Jsdirt

Good choice! One of the best cars ever built IMO. My wife has been commuting 70 miles a day for 14 years in hers ('86 Grand Marquis). Leaks a little oil, but burns none. Garaged all winter. I can't speak for that generation, but the 1st gen Grand Marquis and LTD were bulletproof, aside from the very first CPI injected units - total piles of dung. Rest of car was still just as good, though. By '86 they literally bulletproofed the FI system. Mine is still running after 14 years, 238k miles, although it does have a quirky idle speed. Will slap a carb on there whenever I get tired of that, but we deal with it - used to it now. Just changed the injectors last year, only because I broke one when removing them to replace o-rings. Just changed the OEM started this spring. Still on the OEM fuel pump, p/s pump & steering box. OEM water pump and alternator lasted 20 years! OEM A/C compressor just replaced last year. The plastic is getting extremely brittle, and the vinyl top is starting to dry out and fade, but she still does the job. Excellent power and 21 mpg with my wife driving. I've never touched the transmission aside from filter & fluid changes. Put new seals in the rear axles 5 years ago. Did ball joints in '05 - over 120k on those now. Just did door pins and bushings this summer. That's about it in 14 years. Try that with these new Silverados!

Love that shade of blue. Looks great.

My day yesterday. Under the hood of a '00 Taurus, 3.0 DOHC. Had the P0174 & P0300 - fuel trims were off the charts cold, and improved as it warmed. Classic intake manifold leaker. Fairly straightforward job. I hardly even swore and didn't throw any tools! That was a first ... Also replaced 2 coil packs & plugs (the 2 that I couldn't reach with the manifold on), and the PCV valve. That PCV valve is BURIED under the harness that runs between the 2 cylinder heads. Still can't see it with upper and lower manifolds off! What a friggin design ... I used a deep 22mm socket to grab the square on it, and make the half turn to remove it. What a joke! Then, every single connector retainer on all 6 injectors broke! Had to weave in a zip tie, push the tail over with a screwdriver, then grab it with long needle nosed pliers. Felt like I was stitching up Frankenstein. PLASTIC!! She's a runner now though. This thing gets up and boogies for a little V6! Was fun to test drive. My plug retainer stitching job, lol. At least it worked.

Yep - we used to be able to do that! Buy one vehicle, and have it the rest of your life. Not anymore. That thing is a beauty! Still has another 40+ years in her I'd bet, so long as she steers clear of the road salt.

I consider anything built after '95 to be new. They still are to me. I'm still learning these damn systems! My next new vehicle will be built before 1973, that much I know for certain.

This is what I hate the most with modern vehicles. If stuff would just fail completely, diagnosing these things would be 10x easier ... and would probably add at least 15 years to my lifespan.

Welcome to my world! Fixing a P0300 on a '00 Taurus. Has a MASSIVE vacuum leak in both the upper and lower intake manifold gaskets. Found it using the water test - could hear it getting sucked in. While I have that dumb plastic thing off of there, I'll replace the 2 coils and plugs I couldn't reach during the last misfire episode.

If air stops going through the mass airflow sensor, it'll run like crap, and/or stall.

Took the truck out 2 days in a row! That hasn't happened in a LONG time. Went to NY with that Volvo on the trailer Saturday, and on Sunday I took a run to my parent's place a few towns over. That time of year again! Helped set up one old tree stand, and assemble and set up a brand new, $80 chinese Walmart stand for my dad and my brother. I was actually very impressed with the build quality and EXCELLENT assembly directions, and the way they packaged and labeled the hardware. My brother and I had it fully assembled in about 10 minutes flat. Had lots of extra bracing you don't normally see in the cheap ones. All 8.8 grade M10, 8 & 6 bolts too - bigger ones used where they should be. No idea how they make any money off these things. Must be paying them chinamen .10 cents an hour over there ... Took a pic of the lineup at their house. My brother defected to Ram. My dad and I are just fixing our GM products as we go. He just had to reverse the DPF delete, thanks to this friggin state. Good thing is, I now own a scan tool capable of doing regens if needed. Cost him $1,800 after 6 friggin trips to the dealer before. Anyway ... here's some pics. Old stand still kicking after 6 New England years outdoors. We did get our shirts ruined by orange rust water, however ... They're out there!! Nice 8 pointer - pic of a pic, so it came out crappy ... The fleet!

I'd be checking the airbox, intake tube, MAF, and throttle body for debris - mouse nest, or some other little rodent may have built something in there.

I was using the car dealer's transponder - saved me $14.10. I use the Pike so infrequently that it wasn't a big deal in the past to just hold the transponder up. Now that they put these damn gantries up, I may have to buy some velcro for mine...

Especially the touchless ones. USELESS on a black truck. Leaves a film on every contour and body line that isn't directly perpendicular to the spray nozzles. Truck finally saw the light of day today. Was looking at my fuel receipts in the cab - last fill up was 7/17/16! I averaged 10mpg on that tank with LOTS of spark knock. Fuel sucks so bad up here ... Nice ride out to NY farm country. Not upstate, but far north of the city, which works for me. MA just started this new electronic toll b/s. Now I have to watch for the gantries holding the electronic gadgetry. If I don't hold the transponder up to the windshield, it takes a pic of your plate and sends you a nice bill in the mail ... which is more money than if you had the transponder. To top it all off, ALL TRAILER tolls DOUBLED with the new system. Friggin pisses me off! Robbing Peter to pay Paul. The commuting sheep won't know the difference, since their tolls got lowered. When they start paying more for tofu & wheat germ, they'll blame "big corporations", and never realize that businesses have to pass the ever-rising cost of living (thanks to democrats) on to the consumers. Clueless idiots I live with here .... I could continue ranting about the idiot drivers in NY ... but that's enough ranting for one post. I need a DRINK! Then, welcome back to MA - fines doubled! Shocker! One of the only scenic pics on the MA Pike:

Usually grease will stop squeals / squeaks, which are just the pads vibrating at a super-high frequency ... but some sets of pads can be a real PITA to make quiet. May just need some thicker stuff on there. That Permatex stuff is pretty thick.

