1997 Mercury Grand Marquis LS

[Kodachrome Wolf]

Might water be getting in via the coach lamp??

No exterior coach lamps on a '97. The rear passenger light is dry and only is inserted in the headliner.

[DerekTheGreat]

Might water be getting in via the coach lamp??

[Kodachrome Wolf]

Driver rear? Hood release grommet, coal leak in Seam sealer? Factory wiring harness grommet ?

I'll definitely have to pull stuff apart. Hood release area seemed dry, as did most of the upper carpet surrounding the foot well. The floor mat was the wettest thing, yet the carpet underneath was a bit drier by touch, but still wet. Everything was rather localized to that particular area.

I took my carpet shampooer to the interior with the handheld component and cleaned the carpets really well. The floor mat that was wet had a orange-brown color coming out of it. I suspect rain water as we've had strong storms lately, but I've never encountered this in the car before. I'm sure I'll find the source once I get things taken apart.

[TecNickal]

Driver rear? Hood release grommet, coal leak in Seam sealer? Factory wiring harness grommet ?

[Kodachrome Wolf]

Evap drain clogged seepingninto car? Firewall grommet leak? Gasket for air intake leak like the Lincolns of the era have/do from 98-11?

That's the weird part, it was the rear floorboard on the driver's side. Both driver and passenger front floor boards were dry.

[TecNickal]

Evap drain clogged seepingninto car? Firewall grommet leak? Gasket for air intake leak like the Lincolns of the era have/do from 98-11?

[DerekTheGreat]

Glad things are going again. This is why I hate taking my stuff to shops, seems every shop assigns sleepy Jose to my car. I really wish more shops would endorse the "steering wheel condom" as I cannot stand the grime these guys leave behind.

[Tiggie]

Sounds like you got the sloppy mechanic on duty. Glad it's working now.

[Kodachrome Wolf]

Finally got the '97 home from the shop again, and that'll be the first and last time I use this particular shop. I think I'll stick to going to my preferred places that I've used before. I've been without A/C for most of last month and borrowing my mother's car to get around every time I've had my car in just to get nowhere until today.

Long story short, it was thought the old compressor didn't blow its internals into the line so just the compressor was replaced. Spoiler: The old compressor blew its internals into the lines and clogged the works. Only took a total of three extra go-arounds to figure that out when it's 30 PSI on the low side and 350 PSI on the high side. My complaint every time was the system is short cycling but holding pressure. It was bouncing off the high pressure switch most of the time if the system was on.

I also have to go back to the shop tomorrow to get my fucking battery hold down. I heard rattling on my way home from the passenger front. Pop the hood in the driveway and battery is just chilling there. Shop still has it and they forgot to install it back. Also got to get the A/C hi/lo port caps they forgot to install back.

I went to this shop because I heard they had a pretty good reputation in the area. I don't like it when jobs are half-assed, though. Beyond my battery hold down missing, I also found the fan shroud wasn't installed back properly. I had to re-align it and actually tighten a bolt that was left halfway out. Then I had to wipe off all the PAG oil from the header panel filler piece and spray the accumulated oil from the bottom of the belly pan. Then I washed the car because of all of the grimy hand prints on the hood and fender.

/rant

At least the car is cleaned, vacuumed, and the A/C blows ice cold again, and reliably at that. It has a new compressor, accumulator, orifice tube, lines, and condenser. The evaporative core was flushed clean. Hopefully the replacement equipment will do another 20 years or 185K before failing.

I'm also sealing up the passenger headlight. It looks like some of the sealant didn't adhere well when the lights were retrofitted and was allowing moisture to be drawn inside. Another thing I need to figure out is why the backseat floorboard on the driver's side was soaking wet when I got home. Probably explains the musty smell.

[Kodachrome Wolf]

Figured I'd give an update on the '97.

Currently it's still beating around coming up on 185K. Still wearing a white fender as other issues have put off from me having the funds usable to get that repainted. I'm not using my savings on that since I consider it a secondary issue, since it doesn't require immediate action, as ugly as it might be. If nothing else gives out for a while, maybe I can get that done before fall, but knowing my predictions, that prediction wouldn't hit the broadside of a barn.

