Derek's 1988 Town Car

[Arquemann]

Ah, junk yard only part. Greeat. Hmm, the wipers do not park in the fully down position, never have. They go down about halfway and then stop. Never bothered with it as I seldom drive it in the rain, so I just push them back down whenever they've been used. Is there a way to test the pivots or bushings? Everything seemed firm when I tried to jiggle it the other day.

Well you ought to adjust the wiper clocking then, might be able to get rid of the overtravel with just that. On mine the left hits the a pillar trim in higher speeds, I was only able to find slop in the ball socket joint on the arm coming off the motor itself. Couldn't do anything about it...

[kishy]

I kept bumping the wiper arms lower, and the slop just kept getting worse and un-fixing my fix, until I discovered what was actually at fault. YMMV.
Newer years like this should have the cast metal (unclear what metal, but some sort of metal) pivot assembly with 2 screws rather than the earlier plastic part with 3 screws. If you do have the metal one, I'd certainly try just clocking the wiper arms lower. While you're there, shoot some sort of oil into the pivot assembly (ideally both). It'll turbo charge your wiper speed.

This is touched on in this reply and a few above and below it, plus a video link: http://www.grandmarq.net/vb/forum/te...29#post1235989

Your double-reply suggests you're using a browser where you haven't fixed the settings for HTTP+HTTPS mixed content for the site to work properly. Highly recommend doing so if you're able.

[DerekTheGreat]

I kept bumping the wiper arms lower, and the slop just kept getting worse and un-fixing my fix, until I discovered what was actually at fault. YMMV.
Newer years like this should have the cast metal (unclear what metal, but some sort of metal) pivot assembly with 2 screws rather than the earlier plastic part with 3 screws. If you do have the metal one, I'd certainly try just clocking the wiper arms lower. While you're there, shoot some sort of oil into the pivot assembly (ideally both). It'll turbo charge your wiper speed.

This is touched on in this reply and a few above and below it, plus a video link: http://www.grandmarq.net/vb/forum/te...29#post1235989

Your double-reply suggests you're using a browser where you haven't fixed the settings for HTTP+HTTPS mixed content for the site to work properly. Highly recommend doing so if you're able.

How do I fix the HTTP+HTTPS settings? I tried to delete the double post, it said "no."

I'll have to check that video link out, a little confused about the clocking as I didn't think you could do that with the wiper motor. Guessing you can just clock the arm and not the wiper..

[DerekTheGreat]

Been over a year since I posted an update, so why not?

This past Saturday I finally decided to replace the "bad" fuel pump I suspected I had. Well, I've slowly warmed up to the idea of "diagnose before you replace" and decided to check the fuel pressure. To my surprise and partial dismay, I found the car started right up, delivered ~32psi under vacuum and then ~40psi under no vacuum, when it decided not to start again. I already bought a replacement pump, so why not change the bastard anyway? I'm sure it needs it...

Come to find I think my car was still rocking it's original fuel pump, has a Ford part number stamped on it along with Ford branded hose clamps. What say you guys, original?:

Would have replaced the sending unit as Vic gave me two to choose from, but I found I have the goofy sending unit he warned me about. Special shout-out to Vic as he supplied me with a trans jack, two extensions, a punch for the lockring and moral support. Little did I know how I'd be depending on that trans jack. What a giant PITA the whole thing was, mostly getting the tank back in place. Ended up finding two bolts that were about a half inch longer which is what I needed. Only I struggled with the factory stuff for a good hour before my two brain cells finally kicked in and came up with an alternate plan. Had to undo some exhaust hangers as well. Changed the fuel filter too, that was stuck on there. Probably hadn't been changed since I got the car ten years ago. Cleaned and reused the fuel pump's sock. Found that sitting in the tank, no clip so I just used a hose clamp. Didn't go on tight, but it didn't fit the original pump's inlet snug either. Also sprayed everywhere the tank goes and the tank with Fluid Film.

Car fired up, produced the same pressure while running and luckily no leaks. By the time I cleaned the entire mess up it was dark outside. Went to fire the car up and was treated to a no start. Yay! 40psi while cranking with no start-y. So now I get to buy a spark tester and figure out if I've got a bad PIP sensor or whatever that hall-effect job in the dizzy is or some other weird problem. Strangely enough, it will start if you crank it forever and lightly feather the throttle. Once it fires up, consistent fuel pressure and it runs smoothly. Odd. The last time I had one of these which cranked longer than usual, it was the fuel pressure regulator. That car only took 5-7 seconds to start, whereas my car [used to] fires right up with practically a key bump.

[sly]

Bah and humbug. And yeah... proper diag helps. I've done this. I have a few spare parts in my stash due to replacing good parts.

[Tiggie]

Very good chance that's the original fuel pump. To my knowledge, my 88 runs the original pump. They don't make them like they used to.

[DerekTheGreat]

No, they sure don't. Gotta be the original pump, I've never seen aftermarket stuff with OEM part numbers on 'em or "Made in USA" for that matter. I put it on the shelf, but should I put ATF or some light mineral oil in there to preserve it?

