it is then none of the individual switches will work. Check the condition of the wiring that goes between the door and the door jamb, I have seen way too many people who take the quick way out and rather than unplug them at the factory connections they just cut the wires. If they were cut you could have a bad reconnection there.
There is an actuator there, Its covered by some sort of plastic covering/sleeve so I couldn’t get a good look at it, but I traced the wiring there. I don’t know why the pop rivets are there, looks like someone may have cut out a section of the door so that they could have more room to add the power windows, and then riveted in some metal back in its place. The window lock switch isn’t on, I’ve flicked it a few time to see if that is the case. The wiring looks good in the door and it looks like they removed the whole harness from whatever donor car they used. I’m not sure where the fuse would be for this, do you think it would be in the fuse block, or have its own external fuse somewhere? All of this extra wiring is making it extra hard to diagnose the problem since I can’t look at stock wiring diagrams.
As I recall the fuse should be in the fuse block. Do you have the owner’s manual for the car? Or did you get a shop manual for the car yet? Either one should have a diagram of the fuse block in it. Do you have a test light to see if you even have power going to the switches? If someone removed a complete set up from a parts car and placed it into your car then it should match up with the stock wiring diagrams.
Ok I changed out the fuse with a 20A fuse which is what the Fuse box diagram called for. Once I did that something happened. When I press the rear window switches I can here the motor cycling but the window doesn’t move. Its not a continuous noise, but you press the button up it makes a sound for a second or two and stops. You press the button down, same thing. The front switches do nothing, no noise. Everytime I press either the front switches or the quarter switches the drivers side door light ( Which I know is from an earlier cougar ) comes on while your pressing the switch and then goes off when you release, so power is going somewhere… I’m so confused with this thing. Whats the next thing to check? How feasible is it to convert back to manual windows?
You’ve gotten the window switches to do something, just by replacing a fuse. That’s progress.
The folks at WCCC have helpfully added free downloadable wiring diagrams to their website. It looks like your power window set-up was sourced from a '69 or '70. Here’s the '69 schematic (the power window portion of which may or may not be the same as '70, I haven’t compared them) http://www2.cougarpartscatalog.com/store/p/13497-Manual-Complete-Electrical-Schematic-Free-Download-1969-Mercury-Cougar.html
Anyhow, it sounds like you need to inspect the system closely for loose or bare wires, and/or inconsistencies with the factory schematic. I’d start with the driver’s side door, since it looks like you’re already in there; and since it contains the master panel, its the most likely location for a fault that affects all four windows.
Specifically, I’d start with the door light wiring, since that’s a very simple circuit compared to the windows. If you find the spot where it is drawing power (or inadvertently grounding, as the case may be) when the window switches are activated, you may also find the fault in the window circuit.
It would be easy to convert back to manual windows, just a bit on the expensive side. Buying replacement manual window regulators and the window cranks will not cost too much, buying a replacement pair of door panels will cost you about $600 though. You will also need to find a good used pair of rear interior side panels for manual windows to replace the ones currently in the car. The manual regulators bolt in at the same place as the power ones. Then all you need to do is to strip out the power wiring. You would be able to get a good bit of your money back by selling the window switches and the motors.
There is something that I would like you to take a look at the next time you are working on the car. Since you have the door panel off look inside the door at the bottom edge of the door glass. Look at the area between the 2 mounting plates that attach to the glass. Does the glass go striaght across or is there a half circle cutout that extends upwards on the glass?
I found a lose ground underneath the dash. I crimped it to a new connector and attached it back under the screw.
Now 3 of the 4 windows roll down, although very slowly. The drivers side motor turns, but as almost as if something is getting caught keeping the window from going down or it is off track, I’ll probably take the panels off again this weekend and see.
Good to hear that you are making progress. Before you go trying to put either side of the door glass down all the way though you need to check the bottom edge of the glass. This is important. If the glass goes straight across you will not be able to put the window all the way down. Or you will break the glass.
It would be possible that the window is getting caught up on the wiring. It also possible that the rollers inside the power window motor need replaced.
Got the door panel back off on the drivers side to work on it again this weekend. I looked at the bottom of the glass and it is straight not curved, so I definitely will not be letting it down all of the way. How far can this go down then?
I tested the drivers switch again and the motor is definitely getting power and turning, but the window doesn’t move. I made sure the wiring was out of the way. I suspect that its the regulator then?
I would agree with Randy’s suggestion above that it is the plastic rollers inside the power window motor. You can get them on eBay from user fastmerc. He has the correct ones and they are under $10 for the set.
You can probably go about 3/4 of the way down. Once you get everything working as it should and before you put the door panel back on you can lower the window and watch as it goes down. Without the cutout in the glass the glass will hit the power window motor. Just watch until it gets close and you will see how far down you can go.
You will need to remove the window regulator with the power motor attached. As you go to remove it you will need an extra set of hands to hold onto the door glass so it does not go crashing to the bottom of the door. Once you have the regulator out you can seperate the motor from it. Then you can open up the front of the motor to check the condition of the rollers and the gear that is inside it.
How do you get to the motor to get it out of the door? I have a 72 XR7 and when I removed the door panel I can barely see the motor,much less figure out how to remove it. The workshop manual talks about drilling 3/4 inch holes in the door? I don’t want to go drilling holes if there is a better way to remove the motor. If this has been posted before, I apologize, but I couldn’t find it. If someone could walk me through, I will have to remove both motors on the passenger side. Thanks
