kishy's 1984 Town Car

[kishy]

Updates:
210,045km

• Installed transmission cooler. Used same approach as on my 1991 Grand Marquis. It's weird but it works.
• Removed secondary air injection pipe to the cats, as well as the TAB/TAD valve assembly. I used miscellaneous bolts I had hanging around to plug the air tubes. The head injection pipe remains. As its check valve leaks (or otherwise makes an obnoxious noise), I plugged the hose where the TAD/TAB unit used to sit. I will remove the pipe when the engine is out for larger scale re-sealing, which it does need.
• Drained transmission pan and torque converter. Replaced filter. New fluid (regular D/M) plus 2/3 of a bottle of Lucas Transmission Fix. Not chasing a particular symptom, just happy with how it changed the wagon shift quality. Previous fluid and filter on 2016-10-08 at 172,454km = 37591km or 23357mi change interval. Magnets had stuff on them, but not enough to really concern me.
• Changed engine oil and replaced filter. Oil is 10W30 semisynthetic diesel oil. Filter is the STP S8A that I happened upon new in box in a junkyard. Previous change was 2022-04-13 at 203,931km = 6114km or 3799mi but includes a fair bit of idle time.

The fan clutch is un-working. With a cold engine, the fan intermittently ramps up and then slows down again. When hot, it seems to just stay in slow mode. This was a Hayden part installed 2017-06-21 at 182,700km and is no longer in warranty. RockAuto has Famous Brand (which seems to all be liquidated CarQuest store branded inventory) for a decent price even considering shipping. 30 day return on the closeout stuff, but if I won't figure out it failed until well after the regular warranty, it doesn't make sense to pay more for the privilege of having it.

[kishy]

The car is driving quite well. The diff noise is definitely present, but seems not meaningfully different than it was for what I believe may be most of the time I've had the car. Everything feels pretty good but the shocks are definitely dead. The transmission is behaving reasonably. The engine runs well, though there is some idle weirdness - it idles too high at fully warmed curb idle. I am almost positive that I had the idle fully straightened out on this car when it was last in regular service so perhaps it's a vacuum leak.

I did attempt self-tests today and received the following results:
KOEO on-demand: pass
KOEO keep-alive: pass
KOER: test begins but aborts without generating codes (the engine kind of coughs when it exits the test, it's a noticeable event), which is a symptom I've observed before is connected to the idle speed being too high.

But with the KOEO results being favourable and the engine running well, plus knowing how thoroughly I've been through this car before and knowing that I didn't leave it alone until it worked properly, I think KOER isn't hiding anything I need to know.

Temp gauge reflects the fact that as long as air is moving across the rad, things stay correct. Extended idling, or sitting at a stop after running at speed, it does creep up. Fan clutch should arrive Monday.