bradleyheathhays

Ok I hear everybody. Thanks for the response guys and sorry for posting in the wrong forum.

What's a good long lasting tire dressing? I used to use this stuff called Wipe New - Tires but it's since been discontinued. There was a process. First you soaped and scrub cleaned the tire, then let dry. Then you don a 3M chemical filter cartridge mask, because no joke this stuff was noxious, then you applied just a teeny bit to the provided sponge and applied to the tire. Go around doing all 4 then then come back and do it again. The black lasted for a good long while...couple months before you had to do it again. Is there anything like this still out there on the market?

2011 Crown Vic here with 305k miles, and today my engine light comes on. Scan at the local Advanced comes up with 4 codes on the cat converter. Guy says I need to get something called Cataclean and run it through the gas tank to correct the problem. Is it worth doing this...will it make the engine run better or get better gas mileage? Should I use Cataclean or some other product to get this done?

So my Mom drives a 2002 Ford Taurus that I believe has one of the Takata airbags that have been killing people. So far her car hasn't been recalled for the airbag, but I know this recall is being done piece meal as they can't do them all at once, and since the recall applies to the year right close to hers I suspect hers eventually will be recalled as well. Either way I don't want to take the chance, and here's why... The explanation for why these things are going off is there's some defect in the manufacturing that when the air bag is exposed to humid conditions and lots of temp fluctuations, something in them weakens and there they go. Mom's Taurus has a windshield leak so, even though it's never smelled, there's always been a virtual puddle of water in driver's side floor board. So the inside of the car has always been humid, just like in the airbag explosion scenarios. So, for the time being, until she gets into another car, I'd like to disconnect her airbag to be on the safe side. She is an amazingly vigilant driver, never even a speeding ticket, and the risk of her rear ending someone is virtually non-existent. How would I go about disabling an airbag on a 2002 Ford Taurus? Or, alternatively, how do I open the steering wheel column, or front of the steering wheel, which might be part of the disabling process itself, and identify if Mom's airbag is indeed one of the defective types?

I bought a 2011 Crown Vic with 300k miles 12 mos ago and I'm wondering how to approach servicing the timing belt. I know very little of it's past maintenance records other than what I've done with it this past year. Basically I'm wondering if I should go ahead and attempt to replace it now, or wait til something starts to go wrong. I don't know how timing belts typically go bad...if they just break or start to stretch or what. If this is an interference engine I'm imagining a fairly bad event so I'd like to get educated and be pro active about it. Second...Scotty Kilmer teaches that the worst wear an engine sees after changing the oil is before the oil gets pumped back into the filter and then into the engine components during the first engine restart. But he says if you disable the ignition spark somehow when cranking for the first time again, the lack of combustion in the cylinders helps with reducing this kind of wear quite a bit. I don't have an owner's manual and I'm not sure what fuse to pull to disable combustion ignition, or if removing a fuse would be the best way to do this. Any opinions on how this should be done?

Big thanks for the help guys. How does my rear end perform differently with the clutches worn out, or put another way what kind of performance enhancement would I expect if I replaced the clutches?

I have a '11 Crown Vic with 300k miles on it and my rear diff fluid looks like this... [PIC] Been watching some utube vids on how to change this fluid out but after a visit to the local Advance store I've got some questions. Up til now, forums on the net have led me to believe that all former police cars (which is what mine is) need 75w-140 fluid with friction modifier, but after giving them my VIN at Advance the computer comes back with a fluid suggestion of 80w-90. Here's the diff tag... [PIC] I believe that shows a 3 (L or 1)? 27 which indicates a 3.27 gear ratio, and then an 88 after, which indicates the 8.8 axle. Not sure what that SYN means, unless it means synchronous? This car is driven VERY sparingly, never hard, and operates in a climate that can get up to 95F in the summer. When the rear is jacked up and one rear wheel is spun, the other moves in the opposite direction. So my first question is... what weight fluid should I use? Also, I need confirmation if I should use a friction modifier. Next is how to go about changing the oil out. I'm being lazy here and after watching a vid on how you can extract 80% of the diff fluid out the fill hole by using a flexible hose I'm thinking about just doing it that way. But if you guys think it's necessary to get all that old fluid out I'll take plate off and do it the regular way. And lastly, if I take the plate off, should I spray all the gears down with brake cleaner to get all the old fluid out, or just let it drain for a while and call it good?

After I took the gauges off I noticed one of the schrader valves was hissing, and now the system is down to 0 psi. So I believe a faulty valve has been the culprit all along. Now that the system is down I'm going to replace both valves, but my regular schrader valve removal tool won't fit down on the valve. The stem of the valve is too long and the tool won't go down around it to twist it out. I need a tool with prongs longer to fit down into the recessed sides of the valve. Does this '11 Crown Vic have schrader valves or a different kind of valve? Also, when I go to fill the system with refrigerant, do I need to add any PEG oil or just add refrigerant up to the specified capacity?

