VicCrownVic's 1998 Mercury Grand Marquis LS

[VicCrownVic]

LOL, that is part of why it took 3 years. No difference noticed which is a good thing. I've heard horror stories of people experiencing all kinds of drivetrain wobbles after a driveshaft swap.

[packman]

Sounds like he has plans for this car

[VicCrownVic]

LOL, no plans, but if a few years from now something else takes the DD role then I'll makes some plans.
Don't think I mentioned it, the aluminum driveshaft is out of a 2008 CVPI. I picked it up years ago before I even bought this car for a couple reason.
One being, driveshafts in the JY that aren't mangled is a rare sight, the other being I figured I would eventually be in a newer panther since boxes were beginning to become scarce. Had the second reason not happened I knew someone would eventually want it.

[DerekTheGreat]

"..since boxes are becoming scarce." Never thought I'd see the day, but it's here. Same story for shitty GM trucks too. I know my truck is getting old/scarce because people are starting to compliment it. Although the next one I step into will probably be a GMT800. Their interiors and LS power plants are much nicer than I gave them credit for.

[VicCrownVic]

Radiator Fan wasn't turning on Wednesday on the way home from work. Couldn't figure out why my AC was feeling like it wasn't working at all until the dash started beeping at me and then I saw the temp gauge was way high. Right after that traffic finally started moving on Van Dyke and it dropped a bar. Then the fan finally kicked on and the AC felt like it was trying. That's when I realized what happened. Not sure if it's a bad relay or bad fan. If it's the fan itself, I have everything I need to convert it to the '02 style fan. I might go ahead and do that swap this weekend.
Also ordered some new tires that arrived a few days ago for this car, I'll be mounting them this weekend.

[VicCrownVic]

Didn't get pics, got the new tires mounted. I have a bubble balancer but forgot to bring it with. No shakes or vibrations at any speed up to 80MPH, so no motivation to remove the wheels to balance them.
My external TPMS sensors don't fit properly on the new valve stems. The valve core seems to sit deeper in these valve stems. I might be able to grind the thread body of the valve stems down with my Dremel so the sensors engage the core properly, otherwise no sensors unless I want to replace the valve stems.

Didn't get anything else done. It was too hot out for my liking and didn't have enough time due to other plans. The more I thought about it the more I'm thinking my cooling fan issue is the relay. It hasn't acted up again though.

[VicCrownVic]

Radiator Fan wasn't turning on Wednesday on the way home from work. Couldn't figure out why my AC was feeling like it wasn't working at all until the dash started beeping at me and then I saw the temp gauge was way high. Right after that traffic finally started moving on Van Dyke and it dropped a bar. Then the fan finally kicked on and the AC felt like it was trying. That's when I realized what happened. Not sure if it's a bad relay or bad fan. If it's the fan itself, I have everything I need to convert it to the '02 style fan. I might go ahead and do that swap this weekend.
Also ordered some new tires that arrived a few days ago for this car, I'll be mounting them this weekend.

A month later it finally did it again. Sitting in a store parking lot near my parents' place and I started noticing the cabin temperature was feeling warm. Turned the air down since it wasn't set particularly low, and temps at the vents felt warmer than they should be. Didn't take long before the temp gauge claimed one bar higher than normal. Popped the hood and sure enough the fan is not running. Took a few wacks on the relay but sure enough that got the fan going again. Good to know what the problem is. At the time of this writing, I'm still sitting here and vent temps are nice and cold.

[friskyfrankie]

If that is your fix, I would get a relay pronto.

[VicCrownVic]

I already replaced it and made sure the fan came on with the replacement. Was going to check to see if I already had a suitable relay at my parents place but realized my parts cars are too old.

To give an idea of the area I am currently in, the only tiny hole in the wall auto parts store in this town where I grew up was already closed (at 5:30) before I got there. From that store to an auto parts store in another town there was a 10 mile stretch where I saw more Amish buggies than other cars on the road. Bit different from where I currently reside, 50 miles away, where there are at least 4 of every major auto parts stores within a 5 mile radius.

[VicCrownVic]

Ended up hitting the JY this morning, although I was out of there by 10. Wasn't expecting to get much and really didn't need anything. Found a silver header panel in good shape for this car. Should have got a picture it fit easily in the box trunk. We'll see how long it takes before I swap it for the blue header panel that's on here now since the deer incident last year.

[VicCrownVic]

As it turns out, the header panel is a little bit harder to get into a whale trunk. I had given up on trying to get the blue one to fit last year but was able to get it this time. (Don't mind the mess or my keyless code. That keyless module has been replaced and that code is no longer correct for my car.)


So, Sunday was out with the blue in with the new-to-me.

[VicCrownVic]

It was a much nicer day weather-wise than expected (partly because I never looked at the weather forecast for today, LOL). I changed the oil, lubed the front end and u-joints, cleaned out the interior, and, after helping dad out with a few things, stopped at an automated touchless car wash. All the cleaning was really in preparation for the (kind of late) annual Krown appointment coming up this week. Interior got decluttered and vacuumed and the exterior needed all the mud washed off since my parents live in the middle of nowhere on a dirt road. Even at 10MPH quite a bit of mud gets kicked up.

[VicCrownVic]

Krown appointment was today. Ready for winter duty.

[DerekTheGreat]

Later than us, even. Had our cars done about three weeks ago, thought we were really pushing it. Now I might intentionally schedule this late, doesn't seem to snow around here until mid or late November at the earliest anyway. Of course, I had to touch up spots that were light or not hit at all. Used four cans of Fluid Film between both trucks, love that stuff.

[Grand1]

Yeah I got a gallon of the black version on Amazon for $47 bucks that and a gun for it for 15. Baptized the aero and the vic.

I filled a cooler up with near boiling water and dropped the gallon bucket in it, 45min before turning on the compreasor. Sprays and adheres amazingly well.