This 2000 Lincoln LS came in with the driver’s rear window down. A quick check found that the motor was working but the telltale noise of crunching plastic and cables told me the regulator cable was broken.
To remove the door panel, lift the cover in the bottom of the armrest pull handle. Remove the two screws.
Lift the front edge of the power window switch bezel. I used a small screwdriver to help lift the bezel.
In order to remove the wiring for the switch the ash tray has to be removed. Release the latch and push it out.
Now the wiring can be disconnected.
There are two screws along the lower edge of the door panel.
One on the rear edge near the latch assembly.
Now you have to find a good hand hold along an edge and pull the panel loose from the door. You can see the retaining pins on the inside of the panel below.
Carefully peel back the moisture barrier from the door.
Remove the screws for the speaker assembly.
Disconnect the wiring from the speaker and set it aside. Do not place it near any of your screws or you will be looking for screws during reassembly that are now stuck to the speaker magnet.
I removed the screws that hold the silver plate to the door and I also removed the screws that held the regulator to the silver plate.
Once all of the unneeded parts were out of the way, I had a little bit more room to work. In the picture below you will see the plastic bracket that attaches to the glass and the damaged cable dangling from it.
Removing that plastic bracket was a bit worrisome to me. It just felt like too much force would be needed to unsnap it from the glass. So I used a pair of cutters and clipped the front side of the plastic bracket off as shown below.
I then used a plastic pry bar to release the clip on the backside of the glass.
I must say doing it like this took away a lot of apprehension about shattering the glass.
I removed the motor from the old regulator assembly and installed it on the new regulator. I inserted the motor drive gear into the regulator drive socket as close as I could to having the screws lined up. Then I slowly rotated the whole motor until the mounting screws lined up.
The original regulator used a screw but the replacement has a threaded stud, so I had to round up a nut to fit.
In case you were wondering I use suction cup cables to hold the glass in place. I had to attach them to the side of the glass as they would not reach around the upper frame.
The new regulator assembly attached to the inside of the silver panel.
With everything bolted back in place I lowered to glass down to the plastic retainer.
I made extra sure that the peg in the glass was properly aligned with the bracket.
I could not take a picture but I used one hand to steady the new plastic retainer and the other along the top edge of the glass to push it done into the bracket.
I put the moisture barrier back into place and finished installing the door panel and switches. Another one done.