At the risk of having my head bitten off, have you had any of your buddies do a fully independent diagnosis / once over on the CV?

I think we all know how it goes when you become so close to something that you lose the ability to see all the details because in your mind you have already considered and ruled out certain things as the cause.

I'm not suggesting that you can't find the problem. Only that, with the help of a buddy and no background on the issue, someone else maybe able to help you quickly track down the problem.

Food for thought.

 

That's the avenue I am going to take after we clear the backyard of the crushed garage. A member of grandmarq.net said he will come up from south Jersey to take a look. He just completed a similar swap in his '86 Crown Vic. Electrical issues is not one of my strengths. All I know is how to use a test light. Beyond that, I will have to consult YouTube university.

 

I had Thursday and yesterday off from work. Spent most of Thursday cleaning up the yard from the garage demolition last weekend. I had a little time to work on the Crown Vic. I was reading the EVTM and did some research earlier in the week and I think I found the ECU ground. It's the same connector that the fox body mustangs have. I pulled the connector apart and it disintegrated. The terminals were corroded and very crusty. The ring terminal terminal on the other end was broken and the wire was dangling where my radiator/fan bracket was mounted. Don't know how I missed that. I assembled a Deutsch connector and soldered it into the portion of the wire that was in good shape. Crimped on a new ring terminal and connected it to the battery ground. Turned the key and heard the fuel pump running. I primed the system and checked for leaks. Found nothing visible, but I get a faint whiff of fuel in the engine bay. Felt the fuel lines and injectors for moisture and didn't feel any. Nothing was wet either. Might be coming from the fuel vapor canister; which I replaced the lines, but not the canister itself. That was Thursday.

I spent yesterday getting the car prepped for the 1st start. I found that my Comp Cams primer tool doesn't fit the hex on the oil pump shaft. So I spent a good amoutn of time thinking about that; then my Dad came out; took one look at my dilemna and told me to clean up the OEM Tools primer tool and cut off the nipple (the part that reamed itself out) and run the tool off of the shaft. I burnt up both of my drills priming the engine for only 2 minutes. My Dad pulled out his 1/2" drill with 2 handles and told me to use that instead. I primed the engine for 5 minutes and the drill wasn't even warm. Went in and loaded the tune into the Quarterhorse and still a no go. I don't have power to the starter when I turn the key. It was getting dark, so I packed it up.

Today I worked on testing the components of the starting system (most of which I replaced already). I can jump the starter through the "S" terminal on the starter solenoid; where the red wire with blue stripe goes. It appears the solenoid and the starter are working; just doesn't seem to be getting the signal to activate the "S" terminal. I will go into my EVTM and see where the red wire w/blue stripe goes. Even though I already changed out the key cylinder and ignition switch, I checked the rod to see if it moves when I turn the key (it moves). So I ruled that out. I jacked the car back up and took a look at the neutral safety switch and realized that it was never changed out. But I haven't got to that point yet. Going to trace out that red wire w/blue stripe first and see where that takes me. I am making progress; just a lot slower than I would like.

 

A couple of weeks ago, I pulled the red wire w/blue stripe out as far as I could and found no damage in the section that I could see. When it dips behind the engine, I lose track until I go under to look at the neutral safety switch. As such, I replaced the 90* terminal with a ring terminal at the other end of that wire on the starter solenoid. The boot had carbon (or dark cruddy-like substance) on the inside and was very loose on the stud; pretty sure that's not the problem, but I wanted better contact. Still a no go, but I wasn't expecting that to be the fix. I poured over the EVTM for the Crown Vic and the only component not changed out is the neutral safety switch. I will see what next weekend looks like and attempt to swap it out.

Spent the 2 last weeks cleaning the backyard and painting the I-beam frame from the garage. Glad the demo team didn't know how to deal with it. That frame can be taken apart and built back up for the new garage. Last weekend I put the '15 Explorer wheels/Blizzaks on the Grand Marquis and put the Saleen wheels up in storage. The front right wheel has Dutch-block curb rash because I hastily shuffled the vehicles around when we had that nor'easter. All of the wheels have peeling chrome already. Not surprised as they weren't expensive. Glad it's not a show car. Which brings me to the Crown Vic; when I get the engine running and the car moving under its own power; I will have to get new wheels as I won't be putting the Saleens back on there. So I will plunk down the coin for the US Mags Rambler wheels that I should have gotten in the first place. Also just ordered rotors and pads for the Grand Marquis because the brake light on the dash flickers under heavy braking. I will use Thanksgiving weekend to do the install; weather permitting.

