jcolee

Hello,

I'm relatively new to this forum and this will actually be my first question and it will be concerning my mothers 1987 Mercury Cougar.

I've done quite a bit of repairs to the car, such as replacing the water pump, radiator, alternator (as of tomorrow), cd player install, plugs, wires, and air filter. Nothing far to out of the ordinary.

But there have been a few problems plaguing myself over the last couple of months. One mainly being her window, for the life of me I can't get the window to stay in the track. Is there a solution to this? Every time the window is being rolled down, it will slip from the track and fall down into the door. I've tried various different epoxies and adhesives to no avail.

Secondly, are there any replacement headlights on the market anywhere? I've tried google several times and have not been able to locate any replacement parts. I backed up into her car a while back when i was a little more careless and the front lens on her passenger headlight fell off. I fixed it with plexi-glass and duct tape which is less than ideal. Am i better off checking a junk yard and "restoring" the headlight?

Thirdly, her window switches seem to be a bit finicky as of lately. In order to get the window down sometimes I have to pry up the center console plate and touch the wires and connectors while trying the switch to get the window to operate. Is this common?

As you can tell, her car is in very sad shape but hopefully I can save it from the salvage yard. There are still yet other problems with the car, but I will save those for another time.

Thanks,
Jake

chipset

need more info on your window. Is the entire track falling down to the bottom of the
door ? ( that is not possible. ). Is the glass coming out of the bottom of the glass
channel at the bottom of the guide ? That is possible. If the glass is being pulled out of
the bottom channel you can't use apoxy to repair it and the track has to be adjusted properly. That is not normally what a DIYer can do. You need two people.

jcolee

Sorry, I meant to say that the glass comes out of the channels at the bottom of the regulator. Does it come from the factory with adhesive? Would purchasing a new window regulator solve my problems? Why can't a DIYer do it? Just curious.

Thanks,
Jake

CatSkinner

Probably can if they have good balance, excellent balance, and monkey feet. You need more than one pair of hands.

__________________
Prius repellant, just add gas.

jcolee

I have a twin, so an extra pair of hands is pretty easy to come by. Haha. That's usually the way that I've had to get it back into the grooves before.

jwko

You don't hear that often

Bert

If the glass is coming out of the regulator so the glass is in the channel and not attached to the regulator, you'll need some special adhesive for that. Check with a glass shop.

__________________
Bert

chipset

The entire glass channel has to come out of the door and be cleaned and i mean CLEANED. So does the glass bottom. No finger prints on the glass. The only adhesive
that will hold that is urathane. If you smear that stuff on the glass, and you will, do not
attempt to remove it. you will be sorry. Let it dry and take it off with a razor blade. The cleaner cannot have any oils in it. No varsol, gas, karosine, Has to be a grease and wax
remover. The urathane has to set up for 12 hours. 24 is best. This cannot be done with
the glass in the door. When you put the window back you line it up and adjust it to
the window track on the door. If you don't know how to do this you could jam the glass
and i mean jam. The urathane will NOT LET GO. The window could shatter. I mean explode in your face. ( I've seen lots ). The glass is strong enough to move the door
channel. If it is not aligned properly when rolled up and you close the door the door frame can move and the glass could explode. I've done hundreds of these. The inside
door skin is sharp. When your arms come out looking like they went through a hamgurger
mill and sliced up that is normal. Actually this is no joke. that door skin is like a razor.
Be carefull. Realigning the window regulator is complicated and a two person job. One person can do it if they are experianced but not recommended for the DIY'er. That
window motor is strong enough to bend metal. Be carefull. Good luck.

jcolee

Thank you very much, I will definitely be researching more about it before attempting it, as well as talking to some local shops to see what kind of price they'd be at for a repair such as this. I don't have a garage, only a driveway and with the weather in Indiana being slightly irregular, I'll probably attempt it (if I do at all) in the summer time. Thank you, again.

This actually reminds me of when I replaced a window regulator in my 1994 Mercury Grand Marquis, after the install was complete I was tightening the glass and of course being a novice, I tightened it a little too tight and the glass shattered with my arm inside of the door. Luckily I wasn't cut because of the safety glass, but it was quite the surprise.

jcolee

Well, onto a new list of problems with the car.

I got the alternator put back in, now it purrs like a kitten... close to death, but at least it runs. Here's a whole new list of problems I did not include in the intro post.

1. The headlights, as I've said before I could not find a replacement lens for this car, and I suppose eventually I will get around to a junkyard. But I was curious if there was a way to obtain a far greater light output? I could literally strap two mag lights to the side of the car and I would probably gain better lighting. Any ideas? My mom doesn't really feel safe driving at night, and in the winter time, night comes a lot earlier on her way home from work.

2. About 5 years ago, the light in the digital speedometer stopped working. I believe my mother took it to a shop and they quoted her some absurd price to replace it so it was never solved. Does anyone have any experience replacing a light? I've replaced the heater core in my 1997 Jeep Grand Cherokee, and that job required removing the entire dash, so I know a little bit about removing a dash. The speedometer set on my Jeep is one big piece that plugs into the wiring harness, is this car like that? I would assume not because it's so old.

That's all for now, I hope i'm at least giving some of you something to think about. Haha. (If you're bored that is)

Thanks,
Jake