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My 98 Windstar passenger window wouldn't respond. After checking my switches, determined it was the motor. Instructions that came with the new motor were vague. After spending several hours trying to look around inside the door with flashlite and mirror, I figured the only way to remove the old motor was to drill out the 3 rivets surrounding the motor gear axis. (Be sure to support the window so it doesn't drop. I cut a 2x4 to fit vertical between the X regulator horizontal bars.) The new motor I bought (from Kragen) was made by Siemens, about $70, but less than half the price the Ford dealer wanted.
The new motor has 3 holes tapped for a metric size thread bolt. It comes with spacer washers that need to be used to line up the gear with the regulator's toothed cresent. Ream out the holes in the inner door panel large enough to insert a socket to tighten the bolts.
There is a C clip that held the bottom of the old motor, but the new motor doesn't line-up to fit in that clip. I had to drill out that rivet too to remove the clip; and used a heavy duty tie-wrap and a small block of wood as a shim to secure the bottom of the motor to the inner door panel. This is needed because there is a LOT of torque! As the window hits the fully closed position I could see that the motor was twisting out of position without something to secure the lower end of the motor.
The other brand of motor offered by Kragen (Dolph brand? don't remember exactly) might fit better, and it was cheaper. But I figured that since the original motor failed, I wanted something of good quality that would not fail again, and that I would get more for my money.
Another incompatibility was the electrical plug did not mate with the door harness receptacle. I cut off both and crimped the wires directly; red to red and yellow to yellow which made perfect sense, but it turned out to be backward! So it took another cut and crimp, red-yellow and yellow-red. You don't always get what you pay for!
This work was done in summer '04.
After tinkering with the old motor, I believe that the failure was caused not by classical motor winding burnout, but by the electrical sensor that stops the motor when the window won't move any further.
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