A Grand Marquis far from home - Life with my 1988 Mercury Grand Marquis GS

[Pvt.Hudson]

Also for some trivia, here's a picture from when I bought it in August 2017, on summer tires. It's not in as nice shape anymore but it's yet to crack 100k miles (sitting at 99 720 currently) and it runs super good still. Had 68k when I bought it all those years ago.

Olds 98 Touring Sedan. Those are sharp save the idiotic door mounted seatbelts.

[DerekTheGreat]

I really love those T-Birds nowadays. I liked them OK when I was a kid (Preferred the generation before) but now I wouldn't mind having one with a 5.0. Those GM's a good shitboxes too, especially with a four cylinder.

Anyway, yes, the low temps will also make the flasher that much slower. You can swap it for one of those digital ones, but then you lose the old school charm of the original one's sound. Or you can do what most of us who own these cars long term or drive them daily do- swap a 3G onto it. That was the best upgrade I've done to my '88 LTC. I used a charge harness from a 90's Continental in conjunction with the 2G charge wires. The swap has at least 30k miles on it and was done about eight years ago- not a single issue and how I'd do it again if I ever got another one of these. The increased output at idle is amazing. It behaves like a new car, there's no flickering of lights or slowing down of anything.

[Mainemantom]

What year is the Tbird, 90-92 ? Does it have the 3.8 V-6 or the 4.6 V-8 ? I used to have a 94 Cougar. That was a cool car with every option. Too bad the insurance companies would not choose to fix them, even when new.. Low resale value and unibody.
I know many people hang on to the 2 G alternators BUT, fires still happen. Yes keeping the connector clean helps. I do have the new connector if you need one. The best choice is the 3G upgrade. Much information is here as to where to buy used or new and how to install. I did two already. Excellent improvement.

[Pvt.Hudson]

I really love those T-Birds nowadays. I liked them OK when I was a kid (Preferred the generation before) but now I wouldn't mind having one with a 5.0. Those GM's a good shitboxes too, especially with a four cylinder.

No H Body (Bonneville, Lesabre/Park Ave, Delta 88/98) got a i4, they just had 3800s save the initial offering which did have a 3.0 v6 but was quickly dropped for the 3.8.. Only the smaller cars like the N Bodies (Calais,Skylark,Grand Am) or A Bodies (6000, Celebrity, Cutlass Ciera, Century) had i4 Iron Dukes or optional 60° v6's.

[Kodachrome Wolf]

Here's an image where you can see my alternator, can it be identified from this image alone?

It's a 2G as it goes, and truth be told, I don't think it's in the right "style" since most of the Panther 2Gs I've seen typically have the output and voltage regulator plugs typically coming out of the "top" of the unit, however your plugs are clocked inboard. Not impossible it has been replaced at some point over the years and perhaps someone used what was more readily available.

I'll echo other responses regarding the 3G replacement. That's a job I've done on both my Boxes and a few other applications too that featured 1G and 2G alternators. The 3G has always worked considerably better and provided more consistent output. However, considering your location and availability of parts, I can understand just wanting to ensure what you have presently is safe to use.

[DerekTheGreat]

No H Body (Bonneville, Lesabre/Park Ave, Delta 88/98) got a i4, they just had 3800s save the initial offering which did have a 3.0 v6 but was quickly dropped for the 3.8.. Only the smaller cars like the N Bodies (Calais,Skylark,Grand Am) or A Bodies (6000, Celebrity, Cutlass Ciera, Century) had i4 Iron Dukes or optional 60° v6's.

The N-body is what I'm thinking of then. I only saw a few on the lot when I worked at a used car dealership some twenty years ago. The one pictured that made me pop off reminded me of the ones I saw.

[Tynnerstroem]

Pvt.Hudson yes sir! It was a 1989 and it had those sick factory aluminium wheels. Was a great car that we had for like 10 years in the family. My dad had it for winter use first - then year-around use with like 3hrs of commuting every day - handed down to my sister who drove it daily it for a while - handed back to my dad for daily duties until it was rear-ended on an off-ramp. The insurance company paid strangely well for it, pretty much making the whole ownership experience free for us. Such a cool car overall.

DerekTheGreat Mainemantom I've really grown to love this generation of T-Bird since I bought that one. It's a 3.8 LX car, has A/C, code locks, power drivers seat and cruise but no automatic lights, base stereo, gray cloth interior and not much else. I kind of love it for just being a fairly basic large coupe. There really aren't any such cars for sale anymore, although a couple seem to have made their way here when new. This one was sold in the United States when new and has a parking sticker for Conestoga College in Ontario, Canada and for Brown University in Rhode Island on the back window. Now it's over here in the other side of the Atlantic - this car sure seems to have seen more of the world than I have almost.

I attacked the squeaking belt today. Working out of my pops garage, which since the acquisition of the Cadillac Seville is pretty crowded.




Out with the old and in with the new! It's a pretty funky design with it being bolted both from the front and from the back.




While the old pulley was sounding pretty bad, it wasn't the cause of the squeaking. Rather it seemed that the alternator belt had slacked off, which is pretty confounding since it was tightened up pretty well. But now with the new pulley and both belts properly tight there's no more squeaking and the car is yet again a pleasure to drive. I also replaced the zip-tie on that little coolant overflow hose with a proper clamp, and it seems I'm no longer losing coolant. I'll be driving the car to work all week so we shall see whether it's truly fixed, but I'm cautiously optimistic.

On another note, you may recall I tore into the doors earlier this fall, to fix the power door locks. Due to time constraints I wound up having to throw it all together, and today I tried putting it back together so that I can at least lock the passenger door, even without the power lock motor (way too cold outside to deal with that now). The little clip that goes into here is nowhere to be found, so I tried with this fine iron thread.


