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No car seems to like to sit for periods of time. Typically on the weekends (specifically Friday night); I park my Grand Marquis behind the Explorer and ignore my car while I do whatever I do. When I was exiting the driveway this morning, I could hear a gravel scraping the underside of my car. I figured that since I skipped mowing this weekend (bad weather, that's my excuse and I'm stickin to it), something underneath my car was scraping the tall tufts of grass and thus plowing dirt too. When I was on the parkway I began to notice that the [reliable] Ford V8 drone was getting louder; and when I got to work I found the cause. My temporary/permanent exhaust hanger broke and the driver-side exhaust was hanging pretty low. So I will drive carefully on my way back home; and rehang the pipe tonight.
Crazy thing is that I didn't drive the car at all this weekend. It must have failed while it was sitting in the driveway over the weekend?
Spent the holiday weekend cleaning the basement and attempting to troubleshoot my Mom's smartphone (unsuccessful waste of time). I cleared a lot of junk out of the southeastern corner of the basement. I forgot that I piled everything on pallets from work a decade ago. This was in response to hurricane Irene; which put a consistent 3" of water in the basement with the pumps running. I also dug out my Dad's spare drill press. Fortunately this unit didn't have the motor installed; but nonetheless, it was still heavy and cumbersome (7'ft tall). I managed to move it over 6'ft behind one of the file cabinets that we store body working tools and such. With that corner cleared out, I measured out the space for shelving. That will allow me to move junk from one side of the basement to the other, so I can work on the downstairs bathroom plumbing. It's nice to see some progress after a relatively idle summer.
I bought said shelving for the basement a couple weeks ago. I installed it this passed weekend. I put casters underneath the shelving posts so I can move the shelving around. This will allow me to move stuff around as I work on the various house projects. I have to install a new garden hose spigot as the 80+ old one was compromised by rust last winter. I am going to route the new line out to the driveway side of the house. Whoever installed the original hose put it on the opposite side of the house; which I found very inconvenient as I got older.
Now for the important stuff. I was feeling spry after the shelving install; so I went out to the Crown Vic and pulled all the plugs. I did this because I couldn't remember if I cleaned them off or not. I discovered that I had not cleaned them and they all had this Vaseline-looking substance on them. I hit them with carb cleaner and stabbed them back in. I left No.1 spark plug loose so I could check it again for that gel substance in a week or two. Now that is done; I am going to reload the base tune into my laptop and see if TunerPro needs an update. I am prepping myself for a 1st start attempt. I hope all goes well this time around.
On a side note: I have new neighbors that moved in 3 months ago. For the passed month they have been letting their cat out. It's a Bengal mixed with a Calico (my guess) as it has a lot of white fur on its belly. Probably the most friendly cat that I have met. When I was hauling my shelving into the basement, I found him outside the door inspecting the boxes. He didn't run away like all other cats do. I probably could have petted him, but I didn't want to appear to invite him into our house; since I haven't formally introduced myself to his owners. That was my 1st encounter with him. Anyways, as I was pulling the plugs from the Crown Vic, I began to notice that the squirrels were making a lot of noise. I know from our previous cat that when they do that, a predator is around. And a few seconds after that thought I felt something rub up against my leg. I looked down through the engine bay and saw him walking around. He hung out with me for 15 minutes, got bored, and went back home. Later that evening he was staring at me through the window as I was grilling hamburgers. So I got a new cat bro
I have never seen a spark plug with anything like that on it. Not even one with a blown head gasket. Are you sure that for some reason you didn't put the Vaseline on them? That's bizarre. As for cats, I won't offend anyone with my opinion of them. BUT my bet friends mother died from cat scratch fever 4 days after her 12 year old cat scratched her on the leg.
No Penzoil, I got Quaker State10W-30 in there right now. Perhaps it could be some sort of assembly lube? Or gelatinized WD-40? I was spraying the cylinders with that stuff before I did the 1-time squirt of ATF. Whatever it is; I hope it blows out of the cylinders.
Rubehayseed: that is most unfortunate to hear. Hopefully it doesn't come to that here. This guy seems to be very chill.
Spark plug fouling: WD-40 will not burn cleanly like gasoline. It can leave behind a gummy residue
Is it older Quaker State Dino oil? Some of the stock of the old old Quaker State and/or the additives used back then had paraffin in it.
Could also be from coolant intrusion I suppose. What does it smell like? Kind of like a thick oil plus water mixture.
Might want to take all the plugs out and crack it over a couple times to get any remaining WD-40 liquid out of the cylinders.
That's about it from me... I'm sure the pros will be along shortly with the right answer
I wouldn't put Quicker Sludge in a lawn mower for the reason that derf stated. Same goes for Pennzoil. I don't trust either one and that sure looks like it could be paraffin. Use a can of engine flush if you can start that car and then get some decent oil and a good, quality filter on that car. I'd suggest Valvoline Restore and Protect and a Wix, Purolator or Motorcraft filter. The Valvoline R&P has worked wonders in my sons 2016 Soul with the much hated GDI engine.
Oh my..........been a while! Work has been so crazy that I forgot to post here. So a month and a half ago; whilst commuting to work at 2AM; I hit a piece of concrete (one of many) that was laid out on the GSP. I was in the center lane passing by a state trooper who was tailgating a SUV. I was trying to figure out why he/she wasn't pulling that SUV over when they both slammed on their brakes; and that's when I saw the chunk of concrete rolling in my lane. Thumped my Mercury real good and instantly flattened the rear tire. Since I still had control of the car, I made the decision to ride it out to the next exit because I didn't want to deal with DOT. I rode the Merc like that for several miles before taking the exit for my job. It was when I made a left turn at the traffic light when my rear tire separated itself from the wheel. So I parked it in a Quick Chek parking lot and walked the rest of the way to my job. I had AAA tow it to a local mechanic and it stayed there for a week while I finished a project at work and got the winter wheels to put on there. It took 2.5 weeks to get the car back on the road due to the damage. Which was not limited to 2 ruined Saleen wheels (both driver side), bent rear trailing arm, broken rear sway bar mounting bracket, and it sheared the dust shield off the front spindle. Also, the mechanic failed to tighten the lugs, which killed a little time too. I think it tweaked the exhaust or something despite not seeing any damage; because the Merc has a lot more bass coming from the exhaust now. All in all, I am not mad because it could have been way, way worse. I have a few months to decide what I want to do for summer wheels and tires. I might see if Ebay has those wheels; or I might sell the remaining wheels and just have the local tire shop switch over my winter tires next spring. We'll see..............
