kishy's 1991 Grand Marquis

[friskyfrankie]

Sometimes "you gotta do what you gotta do". Generally, when replacing the compressor, I ALWAYS replace the dryer, orifice tube AND condenser as the condenser usually gets "funk" from a bad system. Not sure if you have any sort of warranty on the compressor but most companies won't guarantee the compressor without doing the condenser (and with good reason). All that being said, I do hope it works out well even in the short term until you can sort it out properly.

[gadget73]

Ideally one uses nitrogen for leak testing because of the moisture thing but if you're replacing the drier honestly that doesn't matter. Agree that much vac drop in a short time points to a fairly large leak though, and soapy water and ~40 psi of air ought to find it for you.


should also flush that if you're messing with it. Orifice tube visual inspection at a bare minimum. Any trash coming out of the condenser or compressor will be trapped in the screen. I've had OK luck flushing the old single pass condensers with paint thinner to get the bulk of the trash out and following that with acetone as a final wash with a solvent that will dry fairly rapidly. Funnel, some rubber hose to get connected to the outlet side of the condenser, and another hose into a a catch bottle for the mess. Motivate the solvent through with a few honks of shop air.

[Tiggie]

Last several times, I threw a can of 134a in and used a sniffer to find the leaks. All three of my most recent leaks have been at the compressor shaft (three different vehicles, and one was a rebuilt Motorcraft branded compressor).

[Mainemantom]

Kishy,, Have you checked the upper A arm bushings ? I had a bad right front one that looked good but checking it with a crowbar proved it to be bad. It made a clunking noise when making a sharp left turn.
I agree with replacing the AC orifice tube (very cheap) and replacing the O rings at the fitting. Coat them with Pag oil before re installing. Since the system is discharged, I would recommend you replace all the O rings at all the fittings. Better to do it than to recharge the system and find a leak at another fitting.I have a sniffer with a built in light to aid in finding a leak. Not an expensive tool.

[kishy]

Right, I had a feeling lack of detail was going to result in some of those thoughts.

I flushed the evaporator and condenser with a purpose-made AC flushing solvent, using a purpose-made AC flushing tool, which is essentially just an air gun nozzle with large rubber cone fitting, and a bottle that the air flows into to push the solvent out the nozzle. It's visible in the background of one of the photos.

Recall that the evaporator and condenser were replaced with new in 1997 - admittedly still a long time ago. The condenser has a Ford part number sticker on it, so they appear to have used OEM parts. Anything is possible but I am optimistic that those parts are fine.

A new orifice tube was used, and the old one was plugged with junk, hence deciding to replace it all except the two coils (which, being non-parallel-flow type parts, were good candidates for flushing). New o-rings were used and ester oil was used to lube the o-rings for installation, which is also the oil type I used in the compressor.

There is no warranty on the compressor and I'm not too concerned about it since it was something like 80 bucks. If it turns out to need some re-sealing, well, not the end of the world, but it sucks.

The upper control arm bushings (recall 98-02 brakes with 92-94 arms) are low mileage parts in visually decent condition. Some cracking, but no missing chunks. The clunk occurs in a very specific scenario only, that being when a suspension height change occurs while steering to the left, and I don't think it's happened since I ground off the steering stop so it's entirely possible it was cured by doing that. The stops on the Dorman lower control arms combined with the stops on the 98-02 knuckles create an enormous amount of interference, extremely noisy with half as much steering angle as stock...grinding those off was the best thing I've done to the front end since the brakes themselves. I will be repeating it on the passenger side.

Today, I mounted the tailpipes, and I'd have to say it went very well and the part fitment is rather good. The exhaust noise in the cabin has indeed been cured, which proves that having your mufflers dump into the giant cavity around the axle is a recipe for loud drone. It still sounds glorious, though.

I was able to use the stock tailpipe hanger design thanks to having taken one of the hangers off my 97 when I had it. Although made of plastic, the hanger design is identical, and fit the holes on the 91 frame without issue. This is the argument in favour of keeping all those things you might need someday - I regularly do, in fact, need those things from years prior. I also had to re-tweak the Walker hangers at the mufflers, to no longer be holding up the muffler itself, but now the tailpipe.

















