My 'new' 2003 Grand Marquis.

[Piece-it pete]

Why am I cursed with difficult to find problems?

I think I know - cursed because I bought something from Walmart. I knew better.

Review: back and forth wobble in front end. Action: replaced most of the front end.

Result: Wobble severely diminished but still there. (front end way tighter though!)

Action: Replaced rim on pass side.

Result: Wobble ALMOST gone but still there. Jury's out on which side it's coming from but the general consensous is the drivers side which the tire guy helped, he said the pass tire looked great.

Planned action: going to Walmart and making them replace the drivers tire. In a moment of weakness I bought the 2 front tires there last year (Goodyear... Arrivas? Something). Problem is my SO threw the reciept away.

We'll see. Hoping to get there today. I've got a 11 hour drive coming up shortly and need this resolved!

Pete

[Piece-it pete]

Wobble might not be the rim itself, it could be a broken belt in one of the tires. I had to swap on one of the turbines onto the green '94 I had because it was so annoying, felt like front was shaking side to side as you went down the road. Good luck!

Ta-da! BOTH craptacular Goodyear Viva 2s on the front are out of round! Installed 2-11, 18k miles on them.

Since they are Walmart specific garbage, in order to use the proration ($55 off per tire) I have to buy Goodyear tires at Walmart. I don't want the same junk so I priced out Comfortreads, even with the proration I can still get them cheaper off Tirerack (including frt)! So once again, screw Walmart and the (wobbly) tires they rode in on.

I'm not getting cheap tires again if I can help it, it's just too much trouble. After some research I think I'm going with Michelin Primacy MXV4s off Tire Rack, H speed rating is on sale for $126 + frt.

Pete

[Ziggy]

Ta-da! BOTH craptacular Goodyear Viva 2s on the front are out of round! Installed 2-11, 18k miles on them.

Since they are Walmart specific garbage, in order to use the proration ($55 off per tire) I have to buy Goodyear tires at Walmart. I don't want the same junk so I priced out Comfortreads, even with the proration I can still get them cheaper off Tirerack (including frt)! So once again, screw Walmart and the (wobbly) tires they rode in on.

I'm not getting cheap tires again if I can help it, it's just too much trouble. After some research I think I'm going with Michelin Primacy MXV4s off Tire Rack, H speed rating is on sale for $126 + frt.

Pete

FWIW, the last 5 sets of tires that I've bought have been BFG's (4 sets of Radial T/A's, and one set of Long Trail T/A's) on 5 different cars. I've never been disappointed with the ride, traction, or treadlife. My GM currently has a set of Kumho's that the dealership put on before I bought it. They seem to ride okay but when it comes time, she'll get a set of BFG's too.

[Piece-it pete]

Thanks for the rec, I appreciate it.

But already bought. And delivered this afternoon! Kudos to Tire Rack. I can't WAIT to get home and get these puppies on!

Pete

[packman]

....I'm not getting cheap tires again if I can help it, it's just too much trouble. After some research I think I'm going with Michelin Primacy MXV4s off Tire Rack, H speed rating is on sale for $126 + frt.

Pete

Thank you for that. My friends think I am bonkers for getting good tires for a crappy old '80s sedan. Thing is that the front tires I got have lasted 7 years and I am just changing them now; and the rears I got four years ago. And the car will out manuever most of their cars. Totally worth getting decent tires in my book.



Packman

[Piece-it pete]

For a number of years I went used. Then hit a string of bad ones. Then went budget new and see what happened? Although the Mastercraft RSC 2.0s on the 85 are holding up well. Still, I suspect tires might not be as good overall as they were or I'm just getting tired of messing with them.

They be on! NTB charged me $24 out the door to change them, very OK around here. And, they rock.

Still the slightest, teeniest wobble that few other than us folks would notice, I suspect a minor rim problem, but I don't care! It's a functioning car again

Drinking beer staring at the mighty V8 my bud noticed that I left a big screwdriver on the plastic near the cabin air intake under the hood. That would explain the occasional light rattle I've been hearing

And the transmission not going into park properly? The cable fits into a holder/bracket under the master cylinder, it had popped out! Yesterday was full of win.

Pete

[sxcpotatoes]

Glad you got the tires taken care of, mang! See you @ the Akron Meet?

[Piece-it pete]

Oh yeah!



Pete

[Piece-it pete]

Alright, I swapped tires on the front and the teenie bit of wobble left moved to the other side, so apparently it was a rim that threw the tires out. Thanks to t65 for pointing out that one bad rim can eventually throw both tires out. So I owe Goodyear an apology - sorry Goodyear

Pete

[Piece-it pete]

But I still hate Walmart.

I put a different rim on, and for the 8 millionth time the wobble is ALMOST gone. Good enough for now.

Changed the diff oil, just used regular old fashioned gear oil. It really needed it, dirty, a bit watery, and smelled even worse than usual.

Interesting, I always clean up my bolts on a wire wheel, dropped a blessed bolt and lost it, ended up out of curiousity and desperation pulling the top bolt out of the 85, and - it's the same. 8.8 FTW? Though the bolts on the 03 appear much more heavy duty. Next time I change the diff oil on the 85 I'll swap them out. Wonder what year they upgraded the bolts? When I got to the JY to replace the missing one I'll take a look and report back.