When putting all of this together again, I'm having trouble with the door lock not turning over. It just seems stuck. Has anyone of you torn into the locks and have any experiences that you could share with me here? Am I perhaps missing something? The shop manual isn't all that much help and it feels like I'm doing it the only logical way there is, but perhaps I'm missing something. Any helpful input here is appreciated.

[sly]

I seem to remember that there's a way to get the rods in the wrong position and they bind up. Also, the lock cylinder needs to be on one direction, but can be reversed in the hole when everything is apart and then the rod is too short to be affective. So if the lock is backwards, flipping it around will sort that. I could be thinking of another vehicle on this one though. Been about 15 years or so since I messed with that stuff in a box (88 MGM).

[Tynnerstroem]

Thanks sly . I'm going to look at it with fresh eyes when the weather is a little more forgiving, since I might have been trying to do it while it's in the wrong position.

Coming to you live from my apartment "garage"! It's a whopping 3 degrees Celsius (that's 37 Farenheit) and I'm not really feeling my feet anymore, but at the same time I am restless so why the heck not right? I must admit that with this car I've gone from hating wrenching to something between tolerating it and enjoying it. If nothing else I'm enjoying the money I'm saving by not having to leave it to my mechanic every time.


You may recall that earlier in the thread I have not only learned that these two hoses that go into the throttle body are actually coolant hoses, but also mentioned that they're looking kind of tired. I've been swapping out the IAC valve this evening (for an aftermarket one - I know, I know, but I'm saving the old Ford one for now) and I got a better look at them.


Now to me this actually looks kind of worrying. They are dry and hard, and as you can see swollen, but now I see what appears to be remnants of water here. I'm not shocked if these are leaking, since for all I know they are the ones from 1988, and it would explain why I'm seeing the coolant level in the coolant reservoir dropping (even after my fix of the hose between the reservoir and the radiator), albeit more slowly now.

Since I'm not particularly mechanically inclined or experienced enough to have an opinion, I turn to you dear Grandmarq:ers - Can I drive it like this? They are on my list of things to be changed this spring, but do these appear to be blowing up any second? I just need to know if I have to park the car or if it's safe to commute with while I get the hosing for it.

[sly]

You can also bypass that coolant to EGR cooler there. Just run the lines together and put a loopback section of line on those two ports. When I did this to the 88 I had, I cut off the swelled area to a good/better section of hose on the line from the passenger side of the car and then attached that to the port the other line comes from. Then used the other line to loop back to the EGR cooler's other port I had already removed. If it does need new line, it's a bit of a pain to get to the port on the passenger side of the engine, but can be done without removing everything. The hardest part is getting the clamp off. Several of us have done this with little to no impact on drivability.

[friskyfrankie]

Thanks sly . I'm going to look at it with fresh eyes when the weather is a little more forgiving, since I might have been trying to do it while it's in the wrong position.

Coming to you live from my apartment "garage"! It's a whopping 3 degrees Celsius (that's 37 Farenheit) and I'm not really feeling my feet anymore, but at the same time I am restless so why the heck not right? I must admit that with this car I've gone from hating wrenching to something between tolerating it and enjoying it. If nothing else I'm enjoying the money I'm saving by not having to leave it to my mechanic every time.


You may recall that earlier in the thread I have not only learned that these two hoses that go into the throttle body are actually coolant hoses, but also mentioned that they're looking kind of tired. I've been swapping out the IAC valve this evening (for an aftermarket one - I know, I know, but I'm saving the old Ford one for now) and I got a better look at them.


Now to me this actually looks kind of worrying. They are dry and hard, and as you can see swollen, but now I see what appears to be remnants of water here. I'm not shocked if these are leaking, since for all I know they are the ones from 1988, and it would explain why I'm seeing the coolant level in the coolant reservoir dropping (even after my fix of the hose between the reservoir and the radiator), albeit more slowly now.

Since I'm not particularly mechanically inclined or experienced enough to have an opinion, I turn to you dear Grandmarq:ers - Can I drive it like this? They are on my list of things to be changed this spring, but do these appear to be blowing up any second? I just need to know if I have to park the car or if it's safe to commute with while I get the hosing for it.

If you have a semi warm place to work, I would swap them out. They will probably last somewhat longer but at least you won't have to think about them any longer!

[sly]

If you have a semi warm place to work, I would swap them out. They will probably last somewhat longer but at least you won't have to think about them any longer!

+1
Also, if you see -20C or lower temps while driving, I would advise against my suggestion of bypassing this since it will help prevent icing of the throttle body and intake in the extreme cold, which is the actual purpose of the system. Most of us that have done the bypass live in warm climates that never see much below freezing, much less -20C, so it's a non issue for us.

[Tynnerstroem]

Thanks for your input sly and friskyfrankie . While I haven’t seen -20C in about as many years, it did get down to -12 last year. I’m also a fan of keeping the technical solutions as the engineers intended, so I’ll be replacing these hoses and will move it up on the priority list. I haven’t looked at it, but how much will I need to remove to get to the hoses on the passenger side? Is it easiest to do it from under the hood, or maybe to get at them behind the wheel?

[Tiggie]

I need to replace those hoses on my 88 also. Last time I did it, I had the upper intake off so it was easy. This time I don't plan to do that, and instead just sneak in with a socket or a screwdriver. Not excited about it.
Under the hood is the way to get them. Also that hose is 1/4" coolant hose. My local parts stores don't carry it but I was able to order some. It's not fuel hose. Fuel hose doesn't like the higher temps of carrying coolant, but will work in a pinch with less lifespan.

[sly]

yeah, it's much easier with the upper plenum off, but a snake driver or some short extensions can usually reach the spots you need to get at the clamps.