Ford Explorer Power Window Conundrum

I recently bought a wrecked '97 Ford Explorer Sport with 51,000 miles to use as a parts car for my '97 Ford Explorer with 300,000 miles. The two front power windows in my Explorer just go “click, click, click, click…” when I try to use them, and they won’t go up or down without a manual assist. The power windows in the Sport worked fine. I first replaced the motor… no improvement. Then I replaced the linkage with the flywheel, thinking it might be worn. No good. Then, after watching a video on youtube showing how to replace the power windows, I noticed that a new assembly comes with new tracks, so I replaced the tracks also. No go.
I took the old motor and linkage and hooked it up to a 9 volt battery. It works just fine.
I greased the tracks but that didn’t help.
I can’t see anything that could be jamming the works.
Fixing my windows is one of the main reasons I bought the Sport. Can anyone help me???

PS. Does anyone need a 4.0 liter V-6 with only 51,000 miles? A bargain at $500 and the transmission is included!!

Thanks,
Erik

The first thing to do anytime something like this stops working is just to pull and clean all of the electrical connections and go to work with a multimeter to check power supply and grounds and such. On my current van, the windows went completely dead at one point. Cleaning the connectors and grounds and lubing everything put them back in perfect order pretty quickly. Its been probably 18mos without a glitch.

So I’m just going to say you’ve been barking up the wrong tree.

You might also lube the window tracks. The motors are designed to stop moving if the meet too much resistance, like an arm in the way. You can also detach the window from the regulator to unload the motor as a check. Lubing is so easy that you should just do that before detaching the window.

    Thanks for the tips. Their uselessness in no way deminishes my appreciation for the fact you tried to help. :-) 
    I did lube/grease the tracks. But I didn't try detaching the window to see if it would work without a load on it, so that's actually a good suggestion. 
    I've ruled out any sort of electrical problem because of two things. First, when I hook the 12v power straight to the motor, it does the same thing. And second, when I hooked up the power to the old motor and regulator which had been removed from the door, it worked fine. That leads me to believe that it has to be a resistence problem. 
   Perhaps I should try lubing the rubber weatherstripping which the window slides thru. That might be messy, but I'm willing to try anything at this point. If this brainstorming works, I'll owe you guys an apology for my "uselesness" comment. 

Have a great day,
Erik

The uselessness is in direct proportion to the quality of the information supplied.

First, when I hook the 12v power straight to the motor, it does the same thing. If “it does the same thing” means that with the motor currently installed in the vehicle, if you hit it with a straight 12V from the/a battery it still doesn’t function then that is some fairly meaningful info left out. It still leaves the question of a ground though. Are you supplying both 12V power AND ground when you try to directly jumper the motor? Are you paying attention to the fact that power supplied to one leg makes the motor go in one direction, but when supplied to other leg it goes the opposite way? I.e. either side of the connector gets 12V to it. 12V on one side is “up”. 12V on the other side is down.

Furthermore, “And second, when I hooked up the power to the old motor and regulator which had been removed from the door, it worked fine.” This very clearly suggests a power supply problem in the vehicle.

So I’ll just say that the clarity of the info is what is useless.

You don’t have to make a mess to lube the rubber/weatherstripping bits on the door. Just use silicone spray. I just apply it to a cotton swab and run that up & down inside of the tracks (after cleaning about the same way with some alcohol or something).

That’s how I lube the weather strips/track that the window rides in. I spray silicone onto a paper towel, push it into the track, and move it up and down. This does a decent job of cleaning the track, too. And whether this is a problem or not, the lube job will prevent sticking in the future. BTW, I get the towel fairly wet. Since I wear nitrile gloves, there is no mess to clean up.

Are you paying attention to the fact that power supplied to one leg makes the motor go in one direction, but when supplied to other leg it goes the opposite way? I.e. either side of the connector gets 12V to it. 12V on one side is “up”. 12V on the other side is down.<<<

Duh! I learned that when I was 16 and the power windows went out on my first car, a '72 Lincoln Continental. I just stripped the wires and left them hanging out, then used a 9v battery to make the windows go up and down (by reversing the wires.)
I was just kidding about the uselessness. I do appreciate your help. I’ll try the silicone next weekend and tinker further with the electic and let y’all know what happens.

Thanks again,
Erik

Duh! I learned that when I was 16 and the power windows went out on my first car, a '72 Lincoln Continental.

Can’t assume anything here, man. Somebody in another thread here just confused a water pump with a fuel pump and said they were going to use a vacuum gauge to check a torque converter. Others think a check engine light means you should check the oil and coolant. Many many people thing that “crank” and “turn over” are two different things, or that “coolant” is associated with the air conditioning…I could go on.

In fact, what shows up on this board is so surprising that there is a recent thread about it: http://community.cartalk.com/discussion/2283942/complete-ignorance#Item_29

You guys are geniuses! I tried the silicone spray on the passenger door, which is the door on which I replaced the motor, regulator, and tracks. I sprayed it all over the tracks and in the plastic weatherstripping in which the window slides. It took a bit of manual assisting, but it finally started working!!!
Then I took the panel off the driver’s door and did the same. Keep in mind that I had not yet switched out any of the window parts on the driver’s door. I was going to be a bit upset if it worked because one of the main reasons I bought the parts truck was for the window parts. But lo and behold, I could not get it to work. So I took the motor out of the parts car and put it in mine, and it worked!!! So it turns out that I did need the new motors after all. I guess the old motors were a bit worn down. I could spin the gear on the old motor by hand about a half a revolution, but on the newer motor I could only spin it about 1/8 revolution.

I really appreciate your help. And thanks for the link, cigroller. I’m sure I’ll get a few laughs out of that.

Erik