 

I spent the reduced daylight hours today replacing the neutral safety switch. Had to take the driver side of the exhaust down; including the header in order to gain access to the NSS. I had to swap the O-ring because the new NSS didn't come with one; or it fell out of the box in transit. My Dad noticed that the old switch pushes in freely; while the new switch clicks when it pushes in. I have no idea if that has any bearing on its operation. Just finished up a few minutes ago; spent a lot of time bolting the header back up. I will connect the exhaust and test the switch next weekend.

 

So the new tradition for turkey day is to do major repairs on my vehicles. 2019 I replaced the coils and plugs on my Grand Marquis; 2020 I replaced the intake manifold; yesterday I replaced the front brakes and sway bar. My brake pedal had been progressively getting lower to the floor since last spring. The pattern for this car is they begin to grab more towards the end of their service life; which they started doing in September. Then last month I started seeing the brake light on the dash flicker; and the last couple of weeks I was getting significant brake fade; so much so that I was driving very conservatively.

The sway bar is another story. I attempted to switch it out back in 2019 and broke a sway bar retaining clip in the process of removing the old bar. In fear of breaking the other retaining clips; I stuck a carriage bolt and a locking nut in its place. I left the old bar in place while I looked for replacement retaining clips; that I discovered were discontinued by Ford and none could be found locally. During that interim, my carriage bolt worked its way out and fell off; which stressed the other passenger side retaining clip; which broke and fell off at some point. I didn't notice it until I slapped the Saleen wheels and wider tires on the Merc and noticed no improvement in handling. In fact, it was beginning to roll a bit more than usual. I knew something was up; but didn't know how bad it was until I jacked the car up yesterday and found that side of the sway bar dangling by the end link; and the metal bushing bracket was nowhere to be found. Fortunately I had gotten retaining clips for another Ford vehicle off of Amazon a month ago; so I spent some time (with a hammer and punch) making them fit. Then I removed the old sway bar and replaced it with one from ADTR (much thicker). In a couple hours I will see if the driveway is dry enough to replace the rear brakes. Then I will take the car out tomorrow to begin bedding the pads and see if I got some handling back. I will also change the oil while I am at it.

 

 

Those are the EBC brakes that my Panther community had been telling me to get for years now. I had SP Performance rotors and pads on my Merc previously, but they were quite the disappointment. It wasn't until I installed EBC rotors and pads on the Explorer that I realized how good they are. It was a night and day difference on that SUV. Hope it's like that with my car. Here are pics from the Explorer.

 

I replaced the rear rotors and pads Saturday afternoon. It could be just my car; but my axle hubs are under-bored; as everything that is mounted to them gets seized. The original wheels, the 1st set of PI wheels, and the Saleen wheels have to be pried off the hub. As such, I used a 3-jaw pulley puller to remove the rear rotors since hammering does nothing. When I put the wheels back on yesterday and went for a test drive, I heard and felt a knocking noise from the rear wheels. When I got home I jacked the car up and pulled the wheels off to see what was up. I readjusted the e-brake and spun the wheel by hand and it clunked and binded up. It was dark and my hands were freezing, so I called it a day. Went out this morning and pulled the brakes apart on the driver side to discover that the brake shoe retaining clip and pin came apart and basically pulverized themselves somehow. Waiting for new brake shoes and hardware to come in so I can complete this task.

 

I installed and adjusted the new e-brake shoes late yesterday afternoon. My old method was adjusting them all the way in, jacking the rear of the vehicle up, and slowly adjusting them until there is resistance. When I put the wheels back on and spun them; they were very tight; and that was before messing with the e-brake. Long story short; the few times I have messed with drum brakes and e-brakes; I had been adjusting them in PARK. The mechanic in my town said I needed to put it in neutral as there will be too much resistance in PARK to properly adjust them. So I have been doing this wrong for a long time. Also, when I went for a test spin this morning, the brakes are tight and the EBC rotors and pads are very grabby. As such; when I put it in DRIVE and let go of the brake, it barely moves. I drove it to work and I can hear a slight dragging from the brakes. I'm going to guess that is part of the bedding process.

I don't know how or why, but the front end feels much more firm now with the new sway bar. I don't care as I got my handling back. And my sway bar is hitting the wheel or something when I make a sharp turn. I will have to look at that this coming weekend.