kishy's 1985 Country Squire

[gadget73]

The pinion seal on the Conti dumped a puddle of oil on the garage floor in about 3 days. Probably the first time the oil level had been correct in a long time and it was not happy about it. Most of them just weep enough to make a mess on the diff without actually drooling on the ground.

[DerekTheGreat]

Oh, your confidence!

Most everything seal related I do I clean stuff to help me check for leaks later, because of course I'm paranoid there will be some.

[kishy]

I don't actually think the diff cover is leaking. I didn't clean it when it was off, and it looks about the same as I remember.
The engine, on the other hand...oh boy is that leaking. The whole driver side of the pan is soaked. It may be the pan gasket, I don't think the issue is further up (rear of intake or valve cover).

The amazing thing is that this one doesn't seem to have a pinion seal leak.

[DerekTheGreat]

"Fix the cigarette lighter."

(Leaking diff cover gasket)

[kishy]

One of those trailer power module things (probably just full of relays) is an attractive option for being neat, integrated, and easy. I may go that route if a very cheap one comes my way. I want to do some rear power distribution anyway, maybe a couple 12V sockets and USB chargers in the driver side storage cubby, so I'll just pull something like a 10ga wire to the back and distribute as appropriate. When I get to it.

The Gas-a-Justs arrived today, and have been installed. 5500km on the blue Monroes. They are super garbage, but not any worse than they were when they were new...it's just how they are. They came out effortlessly thanks to my liberal use of anti-seize. All 4 shocks replaced in a little over an hour. Not bad. Car handles way better as expected.

[87gtVIC]

If you find you have issues I did mine this way:

http://www.grandmarq.net/vb/showthre...l=1#post828036

Still need to source power..which i understand is not fun running all the way to the back.

I have yet to tow anything...but the system works as it should after testing it out with a 4 blade tester.

[gadget73]

Factory tow wiring has 3 relays in the trunk that are wired into the rear lights. Two for turn, one for parking. Power feeds from the starter relay through those relays to the trailer connector. Makes it so the trailer doesn't affect the blink rate and it puts basically no extra load on the stock light circuits. There is also usually wiring to the front kick panel area for a brake controller, and a charge wire in the trailer harness. Don't recall if that is switched or not. Its a no bullshit trailer wiring system.

[mitymerc]

The MegaMerc had a new never used wiring kit in the well.

[kishy]

You might want to check the wheel bearings for any play.

It has 95-97 front end stuff - I don't think that is a likely failure this early in the life of the hub-bearing. Still maybe a good idea to check overall wheel play in all directions from any potential cause, of course.

Wagons are fun to drive...

It's pretty fantastic. It gets lots of attention, too.


Bumped the idle. Cold weather was making 2-footing necessary until it warmed up. Some day, I'll fix the cold idle bits. Still a bit ticked off about those screws breaking off.

Last night, added a 4-flat trailer connector. Pulled all the driver side rear quarter plastics out and tapped in (solder, not crimp splices) in the driver rear corner. Would prefer everything to be relayed, but I didn't feel like pulling a new wire back from the battery. There's a looooot of car to cover in between. Not sure how the factory tow wiring works, this car doesn't have it. EVTM is MIA. I'm suspecting there's a whole sub-harness that probably starts somewhere near the fuse panel on cars so-equipped.

Oil sprayed the inside of the quarter panel...I was there anyway and it's kind of irritating to access so it made sense.







Test fitted the Ranger Trailer using a typical drawbar, flipped to rise instead of drop. Fits close...pretty much ideal really. The ball is as close as mechanically possible to the hitch mounting points.

[mitymerc]

Wagons are fun to drive...

[jaywish]

You might want to check the wheel bearings for any play.

[kishy]

I was not stuck with the pump, nor stuck with a restocking fee, as it hadn't arrived yet...so it's very good I didn't actually need it or I'd have been livid and sad all at the same time. Full refund and all is right in the world again.

The car has continued to have a pretty wicked vibration primarily from the front right corner at highway speed. It is vehicle speed related, not engine speed. It existed on the old tires and wheels, and continued to exist on the new ones, which made me wonder exactly what it could have been. But finally I took it back to the tire place and had them re-balance them, and he found the front right was off by 0.75...took it on the highway and it's much smoother now. There is still some vibration that kind of runs through the whole car at higher speeds but it's nothing like it was.

Ordered a set of Gas-A-Justs for this. I really like how the 83 behaves on them and it has become apparent the wagon is going to be a car I drive a lot (but will be parking it for winter), so it's worth throwing nice stuff at it.

[kishy]

True, not an idiot...thank you lol.
I will find out shortly if I'm stuck with the new pump or not.

Yes, the plastic ramps are my preferred way to raise a car. I have two floor jacks and many stands but really try to use the ramps whenever possible. I feel like the (rare but very possible) risk of having a car fall on me is pretty much none using the ramps, and (while still rare) significantly higher when using jack stands. Zero risk of the ramps tipping over, and the weight is being distributed across a much wider contact area. The car is as stable as when it's sitting on the ground.

[87gtVIC]

The ups and downs of working on cars. I can only imagine what mechanics who do this daily go through.



You like those ramps...ramps in general over jacking up the car and placing it on stands. Seems handy and quick to set up, tear down after the job is done.

[Tiggie]

You aren’t an idiot. An idiot would have trashed the good pump. You repeatedly tested your theory until it failed. That’s good science.