Hello, have a few questions about the 91 Country Squire I recently purchased. Anyone know of a diagram of the rear tailgate mechanisms? Can't get tailgate to lock. Window motor is weak and clicking so planning on taking that out to inspect and replace. What would stop the lock from operating? This car has the magic gate that folds down or sideways and does both fine but will not lock automatically or manually. Any help would be greatly appreciated!
Power tail gate lock actuator...... (I THINK this is the right one....) https://www.rockauto.com/en/moreinf...jCQyurLYaEv+zM4wQZDcf3W7awZ17qR2wr10bPXIu2JXB
The motor itself can get gummed up, or even corroded and no longer work. If you drop it as a tailgate, and after removing the inner handle and cover, go ahead and punch/drill the rivet holding the motor bracket to remove the motor assembly. Once it's off, you should be able to move the lock lever up and down. As long as it moves, then you have a lock motor problem. But if it doesn't move, then the lock/upper latch assembly is your problem. I'll see if I can find a diagram in the '88 factory manual in a while. As for the motor, I'm betting it's the gear drive innards. Ford used three rubber baby buggy bumpers inside, to smooth out the glass closing or being open all the way. Typically, those rubber pieces just fall apart into little mealy bits. So, to remove said motor, unplug it, then there are three dimples in the shell's metal near the bottom. You need to drill them on-center, and about 3/8" or slightly larger to fit a thin 5/16" socket with extension in order to remove the three screws. Once it's out, there is a machine screw holding the cover plate on; remove it, and you'll be able to disassemble and clean the gear drive. I think you can get the rubber baby buggy bumpers from NAPA, not sure about the other places. Or replace them with three 10mm pachinko balls....
Great advice, thanks! With your detailed directions I managed to take the motor out after drilling holes (first one was way off so ended up with 4) and cleaned motor gearbox out and replaced the bushings with Jack Slater approved poly buggy bumpers from advance. It worked for a day or two then started slipping again. Should've just tried the bolts but was worried it would break itself bc of plastic gear. Had ordered a replacement just in case so ended up installing that and now it works great and operates much faster! Removed the power lock actuator and it was indeed seized. Motor is shot due to corrosion so left it out for now until I install a new one. Lock works great with the key now.
When I fixed mine, I used a newer-style aftermarket actuator from a kit I got to do my Ranchero's door locks. Works beautifully.
I am thinking there may have been other issues with your motor. I haven't had any issues with the plastic spacer replacements. I know some people use the 1/4-20 nuts instead, but I don't really care for that. The plastic bits should last upwards of 25 years. I wonder if the large plastic gear that the worm gear turns was stripped out. You can get the gear as well. The rubber bellows on the door lock actuators tear and let water in and the insides start rusting and causing issues. I've had good luck getting NOS Ford actuators off ebay and using those. Sometimes you have to change the rod that attaches to the door lock mechanism, but that is relatively easy. I ordered one of the cheap Chinese door lock actuators one time because how bad can they be? It was total garbage.
I put the aftermarket one in the tailgate because I had it on-hand, and the design is similar to the factory truck motors that work quite nicely themselves. I had one of those "factory" replacements, where you select, then pin, the 'correct' rod onto the motor's rod, and it jammed my driver's door lock mechanism. I had to remove it, put in a used one I had on-hand, and it works fine. I don't know if I'll try installing this one in the passenger front door or not.
I am not sure what was slipping the last time but it sounded like the plastic bits were bc it was a smooth thumping type sound and didn't seem like gear grinding but who knows. I just went right to the nicer of the two aftermarket ones (metal vs plastic) I had and it has worked awesome now for weeks. Ended up replacing the driver's window motor too which was a huge improvement, esp at Taco Bell!
In case anyone is interested: pictured is (actually) the correct motor for the squire's tailgate window. Bunch of motors online listed as left or right, few will say tailgate/rear, and out of those some are correct and some aren't. Out of the two I ordered this one seemed way more substantial. Prob being mostly metal vs plastic. It cost more than plastic versions but at $37 it seemed worth the difference and has been working great so far. None of them seem to have the bottom bolt hole aligned (only need other 2) or any threads so running a tap through the holes quick will enable you to use the correct factory bolts instead of undersized ones that would probably let the motor flex around a bit in a bad way. Part # in picture.
Yeah, the replacement one I got had the multiple different size linkage rods to choose from. Once I chose the right one it still took a bit of adjustment to get it to the right stroke to cycle lock fully. Even then I had to degrease the hell out of the mechanism with PB to melt away old hardened grease and then spray can blast fresh lithium grease on mechanisms. After cycling the lock about a million times by hand I could feel the resistance leaving. Then the power lock actuator was strong enough to actually lock and unlock the tailgate. We'll see if it's reliable or not..
This is off subject, but I tell anyone with a new Ford/Mercury with automatic Overdrive to check for Ford Throttle Valve Linkage Grommet. Originals fail without notice and will tear up your transmission. It's a less than $15.00 part. Ford Throttle Valve Linkage Grommet AOD FIOD ATX Metal Type 1 Piece Kit & Clip | eBay
Yeah, thank you, I already have that on Roger, and I think Annie also has one. I really hated how the engineers had you push/pull a plastic piece in/out of a rapidly hardening rubber grommet, similar to the ones that are used in the Panther shift links. They drive me crazy.