OK thanks YT I got it. After I took the gauges off I noticed one of the schrader valves was hissing, and now the system is down to 0 psi. So I believe a faulty valve has been the culprit all along. Now that the system is down I'm going to replace both valves, but my regular schrader valve removal tool won't fit down on the valve. The stem of the valve is too long and the tool won't go down around it to twist it out. I need a tool with prongs longer to fit down into the recessed sides of the valve. Does this '11 Crown Vic have schrader valves or a different kind of valve? Also, when I go to fill the system with refrigerant, do I need to add any PEG oil or just add refrigerant up to the specified capacity?

Hooked the gauges up and it seems like I've got a low refrigerant condition. Before turning the engine on both gauges read about 75. After starting the engine and setting the AC on max you could really tell the compressor was cycling fast. The needles cycled every 5-6 seconds...one going up and the other down, then reversed. The blue gauge cycled between 22 and 38 PSI while the red went between 90-140. The outside temp was about 60 F. From what I've read, especially with the compressor cycling so fast, this indicates low refrigerant. Hopefully my compressor isn't hurt by running it for so long like this. How do I go about using this 2 gauge setup to add refrigerant? Should I add it through the middle hose somehow or get a can of 134 with a gauge on it and just add it directly from the can? And how do you know how much to put in?

Hooked the gauges up and it seems like I've got a low refrigerant condition. Before turning the engine on both gauges read about 75. After starting the engine and setting the AC on max you could really tell the compressor was cycling fast. The needles cycled every 5-6 seconds...one going up and the other down, then reversed. The blue gauge cycled between 22 and 38 PSI while the red cycled between 90-140 PSI. The outside temp was about 60 F. From what I've read, especially with the compressor cycling so fast, this indicates low refrigerant. Hopefully my compressor isn't hurt by running it for so long like this. How do I go about using this 2 gauge setup to add refrigerant? Should I add it through the middle hose somehow or get a can of 134 with a gauge on it and just add it directly from the can? And how do you know how much to put in?

Please see my above post. Addition...I agree I'd like to get the air flowing correctly first but I've got both a time and budget crunch and I believe if I can get my a/c fogging / luke cool air problem fixed everything will work well enough.

I'm gonna assume my problem is being caused by low refrigerant and take a shot at fixing it as cheaply as I can. But at the same time I'd like to take steps at identifying where the leak might be. So what will this look like? Renting some gauges from the local car store and checking my refrigerant lines? How would you go about this and what readings should I be looking for? And then if things read low I would get a can of refrigerant with leak revealing dye and put it in the system? Sorry I'm so remedial here, first time working on an a/c system.

I'm gonna assume my problem is being caused by low refrigerant and take a shot at fixing it as cheaply as I can. But at the same time I'd like to take steps at identifying where the leak might be. So what will this look like? Renting some gauges from the local car store and checking my refrigerant lines? How would you go about this and what readings should I be looking for? And then if things read low I would get a can of refrigerant with leak revealing dye and put it in the system? Sorry I'm so remedial here, first time working on an a/c system.

Thanks. Any ideas?

Have a '11 Crown Vic with 290k miles and I've been having a problem with the windows fogging up all the way around. The defrost seems to be working about half the time. On humid rainy days it'll work for say a half hour keeping the windows clear, then the windows will fog hard for 10-15 mins. And then it might decide to start working again, back and forth it goes. When I started it just now the compressor clutch turns when the a/c is turned on, although I haven't had a chance to observe it when the windows are fogging. A secondary problem it has is that it only blows air through the vents on the front of the dash, straight out into the cabin. The air flows only very weak out the defrost vent at the windshield or the floor. It does this on all settings. Although this might contribute somewhat to the problem, it seems like the a/c does completely cut out as the windows will still fog hard with the a/c set to on and on full fan. When it cuts off the air in the cabin feels immediately humid. One that that helps somewhat is to turn the temp toward cooler and it seems to not fog as much and gives it a chance to maybe clear the fog some. I'm sure it's not my heater core leaking as I just had to replace it a few months back. Any idea what's causing this or what I should do to start testing?

