VicCrownVic's 1991 Mercury Grand Marquis LS "The Scab"

[packman]

Really like those '98 wheels on this car!!!

[Kodachrome Wolf]

I think the '98-'02 wheels work pretty good, but I have a slight bias since my aunt used to have a dark blue '00 Marquis with those. I dunno about plain steelies though, I'd have to have a full size wheel cover at a minimum. The '98+ center caps can't hold a candle to the nicer looking dog dishes on the -'97 cars if you're running a more poverty-spec steel wheel look.

[VicCrownVic]

Drove this car to work yesterday due to an issue with the fan not running on the '98. Got home from work and locked the keys in the car with the ignition and lights on. Couldn't find my keys later when I needed to get into my shed to get the mower out, that's when I found them locked in this car. Of course I then needed to jump this car since the lights were on. (I have a business card sized parking pass under the dash over the auto headlamp sensor so they are always on.) I saw the lights on when I got out after getting home but thought nothing of it since this car takes a long time to auto shut them off sometimes. While jumping this car the fan on the '98 came on like it was supposed to, so not sure why it didn't want to come on during my ride home on Wednesday.

Let this car run the whole time I mowed (15-30 minutes maybe). Shut it off and started right back up with interior lights looking normal brightness.

[VicCrownVic]

Drove this car to see dad today. He had mentioned possibly needing a car to borrow this week, so I stopped by to see if he needed it. Turns out he got enough done in my youngest brother's car today so didn't need mine.

As for the fan not working on the '98, that acted up again one month later which gave me opportunity to diagnose the problem by hitting the fan relay. That worked so the '98 got a new fan relay that day.

The battery dieing in The Scab mentioned in the last post was a result of the car stalling once I got to my spot in the driveway. Due to being a bit annoyed and surprised, I had left the ignition on when I got out. I've drove this car a few times since then and it kept wanting to stall backing into my driveway along with stumbling from a stop. While visiting dad today I removed the IAT (since I figured the issue was with a temp sensor) with the intention of swapping the one from The Ice Car. Turns out the IAT was caked in oily gunk. Cleaned it up and decided to try that first. The drive home was far less stumbly (almost completely gone, and very occasional when it did have a hint of stumble) and it didn't act like it was going to stall when backing into my driveway. It's a long enough drive from my parents' place so it had plenty of time to be just as hot as previous drives when it did want to stall.

[VicCrownVic]

Hmm... need to figure out what is draining my battery. I used to leave this car sitting for 6 months and it would start right up without any issue. Went to start it on Monday evening and the 1 year old battery was too low. This weekend I'll likely jump it, drive it to the new place, and stick it in the garage to deal with at a later date.
All this after I had already started this car a couple of weeks ago and had to jump it. I let it run for 20 minutes that time in hopes that the alternator would get the battery charged. Need to do some actual troubleshooting.

[friskyfrankie]

Hmm... need to figure out what is draining my battery. I used to leave this car sitting for 6 months and it would start right up without any issue. Went to start it on Monday evening and the 1 year old battery was too low. This weekend I'll likely jump it, drive it to the new place, and stick it in the garage to deal with at a later date.
All this after I had already started this car a couple of weeks ago and had to jump it. I let it run for 20 minutes that time in hopes that the alternator would get the battery charged. Need to do some actual troubleshooting.

Perhaps you can throw a good trickle charge on it until you can diagnose it so as to not beat up the newer battery too much?

[VicCrownVic]

Drove this car to the new place as planned on Saturday. The 45 mile drive was no problem. Left this car in the garage and got a ride back with my friend Jon who helped me move some things.

When I arrived at the new place, I was reminded that I had suspected the headlights to possibly be related to the battery issue. (My auto sensor is blocked so lights are always on.) The passenger side was a little dim compared to the driver side, and the driver side high beam was faintly on which made no sense. It wasn't like that when I left the old place but I think I have seen it do this before (sort why I'm leaning toward this as related the battery drain). Of course I did nothing about it...

I started this car again today and it started right up. This is when I remembered to disconnect the headlight relay harness. I found that I must have had previous issues because the driver side headlight was connected to the stock harness (which explains why it was the best looking light assuming this relay harness is junk.)

I'll be back to the new place Thursday night through the weekend. So at some point next weekend I'll continue my passive troubleshooting and see if disconnecting that harness stops the battery drain.

If that is the culprit, then the battery that I kept from this car last year, since I hade an even worse core, might still be good, but still 8 years old so no big deal if it's not good.

[VicCrownVic]

1 week later and I got around to starting this car again today. No noticeable signs of battery drain and the car started right up like it used to. Pretty sure the cheap headlight relay harness is the culprit based on this evidence. The harness was disconnected the full week, and before with it connected the battery was draining in a couple of days. I guess I'll have to steal the headlight relay harness off The Ice Car, not that The Scab really needs it, but I will not get to this for at least a couple more months.

[DerekTheGreat]

Looks like a nice garage!