Thanks Tiggie and sly . I've asked my dad to acquire some 1/4" coolant hose. I've been thinking I need to take the plenum off of the car anyways, as I've got to do the valve cover gaskets anyways. Are there any other good things to get out of the way while the plenum is off? Any hard to get to vacuum lines, sensors etc under there that are good to get to?
In other news, it's out with the old and in with the new.
What you don't see is that I did the wheel bearings as well. Was going to do the brake hose but I honestly forgot - I take comfort in that they're in good shape, but now I have two new hoses for when they do go bad. I also finally got to use these OEM parts that I've had since my ~1985 Mercury Marquis (the Fox-platform Marquis), which was probably 12 years ago at this point.
But as always with old cars, it's two steps forward but one step back. There's finally no wheel bearing noise, the car stops nice and straight and there's no more vibrations from the front brakes. However there's still a vibration when the car stops, which I chalk up to being one or both rear drums. I've had a look at the stuff back there and wheel cylinders etc. looked good, so I probably won't touch that but the drums will have to be replaced. I usually hail the Panthers for being cheap to run thanks to RockAuto and just to give you an example - The drums are $40 a piece, but since they're a bit heavy they'd be here for a total of $162 in todays exchange rate. If I were to purchase them locally, they'd be the same price. A piece.
But that will need to be dealt with, those vibrations are driving me nuts now that I'm driving the car at least 25 miles each day in commuting.
I swapped out the IAC valve and the MAP-sensor, and the car runs much better now. Not that it ran poorly before, but I've noticed a big difference. The thing that surprised me after I swapped those two out is that the car shifts a lot better. 1-2 and 3-4 feel factory smooth and crisp, however 2-3 is still a bit jerky (but also a lot better now). My amateur-theory on the matter is that the old IAC held the engine revs too high when shifting, but I have no technical knowledge or scientific evidence that this is the case. But again, the car runs a lot better now. I've gassed it up to a full tank thrice now (says something about the amount of time it's spent sitting since I bought it, shameful), with MPGs being in the 17s all three times. I think that's a bit high for the driving I do, since my '96 Roadmaster would do 18-19 and my 2002 Crown Victoria that I had before it would get a solid 21 under the same driving circumstances. This will be the first tank with new IAC, new MAP and brakes that aren't sticky (which my mechanic said that the old callipers were), so it will be interesting to see what kind of mileage it gets. Granted, no one buys cars like these for hypermiling, but it's an indication of whether something's wrong if nothing else.
There's definitely a vacuum leak somewhere, and I'm wondering if it has something to do with the brakes. In park, when I depress the brake pedal I notice a hissing sound under the dash, and I also notice that the idle changes. Plugging the vacuum release for the parking brake was one of the first things I did, so it can't be that. I've yet to run the new smoke machine I've bought so I am unsure exactly where this hissing comes from. Could this be related to my cruise control not working? Does it mean that my power brake booster is about to walk off the job? I'm not well-read enough to have any theories here so I welcome all of your input here gentlemen.
I'll leave you with two bonus images - The Grand Marquis in its natural habitat (the Costco parking lot) and my 1985 (I think it was) Mercury Marquis that I mentioned earlier. Was a really cool car in its own way, but back then there was no way I could give it the care it needed to get it back on the road, so I wound up selling it to some Russian guy. I wonder if it's been scrapped or if its still out there.
In other news, it's out with the old and in with the new.
What you don't see is that I did the wheel bearings as well. Was going to do the brake hose but I honestly forgot - I take comfort in that they're in good shape, but now I have two new hoses for when they do go bad. I also finally got to use these OEM parts that I've had since my ~1985 Mercury Marquis (the Fox-platform Marquis), which was probably 12 years ago at this point.
But as always with old cars, it's two steps forward but one step back. There's finally no wheel bearing noise, the car stops nice and straight and there's no more vibrations from the front brakes. However there's still a vibration when the car stops, which I chalk up to being one or both rear drums. I've had a look at the stuff back there and wheel cylinders etc. looked good, so I probably won't touch that but the drums will have to be replaced. I usually hail the Panthers for being cheap to run thanks to RockAuto and just to give you an example - The drums are $40 a piece, but since they're a bit heavy they'd be here for a total of $162 in todays exchange rate. If I were to purchase them locally, they'd be the same price. A piece.
But that will need to be dealt with, those vibrations are driving me nuts now that I'm driving the car at least 25 miles each day in commuting. I swapped out the IAC valve and the MAP-sensor, and the car runs much better now. Not that it ran poorly before, but I've noticed a big difference. The thing that surprised me after I swapped those two out is that the car shifts a lot better. 1-2 and 3-4 feel factory smooth and crisp, however 2-3 is still a bit jerky (but also a lot better now). My amateur-theory on the matter is that the old IAC held the engine revs too high when shifting, but I have no technical knowledge or scientific evidence that this is the case. But again, the car runs a lot better now. I've gassed it up to a full tank thrice now (says something about the amount of time it's spent sitting since I bought it, shameful), with MPGs being in the 17s all three times. I think that's a bit high for the driving I do, since my '96 Roadmaster would do 18-19 and my 2002 Crown Victoria that I had before it would get a solid 21 under the same driving circumstances. This will be the first tank with new IAC, new MAP and brakes that aren't sticky (which my mechanic said that the old callipers were), so it will be interesting to see what kind of mileage it gets. Granted, no one buys cars like these for hypermiling, but it's an indication of whether something's wrong if nothing else.
There's definitely a vacuum leak somewhere, and I'm wondering if it has something to do with the brakes. In park, when I depress the brake pedal I notice a hissing sound under the dash, and I also notice that the idle changes. Plugging the vacuum release for the parking brake was one of the first things I did, so it can't be that. I've yet to run the new smoke machine I've bought so I am unsure exactly where this hissing comes from. Could this be related to my cruise control not working? Does it mean that my power brake booster is about to walk off the job? I'm not well-read enough to have any theories here so I welcome all of your input here gentlemen.
I'll leave you with two bonus images - The Grand Marquis in its natural habitat (the Costco parking lot) and my 1985 (I think it was) Mercury Marquis that I mentioned earlier. Was a really cool car in its own way, but back then there was no way I could give it the care it needed to get it back on the road, so I wound up selling it to some Russian guy. I wonder if it's been scrapped or if its still out there.
While on the topic of the cruise, do you know if there's any way I can test to see if the servo functions as it should? I have the smoke machine to hunt for vacuum leaks, but maybe a failing servo doesn't necessary leak outwards. I also have a handheld pump, if that could be of some use.
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