Have a '11 Crown Vic with 290k miles and I've been having a problem with the windows fogging up all the way around. The defrost seems to be working about half the time. On humid rainy days it'll work for say a half hour keeping the windows clear, then the windows will fog hard for 10-15 mins. And then it might decide to start working again, back and forth it goes. When I started it just now the compressor clutch turns when the a/c is turned on, although I haven't had a chance to observe it when the windows are fogging. A secondary problem it has is that it only blows air through the vents on the front of the dash, straight out into the cabin. The air flows only very weak out the defrost vent at the windshield or the floor. It does this on all settings. Although this might contribute somewhat to the problem, it seems like the a/c does completely cut out as the windows will still fog hard with the a/c set to on and on full fan. When it cuts off the air in the cabin feels immediately humid. One that that helps somewhat is to turn the temp toward cooler and it seems to not fog as much and gives it a chance to maybe clear the fog some. Any idea what's causing this or what I should do to start testing?

Just found how to tell if I have a limited slip or not. Still not sure about what additive to use.

Many thanks YT. 1 - How would I know if I have a limited slip diff and what kind of additive should I add to the new diff fluid if I do? 2 - Not sure what a clear flood is

Got a few questions here so thought I'd ask them all at once. Have a '11 Vic base model and the local shop just did an evaluation telling me all the stuff that needs looked over... 1 - REAR DIFF FLUID DIRTY - I've changed out rear diff fluid once before on my Cherokee with the Chrysler 8.25 axle. Is doing this with the Vic about the same procedure?...Take off the diff cover and catch the fluid...drain and spray out diff with brake cleaner...clean the mating surface and replace plate with new gasket, then pump new diff fluid in the hole, then plug with stopper? It's a simple procedure on the Jeep. I'm just wondering if there's any hiccups I need to be warned about before getting into it. 2 - DIRTY THROTTLE PLATE - Can I clean this using a solvent and tooth brush leaving the TB on or should I take the whole thing off to make sure nothing gets into the engine. What solvent to use? 3 - LOOSE LEFT FRONT SWAY BAR - I've got some looseness in the steering and wondering if this could be causing it. Any tricks or advice to changing this out? 4 - ZERKS - There's lots of zerks on my Jeep to be attended to every year but I'm not so sure about the Vic since I'm just getting to know the car. What zerks does the Vic have I need to be aware of and greasing?

Bought an '11 Vic with the 4.6L back in June and a few months back I tried to change out the plugs. All came out ok except for cyl 4 which only cranked out 1/4 turn. Had a shop take it out and they said they had to redo the threads. I've seen videos where you can remove a stuck plug by drilling into it somehow, but because this was in the 4 position and hard to get to I'm guessing they just power cranked it out. Not sure but I'm guessing those threads are compromised now. Well, this past weekend that same plug blew out of cyl 4. Inspection reveals a coil and boot jammed up underneath the fuel rail and a plug that I fished out without any turning. When I go to install a new plug it just sits on top of the threads and turns without going in. So I guess what's happened is that the plug rotated most of the way out but when it got to the last couple threads the compression blew it out the rest of the way, and that it's just the top few threads in the hole that are damaged. Inspection of the plug reveals that most of the threads are intact except for the 2-3 that are closest to the element. So my question is...should I try to fix this myself or just take it to a shop? Some kind of tap tool would probably fix it, but since it's the beginning threads that are boogered it'd probably have to start from the inside of the cylinder. I really don't have a clue as to how to approach this.

'11 Crown Vic 4.6 here and it seems I've got a real squeaky a/c compressor pulley. I don't have a lot of experience with this car but the noise changes noticeably when the comp clutch kicks in and out, and a close listen seems to locate the sound right at that pulley. The sound is always there whether the a/c def is on or not. What needs to be replaced? The entire clutch assembly, or possibly just the pulley?

Got into it and it seems like my internal intake door wasn't opening at all so I disconnected and wired it open and the heat got much better. For the external I just opened the top cowl and put a zip lock bag over the vent and covered with a big sponge. The top cowl squeezes it down and it'll be easy to remove. Since my internal door had been stuck closed I guess all the air coming through the vents was outside air. Wiring that door open definitely seemed to improve overall airflow. There's probably some other door issues in the dash because when it's set to floor it only comes out the vents. Setting it to defrost only gets air coming out the vents as well. Unfortunately the exhaust wasn't leaking so I'm not sure if this is gonna fix it or not. There's some duct work in the engine bay going from the fan to the center of the firewall. I wonder if a break somewhere in there could be the problem.

Ok good deal thanks for the explanation. Hopefully I'll get something to work.

Thanks for the advice but I'm not sure I follow. Far as I know the re-circulation intake vent only adds air to the vent system that's already in the vehicle. I'm not sure how this would stop air from coming in from the exterior intake vent. On another note...I've been told elsewhere I shouldn't do this because that exterior intake is the only way air gets into the car from the heater and AC coils. Is this true? I was thinking if I shut off the EXterior intake and wired the INterior intake open this would set things straight.