Replaced gear in window-motor Colony Park

Oh well, I think this was covered a hundred times at least, but I just repaired my rear passenger window of my 78 Colony Park It stayed open for about an inch and I could hear the motor running without any motion in the windowglass itself. Time for a new gear!

I ordered a gear from eBay and it was delivered to the Netherlands in just a few days. Nice. I've made a few pictures and I know everyone loves pictures, so here they are ...



First removed the door-panel


Remove the 3 screws which attach the window-motor and disconnect the wire


Removed the motor and removed the top-plate. What a mess... To the right the new gear


The 3 bushings were completely pulverised


Don't forget the 'seal'


New gear in place and everything greased


A shot inside the door; I've also greased the large gear-teeth


And voila; the window can be lowered (and raised) again!


And to proof it really works :

 

You're the first to post a power window repair. Great pictures. That old gear was in pretty sad shape. Good for you.

 

I've done a couple of those. Other than some cars not having access holes to the bolts the job is actually pretty simple. Glad you posted pictures cause I never did. Now everybody can see that it's not hard. If the motor is turning and the window isn't moving this is the cause.

 

Thanks for the compliments. It's a real easy job when the access holes are already there. I've done both window-motors on my Lincoln Continental Mark IV and I had to drill the holes to access the three screws. Nothing complicated; there are dents in the sheetmetal where you should drill (I think I used a 3/4 inch drill). The window-mechanism of the Mark IV was extremely complicated compared to this Mercury but that was because of the small quarter-windows which all used one motor.

I was pleasantly surprised the inside of the door was in such a great shape. No rust at all as you can see in part of one of the pictures. I also removed the trim of the cargo-door and lubricated everything I could see for the window-mechanism because it squeeked like my mother-in-law. Now it moves more subtle but is slooooow in upward-motion. I might need a replacement window-motor (are those the same as the door window-motors?)

Just realized I should have sprayed some rust-prevention in the open door and cargo-door while everything was open. Stupid move.

I also tried to figure out why the central doorlocking doesn't work that well, but couldn't find out the reason. The lock-motor moves freely and all mechanism moves but not far enough. Both locking and unlocking doesn't work this way. Strange thing is that all doors move the same. Maybe the motors are worn out; I'll try to find replacements (= difficult).

 

On my Mercury the door locks are simple dual action solenoids. Maybe a cleaning will do the trick. I don't know much about them but it seems that they are very similar in design on all cars.

Mine is an 82 so I don't have separate switches in the mix. On the Fords of my vintage the fronts actuate all. If I push down on one of the fronts all doors lock and visa versa if I pull up.

For a while my back ones wouldn't go down all the way and it was because the lock buttons on the front were screwed down too far. I could be a voltage thing as in dirty switches if they only partially actuate. It's worth checking. May be a simple clean and lube thing too.

 

I will have a look at the workshop manuals at home, but I think these aren't solenoid actuators but more like little motors. Because of the way the move and sound. But I could be wrong.

The switches are located in both front doors and they do work. Only thing is that the pins don't move enough to lock or unlock. It could be a voltage thing, so I'll be checking that soon.

I've just orded all sparkplugs, cables, rotor, filters, gaskets and oil to do a little tune-up. Hope to solve my transmission problem or I'll have to get a rebuild (already got a quote for 575 EUR and 750 EUR).

But ... back on topic : my windows work

 

Great write up on this! I had this problem on my '91 Ford F-250 window motor, it was an easy fix. My '78 Country Squire has manual windows, so this is one less worry but I would like to have power windows in it, make it eaiser than sliding around in the seats.

Did you ever find that rear air spoiler?

 

Looking at the workshop-manuals I don't think it is possible to convert the manual windows to powered. I didn't even know the Country Squire was available without power-windows.

Untill now I haven't found a rear air spoiler and I also haven't found the mounting brackets for the rear bench seats I've had some contact with a guy in the USA who has a Colony Park in his salvage yard and he is willing to combine shipping with another Dutch guy but communication is rather slow and I didn't get any pricing info. He hasn't got the mounting brackets though.

 

Yea, some Squire wagons came with out power windows. There have been all sorts of "mixed bag" Country Squires and Colony Parks I have seen where it has a brougham inter. option but no cruise control or air conditioning. So who really knows?

I will be going down to my old college (four hr drive southwest) for homecoming and alum weekend in two weeks. There is a wrecking yard I have been dealing with for years, I have bought a ton off stuff from this guy for both my '77 and '78 Squires. There is a '78 Marquis wagon with a roof rack with a spoiler. The "wood" is pretty much gone, and the chrome work is ok, but its ALL there. I got my rear bumper for my '77, that was pulled for my '78.

I also think there might be a third seat wagon in the mix, I can see if the brackets are there, and if they are in good shape, I'll pull them out. Same with the spolier for the rack (I need some stuff off the rack). I am pulling a tilt coloum and lighted entry system out of a '78 Marquis Brougham when I go down there, his prices are pretty low.

 

Would you really have a look for me? That would be GREAT!!!

I wish we had that kind of cars in our salvage yards in the Netherlands. They are crowded with stupid German, French and Japanese cars. No offence No problem finding cheap parts for those. My wife drives a Corvette C4 convertible and parts are a lot easier. She also drives an Alfa 166 3.0 V6 for the winter for which parts are dead cheap here.

Whenever you find anything, please PM me and I'll be happy to transfer the money and shipping costs

 

Back in the bad old days a person would have to actually order the PW or PDLs. They weren't a "package" deal like everything is today. Thus is why my Mercury has PDL but not PW.

I'm sure there are many people under the age of 30 that have never been in a car without PW. Or remote door locks etc. Imagine their shock to find that CD players aren't standard.

 

ROTFLMAO!!! How true!

 

Nicel work!

Well done Mrobers. It saves on replacing the motor. I did this same thing to 2 windows on the wagon and one on the sedan. Thanks for the pictures!

 

So very true. When I had the '77 CS with me at college, it had manual windows and locks. That alone made a good amount of comments "Why would someone not have power windows?" or "8 track, I have never seen one before". Most of the people I went to college with where 18-22ish, there was a 5-7 year diff between us. I would have never thought there was such a distance between our generations.

I had a grad student with me in one of my classes, she did the same as I did. Went to college later in life. We where talking about a Fisher Price record player we had as kids, the little brown suit case styled one. And how we listened to the Thriller album on it.........the looks we got from the kids in class.

 

I used to tape music off of radio....onto a cheap reel-to-reel! Made 'demo' tapes - as if I was a disc jockey....this was when I was 11 or so......