I've had a few people ask me to do this. Mine just so happened to go out this week so here it goes.

First of all, I am not liable for anyone's mistakes, damages, injuries, etc. that come from following this. This is strictly to help you on your journey, not to provide exact directions on how to do it. There may be other guides, or better ways to do this, if anyone knows of any, just let me know and I will fix it. On to the DIY guide.

DIY Power Window Motor Install 03 coupe (approximate time 1hr)

Here is a picture of what you will see if you open your door. There are 3 screws that you will need to remove to pull your door panel off. The first one is right beside the door lock on the door handle. You have to take a screwdriver and pry off a little square cover to expose the screw.







Here is what you need to remove the silver piece on the side of your door panel. this is looking from the bottom of it where you can see a small gap to insert a flat headed screwdriver to pop off the trim piece.



Run a screwdriver up the side of it, popping it off gently.



This is what you will see after you remove both the little square piece and the trim piece on the door. There are two screws on the long piece and one beside the door lock. Remove all three of these.



Here you will see two panel snaps that you DO NOT NEED TO TAKE OFF....do not remove them unless you want to put them right back on :-)



Ok, when you go to remove your door panel, there are 3 little indentions in the bottom of the door panel where I put my fingers and pry outward. You should hear body panel clips detaching but don't try to detach the top near the window, just the bottom and the sides.



This is a picture of the clips that you will run into after you pop them off.



Ok, after you remove all of the clips, gently pull up on the door (vertically up) and outward towards you. This will completely remove the door panel from the door. There are 3 things that are connected to the door panel still. They are, the handle mechanism, the power window and door switch, and the light connector.



Here is a picture of the back of the handle mechanism and the three screws that need to be removed to detach this piece from the door panel. Remove them now.





Here is a picture of the clips that need to be removed from the power window / door lock switch. There are 4 total, the two pictured and two on the opposite side. The easiest way that I could find to do this was to get either a really small flatheaded screwdriver or a pick and pry them out, being careful not to damage the buttons on the opposite side.



After the switches were removed. Here you can see all four clips, two on the top and two on the bottom.





This is the light connector that must be removed from the door panel also. It is located at the bottom corner of the panel and it is not hard to get off, just take a screwdriver and push in the middle of it and pull it out. It detaches very easily.



Here is what the door looks like with the panel removed. Notice the handle(locking) mechanism and the switch hanging down. I just left them hanging, it doesnt hurt them at all. Notice the 12 black bolts that need to be removed on the outside of the silver metal part. Remove these as well as the one above the grommet and the 3 in a triangular shape. These need to be removed but be careful because they are attached to the power window motor. There are also 2 bolts that attach to the window runners that need to be removed. They are brass colored and are on the bottom of the silver part on the right and left sides.



Picture of one of the 12 black screws removed.



Close up of one of the black bolts....guess they're not black but close enough haha



The brass colored bolt in the middle is the one that is needed to be removed above the grommet. It is the only one with the washer around it.



These are the bolts that are in a triangular shape that need to be removed. Again, be careful because these are attached to the window motor.



Here is a picture of one of the screws that are brass colored that was removed from the bottom right. It is connected to the window runner.



Here is a picture of the clip that is attached to the harness the connects the window motor to the vehicle. The best way to remove these clips is to take a set of pliers and just squeeze the clips and gently push them through the holes.



Here is what the motor should look like after the silver panel is removed. Notice the grommet is still in place. Remove it now and slide the wiring harness through the silver metal door panel.



This is what the panel will look like completely removed.





This is a picture of the power window motor. There are three screws that are attaching the actual motor to the bracket that holds it in place, mounting it to the silver panel. Remove these and take a screwdriver and seperate the motor from the bracket. BE CAREFUL NOT TO LET THE WINDOW DROP IF IT IS UP!!! (use a common rubber door stop or wooden shim on the window to prevent the window from dropping.)





Picture of the bracket after the power window motor was detached from it. The square part in the middle is where the new motor will attach to the bracket.



With the new motor installed.



The dog telling us how bad he wanted to help us.



After you put the motor back in the bracket and bolt it back in, you have to put the silver piece back on. There are 2 screws on the bottom (one left and one right) that are attached to the window runners. You need to insert them through the silver metal door panel and line up the window motor unit where it goes. (remember, it is the triangular shape) After bolting everything back up and putting the clip and grommet back in place, you are ready to put the door panel back on.



Notice the round hole in the middle of the screen. This is where the window reset is supposed to stick out. For whatever reason, mine is about a 1/4" high so it is normal for the little black button to stick out this hole, its actually supposed to.



After putting everything back together, install the body panel exactly like you took it apart, just reverse. Be sure to clip everything where it goes and push in all the body snaps. Remember to put in the three screws on the body panel and voila, youre done!

Finally done. Now to take a rag and get the dirt off my panel where i laid it in the dirty grass.

 

great write up...had 3 go out on my Jeep GC (and two door locks as well) and replacing them was fairly simple. It also gets easier after you knock one door out. I never have the patience for pictures, just wanna get the job done.

 

Great write up...this will help many.

 

good write up..i needed this soon

mod needs to move this to the DIY section

 

move to DIY section please

 

Thanks for the awesome write up, as far what motor you used... Is there a cheaper (and better functioning) substitute to the original manufacturers motor that will fit. Ill be doing this project soon, and tackling the door locks too, I have my work cut out for me…

 

I actually picked up that motor from my local autozone. I bought one from the originally and it had a lifetime warranty. Well the three times it went out, they replaced it for free! cant beat that.....

 

Just as an FYI, if you don't feel like replacing the motor and if these are anything like the Z's ( from what I see, the motor looks identical ), You undo the three bolts holdin the motor casing and take the brush out by turning it counter clock wise a little and pulling on it. If you take LOTS OF Q-tips with some rubbing alcohol, you can clean the carbon build up ( all the black stuff ) and it should work like a champ again. The motors usually go bad because the black stuff coats the area where the motor makes electrical contact. That is why it sometimes works when you bang on it.

I did this on my gf's Z and it worked like a champ.

 

Paul, now thats a DIY I'd love to see. I too have heard this works well and was thinking of going these route while I had the door apart. Is there a fix to protect the electrical contacts from future build up?

 

I had a similar problem, and had success by removing and cleaning the actual motor like you said. I now have a new problem, however. The cabling in that area somehow got stuck, and wrapped itself all wrong, and the cables are twisted. Anyone have any idea how to fix this?

 

I just did this today. I got it all put back together after cleaning it. It still didnt' work!

I took it all apart a second time and took some fine sand paper to the copper contacts. Then I cleaned it again with alcohol and scraped the spaces between the copper contacts with an x-acto blade. Now it works better than my passenger side does! It moves lightspeed now!

Great write up but you didn't mention what a pain in the *** it was to get the bolts for the window frame thingy to line back up with the holes....It took me probably 15 minutes to do this part. All in all, 2 full assembly + dissasembly took me under 2 1/2 hours though so not bad at all!

 

sucessfully did this in 2 hours
but the window wouldnt go up the first time i did it
so i had to redo it something was blocking the window from going up dont kno what..
but either way finished it glad that i have privacy now
been driving around wit my window down
rain and shine
but now that i opened it up the subs are making the door rattle its kinda annoying but not too noticeable
tryed to tighten up the bolts but broke one off
i guess dynamat is my bestfriend right nwo

 

I never changed a power window and need to since mine stopped functioning. While taking the door panel apart, when will I have to watch out for the window falling? Thank u for the pics...helpful

 

awesome writeup

 

nice write up, one of my friends was asking about how to do this.