Side note:

Drove the car this morning. Same deal, cranked for about 10 seconds, didn't get a sputter. Kept on cranking and began massaging the throttle, no change. Flipped key to "off," waited thirty seconds, flipped to "run" and then cranked it- fired right up with no throttle input. It went to idle down and stalled. Seemed like a fuel starvation issue. Flipped key to "off" and then back to crank & it fired back up. Ran flawlessly from there and got me all the way to work.

List in my head:

1) Spray starting fluid into TB during a no-start condition to see if it sputters.
a) If it does, thinking I should replace the fuel pressure regulator and test the ECT sensor.
b) If it does not, check for spark with a proper tester.

1b) If no spark, hit the service manual and investigate what happens to trigger spark. (Nah, I'll probably throw my spare distributor at it. If nothing changes, then I'll hit the books.)
2b) If the spark tester shows I've got spark but no start, that'll mean more fuel for the "FPR is bad" fire. Also serves as another reminder to hit the books and figure out what signals the injectors to fire. I can at least test those to see if they firing. Pretty sure if it's got spark, that's in turn drives the injectors... Will use noid lights to verify. -This has my curiosity piqued as the night the fuel pump went in, I was treated to a crank, no start but had 40psi at the rail while it was cranking. Leads me to suspect either the injectors aren't firing or the ignition isn't. IIRC, no ignition also nets no injectors.)

Looking to drive this rad machine daily next week and put several hundred miles on it. It sure does ride nice, quiet and goes nicely too. Schmooth.

[sly]

This sounds so much like a flaky relay issue.

[DerekTheGreat]

Ah. Would it be one of the relays on driver's side fender apron?

It fired up right after work yesterday and then right after my dentist appointment. Ran beautifully the whole time I drove it. This morning I expected a repeat of yesterday morning but couldn't get it to even sputter. I hear clicky-clackies and the fuel pump doing it's thing, so it looks like I've got to do some actual diagnosis..

[sly]

Could be. If you have hot start issues, I would bet on TFI heat soak. But yeah... probably the ECA relay that provides power to the ECM and all the sensors.

[DerekTheGreat]

Right, my '85 did that. What's a quick way of checking that relay? I plan on buying a spark tester and going through the service manual after work today. Hopefully there will be a section discussing what is supposed to happen when you flip the key to "start" and then maybe something about what is supposed to have power in "run."

[sly]

If they are original relays, they don't swap between horn or AC cutout relays and the others. If it's aftermarket replacements, they will swap. You can also check the key on voltage when you have an issue and see if the ECA is providing power to everything.

[DerekTheGreat]

Long story short, sly was right! It's a flakey relay issue.

Long story slightly abridged is I did a boat load of diagnostic work yesterday. Using the 1988 Ford "Bible" I deduced my TPS and ECT are good, but my IAT is out of spec. Odd since I checked for codes and got "11," which means no codes present. Years ago I had gotten a code for the IAT, just never replaced it. Also deduced that I had healthy spark but no fuel injector action. What threw me for a loop was if I sprayed ether down the intake, it would fire up and run normally. It did stall out once while idling. Nearly at my wits end and with the car running beautifully, I began tapping on that bank of relays. The one closest to the firewall sent the car into a tizzy when tapped. Idle speed shot up but calmed back down. Tapped it some more without relent and the engine died. Hmm! I took the relay stack off and found this mess:



Also got a lot of clicky-clacky with the relay stack on it's side. This is probably why I didn't get a code for the IAT, as the ECM kept clearing codes due to power loss? A brown & white relay. I'm not sure which relay is responsible for what, so I took both off, gave them some old-fashioned percussive maintenance, shot the contacts with brake cleaner and stabbed them back in. Car fired right up, so that has to be the issue - connection or relay or both. Collateral damage is that my starter relay shit the bed. Oh well, I've got two of those on the shelf.

Here's the relays & part numbers:


Where can I find new ones? Are replacement pig tails available?
EDIT: According to Rock Auto, it looks like the brown one is "STANDARD MOTOR PRODUCTS RY71." Is this correct?
As for the white one, I can't find anything specific on it. The Mustang crowd says it's a headlight relay. What's it's job on a Panther? If it has nothing to do with the ECM, it's probably not bad. Also doesn't look like I need to do the pig tails, just clean them. How do you release the pins from their connectors though?

Thank you for the tip, sly. Had it not been for you, I highly doubt I'd have tapped those relays and probably would've farmed this job out.

[friskyfrankie]

How did the brake cleaner work on that corrosion? I usually use contact cleaner but am curious as to your results.

[DerekTheGreat]

Brake cleaner worked surprisingly well at getting the schmoo out of the relays. I use contact cleaner too, normally. But it was around 7:00 and I could only find the brake clean at that point.

It's been a long time, but it's coming back to me- I think I made that mess. Back when I first got the car some ten years ago, using the horn would blow the fuse. I investigated the relay back when I was fiddling with that. I think that tan schmoo is dried out Krown sprayed on the harnesses as I found that one wire short of insulation. It's plausible they're not corroded, just insulated & not making great contact. I didn't see any corrosion on the relay's pins or the connectors, but I'll investigate further once I confirm the relays I'm looking into are correct and get 'em ordered.