The Walker replacement H-pipe for the Town Car (40492) is the perfect fit for this job on a Ford/Mercury when using a shorter muffler such as the ones I'm using. Band clamps allow it all to go together even when there isn't otherwise enough overlap between parts. It's a workable DIY setup and I'll replicate it identically on the next one I do, which is either the 83 with no functional exhaust system, or the wagon revisiting the muffler choice I used on it. The wagon has the Ford/Mercury H-pipe (40483) because I opted for a stock-replacement, stock-size muffler, which is gigantic, but I'd be way happier with it with the setup I just did on the 91.

[kishy]

I did end up putting on the new cap and rotor. Wasn't expecting a change and didn't notice one, but the old ones had fairly crusty terminals, so if nothing else it should be slightly better.

I have a set of wires and a set of plugs, which I may or may not change. I unfortunately don't have a note for the mileage or date at which I installed the current plugs, but they were bought in 2014, installed fairly soon after I got them, and the wires are of similar age. They might have a good bit of mileage on them - not the usual lifespan amount for those parts but enough that changing them wouldn't be a big waste, likely.

After a car show this morning, to which I brought the wagon, I washed the exterior of the 91. Paintwork received a simple powerwash, followed by handwash and rinse. Cloth top received its special cleaner and protectant, but the top is rough now. It looks like a cat or something decided to pull its claws in one spot and it's just shredded there. It wasn't beyond help before that happened, but now that it has, it's on the decline for sure. Glass has been thoroughly cleaned to try to get rid of some very persistent residues and looks pretty good now. HPP wheels have been cleaned and while not perfect, are nice and shiny. I also used some Meguiar's leather wipes to try to clean up the seats, which may or may not have done anything useful.







The car is indoors for the night as recommended for the cloth top protectant product.

As for the Bluetooth handsfree calling thing, I forgot another option I had. Some time ago, an eBay seller shipped me the wrong item, and that item is a Bluetooth headset. It consists of a piece that lays around your neck containing the rechargeable battery, brains, and microphone, and two earbuds on little cords to go in your ears. As it happens, this solves my aversion to earbuds since I can keep them out just hanging on my neck until the phone rings, then I can easily find one earbud on the end of its cord, put it in, and answer the phone. Tests show it has good noise cancellation, so that problem is solved.

Hit list:

• Full-size spare: on track to buy another set of HPPs tomorrow, two of which have usable-condition tires on them, one of which can be my spare for the trip.
• Replace plugs and possibly also replace wires.

And a list item I had forgotten about: gifts for two friends who came last year and are coming again this year.

[87gtVIC]

Those are nice gifts. Surely will be appreciated. Car is looking sharp!


I had a squirrel attack my $600 car cover. My cover is now repaired with vinyl tape lol.

[gadget73]

Animals can be creatures of misery. I had mice get in the Towncar and eat partially through the headliner backing. Didn't come through the cloth but there is a spot between the sun visors where the cloth has nothing to attach to. Had to peel that down partially to clean out the mess up there as best I could. Still has some residual smell, probably soaked into that fiberglass. Its getting another ozone generator treatment right now.

This was after finding a couple of nests in various places and finally extracting what I think was the last one.

Up at the Elks I have to re-do the soffit in whats basically an add-on storage area on the back of the building. Not sure the sequence of events but there is a piece missing and a squirrel moved in. The whole soffit has random bits of insulation visible through the vents and its gotten into assorted things stored in that space. Lots of it is just junk and has been tossed already but I expect its going to be a fun mess when I start ripping all that out. Showers of squirrel turds and fiberglass, I just can't wait.

[kishy]

Well friends, I believe it is time to say that the hit list is complete.

Tonight after work, I picked up the additional set of HPPs from my friend. As he said, 2 tires usable, 2 absolutely not, all a little on the old side. The wheels have a fair bit of corrosion but one in particular is quite decent, and it also has the best condition tire on it. I cleaned all of them thoroughly, then verified the air pressure in the best one, and put it in the trunk. With that, the "full size spare" item is checked off.





