my friend Eric needs some help

[79lincolnlover]

Eric owns a '92 Crown Vic. If I recall, he's a member of CVN. He sent me a message on facebook with 2 questions:

hi patrick!

how are you doing? i got 2 questions. do you have any experience with optima batteries? i am sure you know why i´m asking lol

and there is water breaking in my crown vic for years now and nobody can find out where it comes in. they just are not interested to have a close look i guess. as i got more cars i never drive when it rains with the ford but that sucks.

the water starts coming in from right above the gas pedal and in heavy rain you have a few inches of water in the car. only at the drivers side.

i used duct tape around the windshielt but that didn´t help any.... what´s your idea?

take care,
eric

[86VickyLX]

Ah. More aero leakage, my parent's one had multiple leaks.


First let's see what's causing it to leak. If you have a plastic pitcher, fill it with water and pour it at the base of the windshield, and see if there is any water leaking in. If there is then it is probably the drains for the water when it falls to the bottom of the windshield.

There are some drains for below the windshield that can get clogged with leaves, and other debris that can cause the water to get into the passenger compartment. You can access the drains by the plastic wheel well from the underside. There is a a small cover that can be removed which exposes the outlet for the drains. If they are clogged (one on each side), you will see all kinds of crap in there. I'd wear gloves if I were you. Reach in there and start pulling crap out. You can also use a compressor and blow out the remaining stuff. Just be sure to wear goggles for safety when you're using the compressor.

The aero's drains were clogged with pine needles because there is a big pine tree right over where it is normally parked.

[79lincolnlover]

Thanks mang!! I passed the info along to Eric.

[86VickyLX]

Thanks mang!! I passed the info along to Eric.

No problem. Let me know how he makes out. You should try to get him to join GMN mang.

[79lincolnlover]

Eric sent me another msg today:

"The battery seems to be fine the car was standing a week and it was still full yesterday. I made a long drive and the idle is bad as hell. Sometimes it´s bad in D and sometimes in N or P.
And the strange thing is sometimes it dies off and sometimes it suddenly runs all fine and the idle seems to go up with the rpm.

Is it the MAF sensor? I think so but not a chance to get a new one over here and I don´t trust the used ones from ebay. I need to check for a shop that makes international shippings for a decent price."

What do you think?

[86VickyLX]

Has he checked for any vacuum leaks? Has he checked the computer for codes?

[79lincolnlover]

I'll copy and paste that into the next message I send him...

"Hi Patrick!

The fuel pump and relay are both original and I had the pump checked and was told it works fine. If I drive there are no more problems. Just in idle and sometimes the idle is too low and then it catches up and the idle is smooth.
What I will do this week is change the spark cables and the rear brakes because they need to be done.

What do you think about the MAF sensor? I mostly hear there are problems with that.
Btw I stopped being at the CVN forum."

[86VickyLX]

Fuel pump either works or it doesn't. He needs to extract codes from his computer to see if there's any problems with the MAF sensor.

Aero would have 3 digit trouble codes I believe.
http://fordfuelinjection.com/?p=45

Procedure for extracting codes in this linky below.
http://fordfuelinjection.com/?p=13

[p71towny]

The IAC tends to stick on those. When its doing it at idle, tap it lightly with a screwdriver handle or something of that nature. See if it clears up. Has he done the normal tune up stuff to it? How long has he owned it and what has been done?

[79lincolnlover]

up-dates from Eric

"i´m shocked about the brakes. check that pic out. we changed the brake pads and discs, cleaned the MAF, fixed a vacuum leak, changed the spark pugs, the temp sensor and.....

... the idle still sucks and the temp still goes down to - 44°C

no luck i guess well i think i need a new MAF but i have no idea why the outside temperature does not work.

oh and another shock. the air suspension leaks bad at the "air bag" at the drivers side."


"People at CVN are a bit strange. They keep fighting about police interceptor issues and "wackers" and some of them just ignore everyone who isn´t American or keep talking more about guns than cars.

Btw there should be no vacuum leaks and with the computer there is the problem that we don´t have any official Ford dealers here who WANT to check US Ford. Most of the other repair shops don´t know about US cars. When I had it checked by the computer he said that there was an error coming from the coil package and that he´s not sure about the MAF sensor. Whatever that means. I changed the coil packages and it runs better since them but the idle still is really bad. I googled about a bad idle and in a Mustang forum there was a list of the cars having MAF sensor probs and that it´s common. I may check what the prices are so I can order a new one."

[p71towny]

How did you clean the MAF?