kishy's 1991 Grand Marquis

[Mainemantom]

On the box police package CVs with the gauges either on the right passenger dash panel, the radio slot or where the clock is on the 90-91, all used that sender and tube. That gauge set up with all the wiring, is worth a ton of money to the right person. Most people just got the gauges and were too lazy to pull the wiring.

[kishy]

Tonight, I found a solution to cap off the air injection tube: a seatbelt bolt in the end of it, and crushing the pipe into it using my hydraulic crimper. Seems to have worked brilliantly.



Cleaned up the hub bore on the front wheels, since they were a little hard to take off. They fit better now.



I then tried to start the car, but found I have no interior power. This is the same problem I ran into last time I tried to delete the 2G charge harness. So I hooked that back up at the starter relay and will need to review the EVTM to figure out how to fully delete that. Guessing it just has to stay attached though. There must be a big fat splice somewhere in the loom that feeds the entire car. I figured it'd be the mess of other stuff on the starter relay post but clearly not.



Anyway, filled the PS pump with DexIII/Mercon ATF. It's not the Type F that is specified, but Type F isn't nearly as universally easy to find as it once was, and keeping another ATF in stock in my garage just for PS use seems silly. Started the engine. The pump pumped the fluid, as expected it ran dry and started making that awful noise they always make. Filled it up some more, cycled the wheel back and forth a bunch, topped it up to correct and let it idle for a bit, periodically steering to lock in both directions.



The pump quieted down substantially and power assist is working correctly - easily the best it ever has in my time with the car, I'm quite sure. Very pleased with this result. More time is needed to evaluate if I successfully cured the pump leaks, and if the steering gear also has any leaks, but this was a step in the right direction.

I then took a quick look at the interior. I need a door pull for the driver door - has been trashed the whole time I've had the car, and I think I have a good one in a storage tote somewhere. I also think the leather on the driver seat is probably trashed. There's a spot where I've historically rested my right hand while driving, and it looks like skin oil combined with junkyard greasiness combined with...I dunno, UV? has degraded it substantially. These seats were recovered prior to me having the car so I don't know much about the material. I'll try my best to clean it up but I have a feeling the outer layer is going to come off in that area. Probably could have done something about it 5 years ago.

The tach is dead, and has always been kinda hideous, so I'm planning to ditch that. Oil pressure, however, must stay. This car has the lopo hot oil blinking light of death problem.













As for mileage driven:

[DerekTheGreat]

90s F series had fake oil pressure gauges, but they could be modified to operate as a proper gauge by removing a resistor on the back of the cluster and changing the sending unit..

Was there even a Ford of that era which had actual read outs (fuel gauge aside)? That's what drives me bonkers about gauges with no labels. All I see what I look at them and if they're in the middle is:
Temp: "Yes"
Volts: "Yes"
Oil: "Yes"

[DerekTheGreat]

Tonight, I found a solution to cap off the air injection tube: a seatbelt bolt in the end of it, and crushing the pipe into it using my hydraulic crimper. Seems to have worked brilliantly...

Indeed. If I was feeling my OCD panging, I'd have used two bolts, one right near each cat to eliminate most of that piping.

...I then tried to start the car, but found I have no interior power. This is the same problem I ran into last time I tried to delete the 2G charge harness. So I hooked that back up at the starter relay and will need to review the EVTM to figure out how to fully delete that. Guessing it just has to stay attached though. There must be a big fat splice somewhere in the loom that feeds the entire car. I figured it'd be the mess of other stuff on the starter relay post but clearly not...

My worries about that are the primary reason why I kept my 2G harness in place alongside the "new" 3G.

...Anyway, filled the PS pump with DexIII/Mercon ATF. It's not the Type F that is specified, but Type F isn't nearly as universally easy to find as it once was,..

In case you ever change your mind, next time you're stateside you might want to drop into an Autozone. I saw a ton of it just before we left to get our new '93 F-150. I picked up one or two bottles. Although for what it's worth, I put DexIII/Mercon in my GM truck when I flushed it's fluid out years ago. Pump is still quiet and takes a smidge less effort than it did before. Had some tan-ish looking fluid in it before.

[friskyfrankie]

Tonight, I found a solution to cap off the air injection tube: a seatbelt bolt in the end of it, and crushing the pipe into it using my hydraulic crimper. Seems to have worked brilliantly.



Cleaned up the hub bore on the front wheels, since they were a little hard to take off. They fit better now.



I then tried to start the car, but found I have no interior power. This is the same problem I ran into last time I tried to delete the 2G charge harness. So I hooked that back up at the starter relay and will need to review the EVTM to figure out how to fully delete that. Guessing it just has to stay attached though. There must be a big fat splice somewhere in the loom that feeds the entire car. I figured it'd be the mess of other stuff on the starter relay post but clearly not.



Anyway, filled the PS pump with DexIII/Mercon ATF. It's not the Type F that is specified, but Type F isn't nearly as universally easy to find as it once was, and keeping another ATF in stock in my garage just for PS use seems silly. Started the engine. The pump pumped the fluid, as expected it ran dry and started making that awful noise they always make. Filled it up some more, cycled the wheel back and forth a bunch, topped it up to correct and let it idle for a bit, periodically steering to lock in both directions.