It seems to be giving some of the 20 year old car issues. A/C went out a few weeks ago. OE compressor had clutch issues; wouldn't disengage and couldn't cycle. It sounded bad given that condition. Had the compressor replaced and system charged, just to lose it's charge that first weekend in June. Sent it back to the shop, where the system was dye tested. No leaks on the lines, but the use of a refrigerant sniffer found R134a coming from the vents and it was noted the evap core has a leak. I'll have to send it back soon.

Other minor issues is the cheap subwoofer I have in the JBL enclosure took a dump today. It's rattling now on the bass notes. I'll source a replacement soon, but it's also a secondary issue, despite how much I like my tunes. At least subwoofers that work in our factory enclosures are plentiful and not excessively costly. Also, the passenger window regulator is binding, so that needs to be replaced. Lastly, the alignment needs to be checked out as well since I have a slight pull to the right.

Primary attack is to get the A/C working again, since I only foresee it getting hotter as July and August come about. I'll also need a functional defrost function later in the year, too, so it only makes sense to get that thing working again.


As much as I wish I could have everything done in a day, I don't see that happening. At least everything else has been holding up well and hopefully nothing else surprises me with a major repair expense. A/C is just one of those things I'm not setup to be able to do at home, so that's why I have a shop doing the work, and all that work is backed with a warranty in case something decides to go.

[Kodachrome Wolf]

Work day today for the '97. The brake shudder came back, so I decided lets go all in to eliminate the front brakes from the equation (if it comes back, I suspect the passenger hub, despite spinning smooth with no noise).





Parts fixed/replaced:
New calipers on both sides
New slide pins on both sides
New brake hoses on both sides
New anti-rattle clips on both sides
Rotors Turned
Brake pads replaced with Ceramic pads (warranty swapped my basic, dusty Semi-Metallics)
Brakes bled; Fluid flushed at every corner

The fluid that came out of the car was likely to be the factory fill. It came out a greenish black color and left sediment in the bottom of the tin can I was using to catch the fluid. All calipers were bled until it ran clear. I'll likely have to redo the flush in the future to get any additional contamination out. The boiling point of the oil fluid was stupid low, I could make the pedal fade to the floor holding the brakes while creeping in very slow traffic.

The test drive went fine, brakes bit well, and the pedal felt great. Since I got the car, it has always been very stiff, and never felt linear like cars with brake systems in good order. The car always stopped, but the pedal feel was awkward. Now it appropriately firm and responsive, just like a brake pedal should.

[TecNickal]

Very cool Zach - looks great!

[87gtVIC]

Looks right at home in there.

[Kodachrome Wolf]

So this happened:






Finally pulled the trigger on getting the headlights projector retrofitted. There's someone I know from the Taurus forums who runs a small side business doing retrofits and had been wanting me to get it done on my car. I should have pulled the trigger long ago, since the light pattern is just super and illuminates the road so much better than the factory halogen reflectors. I've been doing some aiming work to get them evened out, but otherwise the light is down on the ground and not in other driver's eyes. I would have not done HID bulbs unless they were going to be in a projector. I can't stand being blinded by HIDs in halogen reflector housings.

The HID bulbs are just a very solid white. They're only bluish right when they turn on and haven't warmed up. It's very funny listening to the lights turning on, since you can hear the external relay click on and then hum of the ballasts when they're cold. Hitting the highs you hear the relay click along side with the solenoids opening the shutters in the projectors.

The other cool part about all this is that the projectors have a solenoid operated shutter tied with the high beams. With just the low beams on, the shutter is down providing that clean cutoff associated with most projectors. Hit the high beams, the standard halogen high beams come on, and the shutters open in the projectors, essentially giving me quad high beams. Having the high beams on gives me more light than I know what to do with.

[87gtVIC]

6 coats of base! I am guess you topped it with 3 coats of clear.

I like it.