I then replaced the spark plugs, and by the look of them, fouling wasn't far off. This car is a known oil burner and it builds up chunkies on the plug electrodes, which eventually begin to miss. The chunkies were accumulating, not too bad but definitely existing. Motorcraft copper went in. Old plugs were a mix of AC Delco and Motorcraft copper - the AC Delcos having been the result of a conversation way-back-when seeking a plug recommendation as I chased suspected ignition performance problems. They did fine, but 4 and 8 fouled up pretty bad at some point and used Motorcrafts that had been closer to the front of the engine went in those cylinders. Mileage at the change today is 222,636km.



I then replaced the plug wires with a set of old-stock, made in USA, Kem-brand wires that were given to me free with a batch of Town Car parts by a friend in Michigan. They're nice and flexible and I was able to get them routed reasonably.







I did also snug up the steering gear another quarter-turn, which did take out the tiniest bit more slop. Steering effort is still low and it still returns to centre (or near it, anyway) without hesitation so I feel pretty good about where it is. Just trying to cut down any detectable dead zone in the middle, which tends to manifest itself in overshooting the centre when changing lanes. Better to just go where I steer it, than to correct after.

Then, took the car out for a spin and drove around for the better part of an hour, highway and city mixed, and it drives great. I'm looking forward to the seat time over the next week.

Those are nice gifts. Surely will be appreciated. Car is looking sharp!


I had a squirrel attack my $600 car cover. My cover is now repaired with vinyl tape lol.

I thought the photos were a nice idea. Wasn't supposed to take this long (were supposed to be given to the respective friends on each of their birthdays), but better late than never. Those are pro photos by the roadside guys on the Dragon, and the drone aerial photos I took of the group. Some light cropping and editing, printed them on the Walmart self-serve photo printer things, and bought frames at Michael's.

As for the car, she's definitely still got it, if you look past the faults. Unfortunately, the cloth top being part of the car means damage to it is pretty impactful.

Animals can be creatures of misery.

QFT.

The domestic cat when allowed outside is quite possibly one of the worst. Spraying and/or pissing on everything, pulling claws on stuff...easily more destructive than even a pretty determined raccoon, in the right circumstances.

[DerekTheGreat]

Very much dislike for rodents. I agree about cats now, they're awful too. The ones we see on the cameras are always pissing on the Camaro. I dislike them almost as much as I dislike squirrels.

That skinny spare tire.. That's from a Lincoln LS. First time I ever saw an auto maker produce a custom doughnut for a car. Pretty neat.

[87gtVIC]

I rock that mini spare in my car. I thought I pulled it out of a whale. Maybe they have similar.

[Kodachrome Wolf]

Very much dislike for rodents. I agree about cats now, they're awful too. The ones we see on the cameras are always pissing on the Camaro. I dislike them almost as much as I dislike squirrels.

That skinny spare tire.. That's from a Lincoln LS. First time I ever saw an auto maker produce a custom doughnut for a car. Pretty neat.

FWIW, that mini-spare looks rather similar to what my '97 had prior to trading it for a full size spare. I know Ford used aluminum mini-spares on Panthers for a while before switching back to steel minis in the mid 2000s. Even the '87 had a build sheet note that notated an aluminum mini.

[kishy]

That is indeed the whale Panther aluminum donut, in pre-03 offset variant. I didn't realize aeros could have them also, but it stands to reason that they may have.

I have a few of them. My first was necessitated by big brake swapping this car (16" required). Pretty nice wheel. Very lightweight.

[DerekTheGreat]

Cool. First time I saw one like that was out of my dad's old '04 LS.

[Mainemantom]

"I had a squirrel attack my $600 car cover."
Ouch that would make me angry. I have a problem with chipmunks. I have put out huge snap traps. I use the T REX brand. It has a very nasty bite.I buy them by the case. For bait I use hampster food. Last fall I was catching a minimum of one a day for about two weeks. This past few days I have caught one every day. The traps work well for mice too. I set the small snap traps up on the sides of the cowl on the cars if I am not using them for a few days. I have caught quite a few mice. there. Hopefully one of the local foxes will move closer. They solve the problem quick.