Expert: Ben Menard - 2/24/2011

Question
Hi I have a 1998 crown victoria, the passenger side front window needed a new gear kit(the three plastic little balls that fall apart after ten years)so I installed the three little balls, put everything back together, tried it and no power. Used two different testers, no electricity. Pulled the motor again, wired it to the battery directly, engine works perfect, so its not that. Its not the switches cause I don't think they would both go bad at the same time, and the fuse is good and the other window go up and down fine. Please help.

Answer
Hi Giovanny,

I suspect that there is a problem at the connection between the motor and wiring connector. First clean up the contacts on both sides of the connection and plug it back together and see what happens.  If that doesn't solve the problem use a 12V test light to check for power following these steps.

1.  at the master window switch on the two wires* that supply power to the passenger front window.

2.  at the single switch on the two wires* that come from the master switch.

3.  at the single switch on the two wires* that lead from the single switch to the motor connector.

4.  at both wires of the motor connector while it is NOT plugged into the motor.

Be sure to toggle the switch in BOTH directions as you test for power on EACH wire.  Occasionally a switch will short out and supply power on both wires at the same time which causes the motor not to run.

*  I don't have a wiring diagram handy to tell you the wire colors.  It is not too hard to figure out which wire is which as they are typically located just below the switch button.

Feel free to send a follow up question if you need to.

Ben  .... the power window guy