VicCrownVic's 1991 Mercury Grand Marquis LS "The Scab"

[kishy]

I've tried to get better about visibly damaging or outright tossing used parts whose reliability has been questioned. e.g. took off a TFI module - if I trust my own diagnostics that led to me taking it off, it shouldn't be in the pool of modules that I could potentially grab next time I need one.

I do recommend keeping a TFI, a coil, a distributor wrench, and a TFI module tool in the trunk, but the climate around that is maybe different on your side of the border. You can generally walk into an auto parts store 7 days of the week, into the evening, and buy all that stuff as needed. Here, if you have a breakdown and need something quickly, your car's going to be down for a day or three depending on how unfortunate the timing is.

(context for the casual observer re: words like "here" - Vic and I live less than an hour apart, but the American and maybe specifically Michigan market for auto parts availability is very, very different than that of Ontario)

[VicCrownVic]

Ignition troubles returned last week. I had another incident on 5/22 that was resolved by buying a bag of ice from the gas station I was parked at and piling the ice around the distributor. That trick did not work last Wednesday when, on a day off from work, I decided to take this car to the store, 1 mile away, to get something real quick. Real quick turned into the rest of the day.

Got to the store, got what I needed, came out of the store, and this car wouldn't start. No problem tried the ice trick again. Half the bag+10 minutes, and still no start. Other half the bag+10 more minutes and still no start. Nephew came by on his bike and gave me a couple of bottles of water to drink. Waited another 10 minutes and still no start. Texted my wife to have our nephew bring my spare distributor and tools in a backpack on his bike. Swapped the dizzy out, still no start, wtf. Walked home, got the '98, went to mom and dads house (10 miles from my house) to pickup my uncles car dolly. Magnetic lights were not with the come-along, but the old pair are out back on my uncles old dentside. One light was completely broken off, so I rewired it and it still would not work. Whatever, one side working at least looks like I'm trying to be legal. Put air in the dolly tires since my portable inflator would not reach without unhooking he dolly. Noticed an leak in the original wheel (not tire, the wheel had rotted just like the other one I replaced a few years ago). Whatever, lets see if it holds. Got to the store where the Scab was and that dolly tire was visibly flat. Swapped yet another dizzy in from mom, and dad's place, but was pretty sure this dizzy was no good. The car did try to start then gave up after a second of that. So back to my house to get a spare panther wheel put on the dolly (good thing the same center bore and bolt pattern is used, I have plenty of spares for this dolly and now both wheels are mine that I donated, lol).

After getting the dolly wheel changed, I went back to the store and sped a good amount of time getting The Scab loaded up. I only had a mile to go and don't think I got above 30MPH, but the '98 handled the job fine. Not something I would want to do for a long distance or regularly though.

Of course Friday evening The Scab started up just fine. I even moved it a couple of times this past weekend. So, either all my spare dizzy/TFIs are junk (very possible), or something else was not liking the near record heat last Wednesday. Definitely need to grab my remote mount dizzy and TFI setup off The Ice Car, and probably grab the coil too in case somehow this Duralast (I think) coil might be the culprit.

Edit: I should have grabbed a picture after yanking The Scab off the dolly with Marge. Could have had all 3 in 1 picture.

[DerekTheGreat]

Looks like a nice garage!

[VicCrownVic]

1 week later and I got around to starting this car again today. No noticeable signs of battery drain and the car started right up like it used to. Pretty sure the cheap headlight relay harness is the culprit based on this evidence. The harness was disconnected the full week, and before with it connected the battery was draining in a couple of days. I guess I'll have to steal the headlight relay harness off The Ice Car, not that The Scab really needs it, but I will not get to this for at least a couple more months.

[VicCrownVic]

Drove this car to the new place as planned on Saturday. The 45 mile drive was no problem. Left this car in the garage and got a ride back with my friend Jon who helped me move some things.

When I arrived at the new place, I was reminded that I had suspected the headlights to possibly be related to the battery issue. (My auto sensor is blocked so lights are always on.) The passenger side was a little dim compared to the driver side, and the driver side high beam was faintly on which made no sense. It wasn't like that when I left the old place but I think I have seen it do this before (sort why I'm leaning toward this as related the battery drain). Of course I did nothing about it...

I started this car again today and it started right up. This is when I remembered to disconnect the headlight relay harness. I found that I must have had previous issues because the driver side headlight was connected to the stock harness (which explains why it was the best looking light assuming this relay harness is junk.)

I'll be back to the new place Thursday night through the weekend. So at some point next weekend I'll continue my passive troubleshooting and see if disconnecting that harness stops the battery drain.

