The Tan Lady - A 1997 Crown Victoria

[SeanP]

Hey folks,

Been a bit since I have logged in as I was away on vacation and had no internet where I was and spotty cellular data coverage. Anyway, here is the latest and the greatest:

Safety, e-tested, registered, licensed, insured and on the road.

Pesky Check Engine light is back on... will hopefully get the scan done today and find out what's setting it off. Turns out it was probably disconnecting the battery when I swapped them that cleared the code. Just thinking here, the intermittent nature of it may be a misfire, dirty sensor or something... anyway, we'll see what the codes say. Hopefully I just need to change some spark plugs or clean the MAF or something easy. Luckily, the light tripped on AFTER the e-test.

Still have check air-suspension... I'm going to take a look at the ride height sensor as soon as I can get under the car.

Interior is just as dirty as ever. Will need to get to cleaning it as soon as I have a few free hours.

Still waiting for my actuator from Rock Auto so I can fix the annoying under dash clicking. As a lucky aside, the cold air does blast in via the vents, so it's not a furnace to drive. I was a little freaked out though later when the AC cut out and the clicking stopped, as I thought maybe my check engine light was the result of bad electrics slowly draining my brand new battery. However, the AC came back on after a few minutes. I guess the car got to the right temperature and it stopped the cold air and when it got back up again it started up... so I'm hoping that's a sign of things running properly!

And thanks for the POTM nom from 79Lincolnlover!! I will post some glamour shots of the old girl as soon as possible!

[Chuck Norris]

I have seen many 4.6 Fords have a "check engine" light set and it come up as a MAF code, just to be a really dirty, neglected air filter. I hope it's something small!

[IPreferDIY]

It sounds like you were really lucky with the e-test. As I understand it, you had to have driven it long enough after reconnecting the battery for all the monitors to show as "okay" when they plugged in to check for problems. The fact that the CEL wasn't immediate might be a clue for the cognoscenti.

I should note a change in what I said about reading about only one bad air suspension module. There's a guy in Germany on CVN who changed a capacitor in his recently. I have no idea if that relates to your problem, but you might want to open up the module if possible and have a look for something obvious.

[SeanP]

I have seen many 4.6 Fords have a "check engine" light set and it come up as a MAF code, just to be a really dirty, neglected air filter. I hope it's something small!

I will find out today. I'm picking up a new OBDII scanner I sourced from Kijiji. Actually a great deal and near where I live! WOOT!

My dad's pitching in too since the after market gas cap on my mom's Patriot throws a code every 4 or 5 fills. It takes something like 50 drive cycles to clear it. And one's heart never beats easy with a warning light shining on a dashboard.

[SeanP]

It sounds like you were really lucky with the e-test. As I understand it, you had to have driven it long enough after reconnecting the battery for all the monitors to show as "okay" when they plugged in to check for problems. The fact that the CEL wasn't immediate might be a clue for the cognoscenti.

I should note a change in what I said about reading about only one bad air suspension module. There's a guy in Germany on CVN who changed a capacitor in his recently. I have no idea if that relates to your problem, but you might want to open up the module if possible and have a look for something obvious.

Sure was lucky!

I will get into some air ride trouble shooting as soon as I figure out the MIL issue. I'll post my findings as I go.

I will hopefully get a chance to do some cleaning today... at least a vacuum and wipe down of the interior. It's pretty awful.

[SeanP]

Ok, so turns out, as per the OBD2, my MIL is the result of a lean condition. Both banks threw out 2 notifications over the last couple of days. After some research I found the most common cause of this is a dirty MAF. So I bought some cleaner and doused her up. Once it was dry I reinstalled it and cleared the code. Revving the motor didn't make the MIL come back... Probably bugged my neighbours though. We'll see what happens. The air filter wasn't that bad so I left it.

[Chuck Norris]

Hopefully you've got that sorted, and it's on to the next thing!

[SeanP]

Hopefully you've got that sorted, and it's on to the next thing!

Well so far so good. Michelle took the car to the store today and no trouble light... other than the air suspension... effing thing. I will hopefully take a look at this on Sunday, as well as try to tackle the heater blend door actuator replacement.

On that topic:

Has anyone done a write up of the passenger airbag shortcut for this? I've found great instructions and videos on how to drop the dash properly, but if I can do it quicker and dirtier (but still effectively), that would probably be best. That being said, if it's so fiddly that I might as well go through the proper procedure, I'll just bite the bullet and do it right.

Another thing I noticed while snooping around:

There are a few rust spots underneath the car on the frame, etc. I did the jam my finger into them to see how bad they were and all that happened was that I got sore fingers. Nothing gave in or flaked off. Before I do the seasonal under oiling, I'm going to sand them, blast them with some rust converter to prime them and then do a chassis paint top coat and forget about them. Does this sound reasonable or should I go more hard core with POR15 or something? I really only need the car to hold out for a couple of years, but if I can slow the spread or worsening of what seems to be just surface rust, then I should probably do it right?

[sly]

Might hose inside the frame rails with rust converter as best as you can as well. But I have no experience with all that as all of my cars are the generally rust free southern types.

[Salty Dog]

Do it. Rust does not sleep. I'd sand it as close to metal as possible. Hit what's left with some ospho or other phosphoric acid product. Try and get the acid everywhere you can't get too with your sander. Hit with with a rust converter that turns to primer. Topcoat or undercoating to finish it off.

[SeanP]

Ok, so I'm on the right track re: frame rust. I'll look into some ospho or similar. The converter I have turns into a paintable primer and I also picked up some high gloss black chassis paint. Figure it will show where I've painted better than the matte finish.

[SeanP]

all of my cars are the generally rust free southern types.

Sigh... if only those existed around where I live. This one was probably the best one I looked at in terms of rust and there's a couple of spots brewing in the wheel wells near the rocker panels and the surface rust spots on the frame.

Like I said though, it's only got to last a winter or two then it will be passed along to the next enthusiast. I do want to look after it best I can in the meantime though.

I'm going to be on the prowl for a 2 door box once I no longer need this car as a daily driver and replace it with an awd kid hauler. No offence to the Aero crowd as I am enjoying the car, just not my favourite aesthetic.

[SeanP]

Spent 2 hours cleaning the upholstery today. Not perfect now by any means, but much better... most of the stains are either gone or at least drastically reduced. Used turtle wax shampoo stuff... foams up. Used some spot remover on the tougher stains. I think an animal lived in the car for a time.

Here's a shot of my freshly cleaned interior (or the front anyway):



On another note, I was vacuuming the trunk when I noticed this mess of electrical stuff behind my spare tire:



There's this tab coming from it:



Which attaches to this ground:



Or at least it's supposed to. It's not right now. I touched the two ends together to see what would happen and I heard a clicking sound from under the trunk... not too sure what all this is. Anyone have some insight as to what all this stuff is and what that wire might be grounding?? I would have spent some time trying to figure it out today, but I had errands to run and now it's supper time and then family time. I'll be sneakily checking on my phone for replies though... thanks in advance to anyone who has some knowledge to share!

Just so you know though... there does seem to be an afterthought trailer hitch with the electrical connection kind of McGuyvered together. Would this be part of this? But that doesn't quite explain the switch click sound under the trunk...

[sly]

Vampire taps. No like. Also, no clue what that's all about.

[Chuck Norris]

I wouldn't mind driving another Aero one day. But I am more of a Whale guy, with a strong wagon fetish (in general, not just Panther.)