VicCrownVic's 1989 Colony Park - Large Marge

[friskyfrankie]

I think the core of the thread starts off around page 3, but it’s covered here: http://www.grandmarq.net/vb/forum/te...-vacuum-switch

Great and thanks! I'll go check it all out.

[VicCrownVic]

Eeee, I figured after we added oil (and found there wasn't any on the stick) you'd be checking it on a regular basis. How many miles did it go before needing some? I've never met a LoPo which didn't have a drinking problem. I get maybe a month or 1,000 miles out of each change before my engine falls off the wagon and begins drinking.

~6 hrs for a heater core job sounds like a record. Who lit a fire under your ass?? Would've taken me all weekend or multiple weekends.

I kept up with it while it was warm out. I drove the wagon quite a bit last summer, but I never kept tabs on how long it went before needing a quart. I just checked it and added as needed. When I last drove it the weather was getting cold but I hadn't planned on driving the wagon anymore for the season. Someone I knew needed a car so I let them borrow the '98 for a week. I guess I got lazy about checking oil as the outside temperature went down. The engine that was in my '89 MGM and then went into The Ice Car wasn't an oil burner so I got a bit spoiled for a large portion of the past 2 decades. The '98 burns a little, but maybe 1 quart in 5k miles.

Knowing that I can get through '90+ heater core job much faster it felt like an eternity at 5.5 hours. While '90+ and '89- is a very similar job, I'm pretty sure there are far less screws on '90+ ('90-'91 specifically).

[DerekTheGreat]

1qt / 5k miles is nothing. The Town Car has a "Check Oil" light, don't the peasant mobiles?

Looks like it might be time for that one engine to get swapped again...

[gadget73]

Nothing I own uses or leaks oil. I think they all know I'm not going to check the oil, and if its going away it will either get fixed or the engine is getting rebuilt so I don't have to deal with it.

and yes I'd spend 2 grand rebuilding an engine on a $1000 car to avoid putting in $5 worth of oil.

[Tiggie]

A lot of my stuff leaks oil. They are all oil pan or crankshaft seal leaks... not particularly easy to get to.

[VicCrownVic]

Nothing I own uses or leaks oil. I think they all know I'm not going to check the oil, and if its going away it will either get fixed or the engine is getting rebuilt so I don't have to deal with it.

and yes I'd spend 2 grand rebuilding an engine on a $1000 car to avoid putting in $5 worth of oil.

The small cost of adding oil occasionally will add up, so I would have to agree with this. That and I obviously get lazy from time to time if not more often.
In this case I'll probably pull the 306 out of The Ice Car (we're talking 2025... maybe, at the earliest) to swap in and throw Marge's engine on a stand and slowly rebuild it (now that this will be an option).

[VicCrownVic]

A lot of my stuff leaks oil. They are all oil pan or crankshaft seal leaks... not particularly easy to get to.

I replaced the oil pan gasket on The Scab with the engine in the car. Tons of fun, LOL.

[DerekTheGreat]

Nothing I own uses or leaks oil. I think they all know I'm not going to check the oil, and if its going away it will either get fixed or the engine is getting rebuilt so I don't have to deal with it.

and yes I'd spend 2 grand rebuilding an engine on a $1000 car to avoid putting in $5 worth of oil.

All engines use oil to some extent. Let's trade cars for an OCI or two and I'll prove it. I don't see carrying an extra quart of oil around as a burden. I was taught to check it every fill-up. Seeing as I drive 20+ yr old junk, I think that's a great idea anyway. While I'm there I check for other leaks and issues. The stuff I drive daily goes thousands of miles before I need to tip in a quart. My limit on a DD is 1qt/1,000 miles/month, whichever comes first. My Firebird guzzles oil, but I only end up adding it every three months or so because of how little I drive it.

[Brown_Muscle]

I've recently seen a lot of NOS ATC sensors on ebay for around $100...might be worth a grab

[friskyfrankie]

I've recently seen a lot of NOS ATC sensors on ebay for around $100...might be worth a grab

Wouldn't mine one for an '87/88 CV or GM but didn't see any.

[VicCrownVic]

Lots of thumbs up on Saturday including two whale Vics that passed me, following each other, on south bound M53 freeway while I was cruising along at 70ish MPH. Both had to pull up beside me to give the thumbs up one after the other. Later some dude in a truck waited to turn left from my right as I was on a main road and he was on a side street. I woundered why he stopped after starting to go. I thought he was going to be one of those aholes who hesitates just to pull out on front of me. When I got closer he gave a thumbs up, then I realized why he hesitated to pull out; he just wanted to see the wagon, lol.

The heat did the same thing on Friday evening as it did last time. It started out good, but got colder as we went. Today I pulled and plugged the clear vac line behind the glove box (as someone before me (Phil I think) had done before I put it back to factory) and I also put 1/2 gallon (at most) of coolant in. The heat was cooking the whole 40 mile ride today and I had to turn it off for a bit a couple times because it was just too hot, lol. I might put the vac line back to factory again just to see if it was only the low coolant but I think I'll end up with the same cooling down heat after driving a while.

[kishy]

Forgive me for not having verified to what extent this was already discussed:

The vacuum ATC common failure mode is to gradually drift colder the longer the car is running. This is because hot is the default position of the blend door, and it returns to hot by spring tension, but vacuum applied to the servo will make it go cold. Your in-car temperature sensor (the usually blue thing above the glovebox) is likely gummed up with sticky dust and is not fully sealing off the vacuum flow.

I don't remember who, but someone fairly recently explored refurbishing one, and I think the result was good enough to be worth an attempt.

And yeah, wagons turn ALL of the heads. I can't go anywhere with mine without being waved at, thumbs-upped, or pulled into a nostalgic conversation.

[Lutrova]

I had some luck bringing back my ATC sensor, but it's not perfect. I started from the point of total failure - full cold - and have it at a place where it's biased colder, particularly the longer I run it, but there's at least some functionality. More progress could definitely be made, but I've had two kids since I last screwed around with it and my free time has diminished. Sounds like your sensor is in a similar place to mine, maybe a little worse. Getting the needle valve in it to seat properly could help, but your mileage may vary.

I'm pretty sure the thread exploring the sensor repair was stickied somewhere. It's the one about ultrasonic cleaning.

[87gtVIC]

Just makes you feel good when someone goes out of their way to give you some kudos on your ride.

[VicCrownVic]

Thanks for the confirmation on what the failure mode of the early box ATC is. (I actually had no idea how it failed since I hadn't bothered to look it up, I only knew that it somehow failed and cold output was involved.) It sure does sound like what I'm experiencing, and confirms Phil's diagnosis.

I've never messed with that sensor but looking forward to it sometime much later this year (probably fall timeframe).
When I put the later ATC control head, from a '97 LTC, into The Ice Car (strangely optioned with ATC considering it's a GS) I didn't change the sensor. I'm not sure if the '90-'91 sensors are the same as the earlier box sensors, but they work in place of the later ones. If the later sensor can be retrofitted to the earlier box I may try that and just yank the one from The Ice Car.