If that is the culprit, then the battery that I kept from this car last year, since I hade an even worse core, might still be good, but still 8 years old so no big deal if it's not good.

[friskyfrankie]

Hmm... need to figure out what is draining my battery. I used to leave this car sitting for 6 months and it would start right up without any issue. Went to start it on Monday evening and the 1 year old battery was too low. This weekend I'll likely jump it, drive it to the new place, and stick it in the garage to deal with at a later date.
All this after I had already started this car a couple of weeks ago and had to jump it. I let it run for 20 minutes that time in hopes that the alternator would get the battery charged. Need to do some actual troubleshooting.

Perhaps you can throw a good trickle charge on it until you can diagnose it so as to not beat up the newer battery too much?

[VicCrownVic]

Hmm... need to figure out what is draining my battery. I used to leave this car sitting for 6 months and it would start right up without any issue. Went to start it on Monday evening and the 1 year old battery was too low. This weekend I'll likely jump it, drive it to the new place, and stick it in the garage to deal with at a later date.
All this after I had already started this car a couple of weeks ago and had to jump it. I let it run for 20 minutes that time in hopes that the alternator would get the battery charged. Need to do some actual troubleshooting.

[VicCrownVic]

Drove this car to see dad today. He had mentioned possibly needing a car to borrow this week, so I stopped by to see if he needed it. Turns out he got enough done in my youngest brother's car today so didn't need mine.

As for the fan not working on the '98, that acted up again one month later which gave me opportunity to diagnose the problem by hitting the fan relay. That worked so the '98 got a new fan relay that day.

The battery dieing in The Scab mentioned in the last post was a result of the car stalling once I got to my spot in the driveway. Due to being a bit annoyed and surprised, I had left the ignition on when I got out. I've drove this car a few times since then and it kept wanting to stall backing into my driveway along with stumbling from a stop. While visiting dad today I removed the IAT (since I figured the issue was with a temp sensor) with the intention of swapping the one from The Ice Car. Turns out the IAT was caked in oily gunk. Cleaned it up and decided to try that first. The drive home was far less stumbly (almost completely gone, and very occasional when it did have a hint of stumble) and it didn't act like it was going to stall when backing into my driveway. It's a long enough drive from my parents' place so it had plenty of time to be just as hot as previous drives when it did want to stall.

[VicCrownVic]

Drove this car to work yesterday due to an issue with the fan not running on the '98. Got home from work and locked the keys in the car with the ignition and lights on. Couldn't find my keys later when I needed to get into my shed to get the mower out, that's when I found them locked in this car. Of course I then needed to jump this car since the lights were on. (I have a business card sized parking pass under the dash over the auto headlamp sensor so they are always on.) I saw the lights on when I got out after getting home but thought nothing of it since this car takes a long time to auto shut them off sometimes. While jumping this car the fan on the '98 came on like it was supposed to, so not sure why it didn't want to come on during my ride home on Wednesday.

Let this car run the whole time I mowed (15-30 minutes maybe). Shut it off and started right back up with interior lights looking normal brightness.

[Kodachrome Wolf]

I think the '98-'02 wheels work pretty good, but I have a slight bias since my aunt used to have a dark blue '00 Marquis with those. I dunno about plain steelies though, I'd have to have a full size wheel cover at a minimum. The '98+ center caps can't hold a candle to the nicer looking dog dishes on the -'97 cars if you're running a more poverty-spec steel wheel look.

[packman]

Really like those '98 wheels on this car!!!

[VicCrownVic]

The black steelies definitely did that for The Ice Car. Not sure how I'd like them paired with the color of this car though. I may be throwing some black steelies on the front to save some wear on tires I care about.

[DerekTheGreat]

The black steelies would give it a tough look combined with the faded chocolate paint.

I like the brakes on my turd, feel it stops with confidence. Better than my '89 K1500, and I keep the brakes up on that just as well as the Lincoln.

[Arquemann]

I wish the newer panthers were out there here in Finland, I'd nab some spindles and brakes for a rainy day.
Myself I'd probably want to keep the possibility for 15" wheels, though my main point to doing the upgrade would be just for getting different wheels to fit. Also I'm not stuck in the world of only OEM wheels.

[VicCrownVic]

The real need is control arm bushings, but like David said, while I'm in there I might as well.
The brakes on this car I was used to but after driving the '98 I then going back to this car I realized how much they suck. A good bleed session sorted that and they actually seem fine now,

Black steelies on the '98 all the way, not sure I'd like the look on this car. Sort of like how these wheels are kind of blah on the '98 in my opinion but look better on this car.