My 1987 Mercury Colony Park

[DerekTheGreat]

Hahaha. Seems a lot of the time no matter what I do the last two drops end up on my leg.

Have fun replacing that heater core or freeze plug after fixing a leak. I don't like things to leak either but sometimes depending on the vehicles purpose/tenure I may not fix them if they're minor for that reason.

[longroof87]

For me, I bought this car knowing about a coolant leak. Was told it was coming from the intake manifold but I didn't see any signs of that. So I brought it in to a trustee shop and it was actually the timing cover, water pump, and thermostat housing. With that, I had to add coolant every 100-200 miles. The intake leak recently? Every 5-10 miles...

[DerekTheGreat]

Kind of bad leaks. My car was secretly leaking through the TB and onto the rocker cover. Never saw it until I went to hunt a vacuum leak. I did see some coolant on the topside which had dried, noticed that about a year ago. Tightening the bolts didn't help. Pulling the air intake tube off showed me the mess it has been making. I had to add coolant every 2-3 fill-ups so probably every 420-600 miles. Never saw a drip on the floor though.

[longroof87]

Looking through some old notes. If you're looking for NOS for the plug and play trailer wiring harness from Ford, the P/N is: D9AB-15A416-AC

[longroof87]

My 1987 Mercury Colony Park

What would cause excessive brake pedal travel? Around town, I feel some grab when hit I the brake pedal but, it’s not the signature Ford toe touch that is known of Ford of this age. It seems vacuum related because the actual bite level changes based on speed and how much throttle input there was before braking. There’s always some level of grab but, it’s not inspiring. The other part of this, I adjusted my drums a few months back and got great pedal feel. Now that I’ve been out of town more and the wagon has sat more, it seems to be right back where we were before adjusted drums.

Also, don’t know if this could be an issue. A year ago, I was having a friend help bleed brakes and, we found that you cannot keep the cap off because fluid fountains out of the master cylinder reservoir when the pedal is pressed.

[Brown_Muscle]

On the last note-it's normal for fluid to shoot up, i always just place the cap loosely back on it when bleeding brakes

Excessive pedal travel, that alone would not be caused by the brake booster, the pedal would simply feel harder and require more effort to press it down. Is it more travel, or more effort? If it is more travel the master cylinder could be leaking internally, there could be a small leak at one of the brake lines (you'd notice fluid on the ground though).

Alternatively you say the wagon sits. If the rotors get enough rust on them weird things can happen, or if a slider or caliper has frozen up you'd certainly get erratic braking.

Tests: Put your foot on the brake while sitting in park, engine running, apply even, hard pressure. Does the pedal sink? Master Cylinder/brake line.
Remove the front wheels, inspect the discs for any excessive rust on the faces, unbolt the calipers and make sure the slider pins arent frozen up, and take a large c-clamp or
large vice grips and make sure the caliper pistons will retract normally.

Side notes! My Maverick is painted the same blue. How do you like the "wing"? Does it help with dust?

[longroof87]

Both front calipers were replaced last august. Slide pins are greased up. I can check again for any problems or rust.

Pedal doesn’t sink on its own, I do have long travel. It’s not hard, I’d say it takes less effort than usual. Pressure doesn’t change while sitting a stop light. I can keep my foot resting on the pedal and it doesn’t move.

I’ll check more once I’m home.

[Brown_Muscle]

I just read through your first post and was going to edit, but you beat me to it! haha.

Have you also checked inside the rear drums? Bad wheel cylinders can do funky things as well, if they are original they are worth replacing, I've had a few freeze up on me a and it's led to a decrease in overall braking performance.

[DerekTheGreat]

I just read through your first post and was going to edit, but you beat me to it! haha.

Have you also checked inside the rear drums? Bad wheel cylinders can do funky things as well, if they are original they are worth replacing, I've had a few freeze up on me a and it's led to a decrease in overall braking performance.

This stuff plus if the rear shoes are out of adjustment it will cause excessive travel. Get back there with a flat head or the proper tool and see if you can adjust them. If you just hear click-click-click with no real resistance that's a giveaway that things were loose back there. Probably also that the self adjuster isn't working. I typically keep going until I can feel a bit of resistance with the tool on each side and then stop.

[longroof87]

adjusters have been adjusted. I originally had that problem earlier this year.

[longroof87]

It has been some time since I've posted here for sure. What's been done?

3G alternator installed with a foxbody mustang upgrade kit used. H4 and H1 headlights installed with the relay's needed. All new drum hardware in the back, new hoses, new steel lines... Also a driveshaft. It has this annoying shake on perfectly smooth roads, like it's finding imperfections that you can't see and it's plauged this vehicle since I bought it. the replacement driveshaft did help as the shop said the old one was bent. But over 40MPH there's this shake/vibration that's not exactly rhythmic, but it's there.

[sly]

if the u-joints aren't new, might need to check those. They should move freely but not be loose. If there's a spot that binds, it'll do that. Also, since the previous driveshaft had issues, you may need to check the pinion on the rear differential and the output shaft on the transmission. Put the rear axle up on jack stands and pop it in drive. Best to block up the front wheels to keep things from going anywhere. Watch for any wobbles. Could also be wheels out of round or tires with a weak spot in the sidewall.

[longroof87]

if the u-joints aren't new, might need to check those. They should move freely but not be loose. If there's a spot that binds, it'll do that. Also, since the previous driveshaft had issues, you may need to check the pinion on the rear differential and the output shaft on the transmission. Put the rear axle up on jack stands and pop it in drive. Best to block up the front wheels to keep things from going anywhere. Watch for any wobbles. Could also be wheels out of round or tires with a weak spot in the sidewall.

I'm leaning towards output shafts because the new driveshaft had u-joints put in which move freely, first thing I checked before putting it in. This cured some of the shakey-wobble I feel. I've also had 3 different sets of wheels and tires trying to decipher whether it was as simple as tire or wheel that is messed up. Nothing yet.

[Brown_Muscle]

Did you have a shop check the balance of the driveshaft you put in? Half the time theyre out of balance