The pump quieted down substantially and power assist is working correctly - easily the best it ever has in my time with the car, I'm quite sure. Very pleased with this result. More time is needed to evaluate if I successfully cured the pump leaks, and if the steering gear also has any leaks, but this was a step in the right direction.

I then took a quick look at the interior. I need a door pull for the driver door - has been trashed the whole time I've had the car, and I think I have a good one in a storage tote somewhere. I also think the leather on the driver seat is probably trashed. There's a spot where I've historically rested my right hand while driving, and it looks like skin oil combined with junkyard greasiness combined with...I dunno, UV? has degraded it substantially. These seats were recovered prior to me having the car so I don't know much about the material. I'll try my best to clean it up but I have a feeling the outer layer is going to come off in that area. Probably could have done something about it 5 years ago.

The tach is dead, and has always been kinda hideous, so I'm planning to ditch that. Oil pressure, however, must stay. This car has the lopo hot oil blinking light of death problem.













As for mileage driven:

May wish to try some of Jay Leno's Cleaner and Conditioner (two separate formulas) on that leather. I have used both and have seen wonders on seats worse than yours. Worth a shot!

[Tiggie]

Good to see someone else who uses the oil filter box as the oil change reminder card.

[kishy]

Was there even a Ford of that era which had actual read outs (fuel gauge aside)? That's what drives me bonkers about gauges with no labels. All I see what I look at them and if they're in the middle is:
Temp: "Yes"
Volts: "Yes"
Oil: "Yes"

I mean...the temperature gauge is a real gauge. Numbers are really quite unimportant as long as you know that, for example, R in Normal is approximately 195-200 degrees. If it creeps up around A you might want to turn the AC off and drive a little less intensely. Because really, even if you had numeric values, what are you going to do with 220 vs 240 degrees? In either case your best course of action is the same: keep driving to maintain airflow, just tax the engine less.

The oil pressure gauges are just stupid though. Absolutely no reason they couldn't have done the same thing, where there's a tiny red zone representing the same 6psi-or-less that you get with the warning light, and the rest is normal.

Indeed. If I was feeling my OCD panging, I'd have used two bolts, one right near each cat to eliminate most of that piping.


My worries about that are the primary reason why I kept my 2G harness in place alongside the "new" 3G.



In case you ever change your mind, next time you're stateside you might want to drop into an Autozone. I saw a ton of it just before we left to get our new '93 F-150. I picked up one or two bottles. Although for what it's worth, I put DexIII/Mercon in my GM truck when I flushed it's fluid out years ago. Pump is still quiet and takes a smidge less effort than it did before. Had some tan-ish looking fluid in it before.

I don't yet know what all of my plans are for the exhaust on this. With the price of the nice aftermarket cats being up a fair bit, I'm not inclined to replace these with an engine that is known to burn oil in meaningful quantity. They might get hollowed out as a temporary measure. Can't claim the cat scrap price when you do that, but it would be offset by the cost of getting new downpipes made anyway. And really, the only reason I cut the air tube where I did was to make it easier to get a wrench on the bolt for the clamp that holds the brake line in position. Not to mention I only had one seatbelt bolt in my box of random bolts.

You can take out the part of the 2G harness that comes from the round connector near the frame rail without affecting the rest of it, as long as you provide a new replacement for the green wire to the regulator, and loop the yellow one back to the output stud. I probably won't mess with it further. I just don't like how the SEFI car harnesses are substantially more complicated in ways that have nothing to do with the fuel injection system. It just got (in my opinion) messier and messier, year by year.

Yeah, Type F is available at retail here too, just the number of brands has dwindled and it's more expensive than Dex/Merc.

Tan would have likely been "power steering fluid" and maybe with a hint of water contamination.

May wish to try some of Jay Leno's Cleaner and Conditioner (two separate formulas) on that leather. I have used both and have seen wonders on seats worse than yours. Worth a shot!

Ah, I forgot the photo that actually shows the damaged leather in question. The part in the butt area of the seat is not what bothers me. This is:



I have a few products that are worth a shot, so I have some avenues to explore. But the outer layer of the leather is splitting apart and trying to flake off here, so I don't think it's ever going to look quite right again.

Good to see someone else who uses the oil filter box as the oil change reminder card.

My maintenance records are basically just my threads here and my posts on Facebook.
I keep a spreadsheet of part install dates and mileage but it's quite lacking in terms of anything that didn't involve a part installation.
The box tabs are essential or I'd never do my oil changes on time lol.

For clarity, the note on the box is when it was done, not when it was due.

[Arquemann]

Good to see someone else who uses the oil filter box as the oil change reminder card.

First time I've seen that when I unexpectedly got a whole bunch of them fall on me from the manual pouch of my Caprice. Found it kinda odd, though even more odd was that most of them were pieces of Caterpillar filter boxes.