I find squeaks to be hit or miss between the same, and different brands. Sometimes you get them, sometimes you don't. I've got some nasty squeaks going on with the Volvo rears, and I lubed everything up with Permatex Ceramic - the purple stuff. Usually that stops any squeaks. Maybe I went too light with the stuff. When I get time I'll do it over. Sometimes you can make squeaks like that go away by using that stuff on the back of the pad where the piston touches, and on the legs of the pad that ride in the anti-rattle clips. Other times, a change of pads is the only way to stop it. Yeah, gotta love those bleeders. I've had my share of those! Last one that looked like that, I had to heat it red hot before it would even move. Guy's truck is on it's last leg, so I reused it. Vice grips only now. Photo-SUKIT seems to have locked me out, yet again .. so no pics this time.

I actually cleaned off the tonneau and bed of the truck. It might actually come out and play this weekend for the first time in months. We'll see.

Yeah I was planning on finding some universal boots for these. At least those won't rust.

Now the shaft will pit, and wipe the seal out after 5k miles. Another cheapout by a once halfway-decent brand ... Yeah I had meant to say they were the same. They do have different p/n's on the body, but they're exactly the same in every way, except for the box size and dust shield. I refreshed my memory by going on Rockauto's site. Just this year alone, here are my returns: - starter solenoid for '86 Grand Marquis -- welded itself closed and the starter ran away! Warranty return. - receiver/dryer for '93 Volvo 940 A/C -- sent totally WRONG part - transmission filter for same -- sent totally WRONG part - CV axles for Isuzu Trooper -- sent totally WRONG parts - the KYB shock mismatch for same Last year I returned double this amount, and the year before, a few things. They were great 5 years ago. Don't know WTF happened the last 2 years ...

Nice racket they have there. Just like with DPF filters plugging up every week unless you run the thing full bore every day. More crap that costs us more money, and they can say, "the gov't made us do it". Well, they didn't make you engineer the things so piss-poor that you're guaranteed to make another $5k on top of every sale price for crap components ... Stuff like this drives me nuts. Firstly, it shouldn't be on the vehicle to begin with. Secondly, since it has to be, thanks to the militant enviro movement & their cohorts in this current administration, why not engineer something that works and lasts? They know they have you by the short 'n' curlies - it's the perfect racket. Grrrr .... Anyway ... got some CV axles installed in that Trooper, but now that it's all apart, I can feel some serious play in the lower ball joints. The uppers are stiff - as in lack of lubrication. Looks like I'll be ordering a set of those here too. Then to top things off, I have to return YET ANOTHER part to Rockauto. DONE with that friggin company!!!! Wrong CV axles, and about 14 other parts I can't recall at the moment ... and then THIS. Same part number on each box ... yet, different shocks. WTF!!! Quality control is so 20th century ...

I threw a new hitch on mine a couple years back too. The OEM one was getting hammered ... and rusty. Can't even remember the brand - think it was Curt. A Class IV.

Bad starter will do that too. I had got so used to our '86 Grand Marquis turning over slow for so many years, I had no idea the OEM starter was on it's way out ... until one day it left the wife stranded at the store. I managed to get it started after clicking the key a few times and got it home. After replacing every battery and solenoid cable, and installing a new starter, the thing whips over faster than it ever has in the 14 years we've owned it. Thing must've been pulling all 600 amps out of the battery each time the key was turned.

That's a good thing. We hit 70° here today, but the dew point was 70° too! Rain and mist all day. Sun came out for a few minutes, and it was tropically oppressive. I'd sweat thru my shirt in seconds. The other day I took the '74 RD350 out for what may be the final ride of the season. Was 75° that day! Couldn't ask for better than that up here. Foliage is done for after the rain today. Took this pic a couple days ago on the ride ... with my flip phone, lol: Today I busted off the 6 year old DM-V1's from my OEM 18's, stacked the tires in the barn, and threw the rims in the house. Waiting for my rim rust retardant to arrive before I mount up the new DM-V2's.

Got some new snow tires for the truck's winter wheels. Bridgestone Blizzaks to replace the 6 year old ones I have. Stuffed them all in the Volvo. One in the trunk and 3 passengers. Went to Tire Rack's Windsor, CT warehouse. Saved $67.50, even paying $43 CT sales tax. Plus get a $70 rebate from Bridgestone. Was gonna wait, but the rebate sealed the deal.

Yeah I've seen several manufacturers of OPE recommend the filter change on the second service. I've never done that for the simple reason that, I know manufacturers are in the business of making and selling equipment - car, truck, bus, chainsaw, or lawn tractor. They lose (money) if their stuff lasts "too long", & they also lose if it doesn't last long enough. We can see from the oil burning 5.3's of years past, and the self-destruction of Ford's 6.0, 6.4, & 6.7 engines, just to note a couple examples off the top of my head, that they're walking a fine line here.

Nice - stealthy. Bet you can't see them standing behind the truck.