My '85 MGM, "Maisa"

[Arquemann]

The arms really don’t go that high anyways when lifted. It has a hard stop. Pull up to that hard stop and then that little black tab has to slide up and then you can release the arm and it will hold in an lifted position.

Slide the tab up? Perpendicular to the wiper arm?
I'll get to checking that out tomorrow, rain has rudely interrupted this evening.

[87gtVIC]

It just goes up. Small flat head screwdriver and twist if your finger nails can’t do it.

[VicCrownVic]

Oddly I've never done this on a box, but have on my whale. If it's basically mechanically the same as on the whale wiper arms, lift up the wiper arm (they don't lift much like Dave said), pull the tab (+1, finger nail should be able to pull it), then when you put the arm back down it will rest on the tab instead of going all the way back down against the windshield.

It's way easier to understand once you have the arm off, in my opinion. Also, it took me a few tries to get my wiper arm lined up to where I was happy with it. (Put the arm back on, run the wipers, repeat as needed. Probably because of the way I ran the wipers and keyed off mid-stroke before removing the arm, which should not be necessary but that's how I wanted to do it.) Pulls up, like Dave said, assumes you don't do it the weird way I did with the wiper not in park.

Here's a picture I grabbed from the video below. Looking at the underside of the arm I put arrows for how the tab slides back and forth.
And a crude MS Paint diagram. The tab doesn't pull very far, and like Dave said can't pull all the way out. So once it stops, it should be as far out as it needs to be.
Also, according to my '98 service manual no tools are required to pry the arm off. It should just pull right off once the tab is pulled.

[Arquemann]

Thanks, the video made it very clear. Doesn't seem that hard now either.
I think I'll cycle the wipers, turn them off. Then I'll adjust them to where I think they should be in "park" and see how that works out at the A-pillar.
On mine atleast, the wipers work with the hood open, but the hood actually presses agaist the wipers arms when theyre up. Not enough to impede the wipers moving but enough to scratch the hood trim and the wiper arms.
I've jammed lifted wiper arms into hood edges by opening said hoods too many times. On my Audi the wiper arms really dug into the paint in the hood.

[gadget73]

Fair bet its the low pressure switch on the side of the drier. Electrically is a dead simple circuit. Power comes from the control unit inside to the low pressure switch. Out of the low pressure switch to the wide open cutout relay, output from there to the clutch, then to ground. If you unplug the switch and jump it, does the compressor come on? If so and the system is charged, the switch is bad. It can be replaced without venting the system, just unscrew it quickly so the valve shuts.


If you've got enough power at the clutch to light a headlamp, the clutch is either not gapped properly or the coil is open. Ohm check across the 2 terminals will tell you if its dead or not. Clutch gap should be .020", if its too wide you can pull the front hub off and remove a shim or two to fix the gap. Also does not require discharging the system.

[VicCrownVic]

Thanks, the video made it very clear. Doesn't seem that hard now either.
I think I'll cycle the wipers, turn them off. Then I'll adjust them to where I think they should be in "park" and see how that works out at the A-pillar.
On mine atleast, the wipers work with the hood open, but the hood actually presses agaist the wipers arms when theyre up. Not enough to impede the wipers moving but enough to scratch the hood trim and the wiper arms.
I've jammed lifted wiper arms into hood edges by opening said hoods too many times. On my Audi the wiper arms really dug into the paint in the hood.

Another thing to look out for if you do it that way (run the wiper and key off on the middle somewhere) is not to get it too far off. When the wipers go to park if you have them adjusted too far down I think it could be possible that the motor will still want to keep moving to park after that wiper arm has physically traveled as far as it can go. I didn't break anything, but my first attempt put it a hair too far down. If I had adjusted it further down it probably wouldn't have been good.

Also, I figured I would pull the arm and just move it a little, but I sort of lost my exact position and had to guess. Wasn't too far off, but a little piece of tape on your windshield would help to mark your original position.

[sly]

If you have power at the compressor clutch and no clutch engagement, You can just replace the clutch and it should work then. I've had a clutch die on me as well. You will need some C-clip pliers (the kind that grab the little holes in the ends of the c-clip) I think. May just be the later ones, but I think 85 had that clutch too, or at least a similar one. Some of the other folks can correct me if I'm wrong.

[gadget73]

yep, all the same. Nut in the middle, pull the outer disc off, snap ring to remove the pulley, another snap ring holds the clutch coil.

[Arquemann]

Jumping the low pressure sensor didn't do anything. Ohm checking the compressor with a multimeter yielded mostly infinite resistance but sometimes it showed zero resistance, I don't know why.
Clutch plate and springs seem free and good, didn't check the gap though, it did work well last summer.

Added some mooore silicone to the trunk corner, next time I won't bother trying to do it clean anymore.

Finally, after a year, I bothered to get the hubcaps off, squishing and dremeling a small socket and hammering it on. One of the square nuts broke loose from the thing on the hub, oh well.
The other hubcaps I have are actually 14". Dang...

[Arquemann]

Wipers are now adjusted, they don't seem to hit the A-pillar anymore. They still "park" almost as high on the windshield, not that it really matters.

[Arquemann]

If I order a new AC clutch from RA, do I need to buy the shims separately?
I might order radiator hoses aswell, upper one has started seeping.

[gadget73]

I think the shims sell separate but check the listing, maybe they are included with certain ones.

[sly]

Shims were included with the one I ordered when I replaced the ac clutch on the Mad Marquis.

I did have to use those plus one of the old ones from the old clutch though.

[Arquemann]

Atleast the listings for my vehicle don't mention anything about shims. In case I need some more or it won't come with any (unlikely, I guess), I can likely get washers in the proper thicknesses from a machine shop or so on.
I'll be making an order list, I've gotta play around with the window channels to see if they are the cause for the wind noise and atleast the check the condition of the rad hoses.

Just a random question without repercussions: How would the '85 bumper and bumper filler match up with '88+ Crown Vic header panel?

[WagonMan]

Atleast the listings for my vehicle don't mention anything about shims. In case I need some more or it won't come with any (unlikely, I guess), I can likely get washers in the proper thicknesses from a machine shop or so on.
I'll be making an order list, I've gotta play around with the window channels to see if they are the cause for the wind noise and atleast the check the condition of the rad hoses.

Just a random question without repercussions: How would the '85 bumper and bumper filler match up with '88+ Crown Vic header panel?

Like tits on a bull! LOL!