[sly]

I've done the bolt in the pipe to plug it trick. I used fatter bolts that I basically self-threaded in. Didn't seal up completely, but was good enough. After a few years, the carbon buildup sealed it up. Then after the welds into the cats broke, we cut the pipes off, folded them over and welded them shut and welded them back on. Sold it that way.

[kishy]

Tonight, I determined that the steering gear does leak an unacceptable amount, from the output/sector shaft. While I did not clean off the steering gear itself prior to parking it last night, the puddle beneath it was entirely too large to have just been from a few drips off the outside, in my opinion. I might have been more scientific about this determination if it weren't for the complete pond of power steering fluid this car has left everywhere it has ever been parked. And at its mileage, it isn't unreasonable to think the gear could be leaking.



In 2019, I bought a Motorcraft STG-40RM reman steering gear which fits the boxes. There was no specific need for it at the time other than the knowledge I would eventually probably need one. I do plan to take apart and try to re-seal the one I'm taking off the car, but in the interest of freeing up the garage quicker for another car to move in, I think the reman is going on the car and the original can get done later.

Getting this thing out of the car wasn't particularly hard, but did have some challenges. I had been hoping to telescope the steering shaft to get the coupler off the steering gear input shaft, but the shaft absolutely would not slide. I came to find out that the shaft is crimped, seemingly to keep it firmly locked at its set length, and presumably it only collapses in response to a really strong impact. Reinstallation is probably going to suck.

Whichever gear goes into the car, I have a new pitman arm to go on it.

[gadget73]

if I recall the crimp is not so much to fix the length, it serves as a place for the tail end of the leaf spring that lives in there to push against so it can't fall out. The shafts rust together. I had a bitch of a time getting mine apart when I changed the box. Heat will do it, but it also takes the temper out of the spring if you use too much. Best I can suggest is soak it extensively in penetrating oil. I don't remember if there is a hole at the rag joint end or not that you can fill it from but you can definitely get some in there from the other way.

[kishy]

Switching gears for a moment over to the interior:
I popped by my storage garage and took a look in the tote that I have noted as containing door pulls.
None are exactly the correct colour, but one is pretty close, so that'll do.







I also grabbed the SHO steering wheel and clockspring, and black column trim off a different vehicle that should be roughly compatible. I think I took it off an E-series van.



I love the red interior but the steering wheel being red has always been a bit intense. Plus the leather under that steering wheel cover is destroyed, and now the cover fits poorly and slides freely, so something's gotta happen here.

The airbag will be strictly cosmetic, as is the current one. The current clockspring is damaged and to mitigate the blinking light (and later, beeping module), I removed the module and capacitor, and unplugged the airbag.

Somewhere, I have one of those molded gauge pod things that attach to the top of the column trim on this era of Ford, so the oil pressure gauge can move somewhere neater-looking.

if I recall the crimp is not so much to fix the length, it serves as a place for the tail end of the leaf spring that lives in there to push against so it can't fall out. The shafts rust together. I had a bitch of a time getting mine apart when I changed the box. Heat will do it, but it also takes the temper out of the spring if you use too much. Best I can suggest is soak it extensively in penetrating oil. I don't remember if there is a hole at the rag joint end or not that you can fill it from but you can definitely get some in there from the other way.

Ah, alright. If you say it should be able to telescope by hand, I will fight with it until it does. I do believe it's rusted together, it just looked minor enough that a good whack with a hammer would have freed it, but it did not. I'll give it some more whacks.

The flexible coupling/rag joint at the bottom end is in reasonable condition so I'm not particularly inclined to replace it yet, but the "might as wells" are creeping up on me. It'll be a pain to service it in the future unless I at least replace the riveted studs with bolts while it's apart now. And somewhere, I have a universal rebuild kit for this type of joint.

[Mainemantom]

If you need the gauge pod housings, I have a few new ones still in their packages. Black in color.

[kishy]

I've freed up the steering shaft. It is definitely crimped in a way that is designed to keep the two pieces together, with a specific range of travel. But you can bypass that and drive it out with a hammer and an old sway bar end link bolt to use as a punch.











Got them apart, which did involve removing the coupler - which appears to be a legitimate German guibo. Filed and sanded extensively. Hammered them back together, verified smooth and full range of travel. Hammered it back apart again, stuffed it full of wheel bearing grease, hammered it back together, and found it to be buttery smooth. Put the boot back on and now it's ready for the guibo reassembly. The Dorman 31000 universal kit does not fit, so I'm going to take a quick look at the internet for possible options and if none surface, it's going back together with the original. Absolutely nothing wrong with it except a little superficial cracking.

If you need the gauge pod housings, I have a few new ones still in their packages. Black in color.

The Ford police ones? Got a photo handy?

This is what I have (there are two versions of it, gauge offset to the left or right, I have both somewhere): https://www.amazon.ca/Auto-Meter-150.../dp/B000CMF8XA

I would probably consider the police setup. I'm sort of partial to the bar gauge style but as long as it's a 2" opening, no problem mixing and matching parts.

[gadget73]

hm, I think thats a little different than the older steering shafts then. I definitely do not remember an external band looking thing on mine.