The aluminum cover on the 03 looks like it would fit the 85 too, though I'll never do that.

Looking for the *$%^@(* bolt took a bit of budgeted time so still need the tranny fluid and engine oil changed. I've decided to change the universals when I do the rear suspension - I'll borrow my neighbors mighty truck jack stands for that, the car'll be MUCH higher.

Tensioner's starting to make a little noise too, I'll change it and the idler here shortly.

Pete

[Piece-it pete]

Got the tensioner, guy on ebay's selling Goodyear brand for around $28 del'd. They're calling it a Gatorback tensioner. Bearing's Chinese but the unit is made in Canada. I'd guess this means, years from now when it's wearing out, instead of going 'squeeksqueeksqueek' it'll go 'ehehehehe'

The only difference I can see between tensioners is, some you can see the end of the wound spring on the outside of the can it's in (the one on my car is like that), and some have the spring internalized completely (like this Goodyear).

Pete

[Piece-it pete]

Got the belt stuff changed. Did the tranny filter too. Fluid OK, no plug, so perhaps it's been changed before. Magnet pretty clean.

On to the front freakin end. It is almost certainly the lower control arm bushings. I'm pissed about it. They are NOT solid, they're expensive, poly isn't available. WTF is up with 10 year old bushings needing changed?? I like the new style front end overall, mostly, kinda, even with the numbness and twitchiness, but what I really should've done is replace the LCAs when I did the front end.

No big deal really right? Except it's another $400. Plus another front end alignment. So forget upgrading the suspension now. Next panther I'm thinking will be another 97 with a new manifold and big brake swap. Screw the new front end, heck on COP ignition problems, nice solid ploy bushings, normal steering, get me the 4 spoke steering wheel.



Pete

[Piece-it pete]

Tastes great! Less filling.

Back and forth on this car. Driving in bad weather last night, it is just so surefooted, so stable.

I swear this car is going to drive me to distraction.

Pete

[Piece-it pete]

Well the 'Late' affair continues. Or is it 'Hove'?

I mentioned elsewhere the fun with traction control I had, it works fine but pulling out into traffic in the snow and having the engine basically die will wake you up in a hurry! I now turn it off until I'm on the straight with some speed.

Haven't done anything about the slowly worsening rattle in the suspension or the weird slight miss. No green for the rattle and too cold for the miss.

Not that I have any idea how to fix the miss anyway! My plan is, open the hood, stare at it a while while having a few beers, swear at it, jiggle a couple wires, and finally fixing it for good by shutting the hood and ignoring it

But now for some reason it's taking its' own sweet time starting when cold. 2 or 3 times more turns before it catches and vrooms imo.

I've already replaced the COPs (Motorcraft) & plugs. I suspect it's the KAM (keep alive memory) low voltage and perhaps the memory is being wiped when parked for a while. So I have to wait for green to have it fixed. I found the wire etc and checked the voltage (10.4 volts) but it's at the bottom of the ECM plug, difficult to get to. I've gleaned elsewhere that the wire cracks where the harness turns and lowers, from the rad support to the drivers fender, right at the bend. I'm not going to attempt it, I'm not that guy.

The one thing I have done recently was the huge job of installing ventshades on it. I've never had them before so thought I'd about them, as if I needed an excuse

I bought them quite a few months ago for a since-cancelled longish road trip with the mom in law, both me and the SO smoke and she doesn't and she also would have complained about the wind. Cheap on ebay, very easy to install. Looks OK but they do cover the chrome on the top of the windows. Observations: they make more of a difference than I thought they would. I immediately noticed that cracking windows didn't effect the sound of the stereo as much as it did before, it used to be a positive but now not as much. I suspect the reflection off the shades? I dunno for sure.

Just about everything else they're an improvement. I smoke, it works great for that (still not as good as wing windows though), even in the cold you can crack windows without freezing, which has the unexpected bonus of melting the ice on the windows pretty quickly. They also help keep the windows from icing shut. And of course you can crack the windows in the rain. Overall I like them and will probably install them on any non box I buy from here on out, which may or may not happen again.

Pete

[Piece-it pete]

An unusual weekend - I TOUCHED A CAR!

Appropriately too. That's my story and I'm sticking to it. Please ignore the sobbing car in the corner with the engine cover on inside out.

Seriously I thought hey, maybe the hard start is just stuff needing cleaned. And the weather wasn't nasty. I had just cleaned the crap out of the intake last summer, so I cleaned the IAC though the bypass tube, and the MAF sensor, using an entire can of Berryman Chemtool B-12 spray (a LOT cheaper than Seafoam).

Well, it does obviously run smoother, it feels like it's quicker to respond to the throttle, and has a bit more power. For 15 minutes work highly rec'd.

But still a startup lag. Thinking about it it seems like it takes a minute to get fuel pressure up. I'm going to try turning the key and waiting a moment before starting, when I remember.

Pete