I've made the leap from wagon lurker to wagon owner

I'm pretty sure that's exactly what it is. I found that water was running down the inside of the rear pillar and pooling inside the rear fender. I removed the rear pillar trim and the storage box, dried out the fender well and just left it all dismantled until the warmer weather. I filled the rear well with Rust Evaporator but all that did was to clean the undercoating out of the drain holes so that the fender well doesn't hold liquid any more. As fortune would have it, with the trim removed, now I'm getting drops of water on the cargo cover directly under the rearmost screw on the drivers side. I haven't gone out to investigate while its raining but I'm betting that its just the one screw and I can get away with just sealing that one and not have to take the headliner down. I was holding off my investigation until the weather got warmer so that I didn't wind up making it worse. At least now the water can be easily cleaned up rather than letting it continue to rust out my wheel well. Maybe my wagon-luck is changing.

 

dont back that screw out for anything, youll be pulling the headliner down for sure. if you can use a magnet or somehow pull up on the screw while you righty tighty it, then the upward pressure will hold the grommet in place. first just try to tighten it to see if it will snug up. if not, then try to pull on it and turn at the same time.

then drop some clear finger nail polish or one tiny drop of superglue to keep it from backing out again.



i have a mercury thats leaking and i cant find it anywhere, even with the water hose.

 

I know I'm late to the game but I wanted to say how I'm truly impressed with your perseverance! It's so easy to get frustrated with the constant surprises and give up on the car. I congratulate you on pushing through and seeing it finished.

Two comments on some of your issues though:

1: The person you bought the car from deliberately mislead you regarding the emissions problem and possibly the radiator problem, by not disclosing this. Obviously this is why the family member didn't end up with the car. I know it's 'buyer beware' but any person with a conscience will not set you up to fail like that. I believe she needs to be called-out for it either through email or a call. Either way she needs to know your displeasure in her poor judgement. It's also possible she may refund a portion of the purchase price. It's at least worth the effort and your satisfaction.

2. As for the emissions problem, I had a '97 Crown Vic police car that just got poor mileage, somewhere around 14 MPG with around town driving. I ended up taking the car on a 3 hour road trip one day were I ran at about 70 MPH. Afterwards the around town mileage increased to 18 MPG. Three months later, the mileage began dropping so I started pouring in a can of fuel injector cleaner. This got the mileage back up to 18 without the long drive. So, there really is something about driving a car fast that keeps the engine clean, something little jaunts and moderately low speeds can't do.

Good luck with your car. It seems you now know your wagon pretty intimately so any future problems simply can't be intimidating anymore.

Chris

 

Thanks for the tip!! I was just going to pull that screw out and coat it with Marine Goop before putting it back in. Sounds like I dodged a bullet there. I'm pretty sure that I can access that particular screw without taking down the headliner but no sense taking chances.

 

Getting myself a car that I truly liked, and could spend time working on was really important to me. For all that I've posted, the car hasn't really been a problem. It's always started and always gotten me where I need to go. The transmission rebuild and rad replacement aside, almost everything that it needs to have done are non-critical items that I'll have a blast working on myself, as soon as all that white crap goes away and I can work outside without losing a finger (supposed to get down to -18C here again this week)

1) Yeah, I hear you. I sent them an email after that whole emissions mess letting her know that I knew there was a game afoot with the extra failed test that got me the ticket. I've never pushed any harder than that as I don't want to sour an experience that I really am enjoying. I'm driving a car that I love every day. Granted I'm seeing a lot of things about it that I don't like but I just make myself a checklist of the things that I know I'll have fun fixing and focus on how much I'll learn and have fun doing it. I've always bought cars that were relatively new so that I could commute with them without worrying. My current job is a 45 minute walk (if I have to) or 25 mins by bus, plus I still have my Pontiac and the wife's Sebring. If it comes right down to it and I can't get something fixed, it's really not going to impact me a great deal so I can afford to have stuff go wrong. The money for the transmission kinda hurt, but now I have a portion of the car rebuilt good as new, better than new in fact, that I don't have to worry about anymore. The engine was already a good runner so with power and drivetrain working, everything else is relatively minor. Everything I've ever decided to tackle has been self taught. I love to immerse myself in a new challenge and absorb as much of it as possible. I have no formal education but I love to dive into things and come away with as much of it as possible. This is just one more new hobby.

2) I know what you mean about getting some wind under you. With work and home so close together these days, the wagon doesn't get the same workout that my Intrepid and Grand Marquis did. I do try to get it out on the highway whenever I can to blow the carbon out. My father had a '76 Fury (God I love 70's Furies!!) that he ran as a taxi and it constantly bogged down and stalled. He took it back to Chrysler repeatedly and they couldn't really find anything wrong with it. He started taking it out on the highway every 2-3 months and pour the coals to it to clean it out(actually he hoped the engine would blow and he could make a warranty claim). Once he got into that habit, it never gave him any more trouble. One of our local gas stations sells fuel with an "engine detergent" I've had a lot of luck running it in my cars and I'm going make sure that this one gets a decent quality fuel as well as injector cleaner regularly and proper maintenance so that it doesn't have to suffer like it has in the past.

When I do start to get a little down, I remember that I paid as much as $7000 less for this car than any car that I've purchased since I was a kid. Even after the repairs, it's still cheaper than the others. Granted, I didn't have to pay for those cars all at once, but after every major repair I must have some smooth sailing ahead of me somewhere and I look forward to the waxing, polishing, cleaning stuff that will really make this one a head turner. For the first time I don't have to be completely dependent upon my mechanic. I can pop the hood and remove pieces of the car, even if just out of curiousity, without worrying about making sure that it's all back together again to get to work on Monday.

I think it makes it even more enjoyable when I can share what's going on with a like-minded group who bolster the spirit and contribute where possible. Roadking, Fat Tedy, Phantom and Norm have advised me well on several occasions and Silverfox convinced me to make the wagon my keeper and not to make it a winter car as I originally planned. These guys can't know whether I'm genuine about this or if I'm just some idiot whose blundering around his car, but they help anyway. That sort of impartial advice is worth it's weight in gold and the folks here are genuinely happy to help. Any hobby is fun if you can share it, that's why we come home from work and put in even more effort on hobbies.

Wow, I know I can be a chatterbox, but that was pretty windy even for me. Sorry guys, I haven't been here much in the last week, guess that was building up.

 

I spoke too soon...my wagon luck hasn't run it's course yet. I drove the Roadmaster across town to a friends place to pick him up to head out or town. After sitting in his driveway for only two minutes the Roadie wouldn't start when I came back out. I had plenty of battery, it just wouldn't attempt to turn over. My friend had CAA so I had it towed to my mechanic without it costing me anything. Once we got it off the flatbed it started up just fine. I was taking it in on Monday for an oil change anyway so I guess I can wait until then.

 

Is it throwing codes? Or, do you know? There is tons of info at impss on non starting issues.

 

I haven't invested in a code reader yet. My ODB2 reader is all I've got.

 

Well, now that I can get outside and work on the cars without risk of frostbite I'm starting to shop for parts. I haven't been 'round these parts much lately but haven't had too much to share either. The wagon has been good, I removed some of the headliner trim to keep the roof leak under control, dumping a mess of Rust Evaporator in the rear fender well has cleaned out the rust quite nicely. Currently, I'm planning on getting the seats out, removing the carpet for cleaning, and fixing the little bit of rust that starting to form on the floor panels. The car is still a little damp and smells a bit on a moderately warm day. I'm pretty anxious to get started.

I found a set of rims in a classified ad yesterday that I think would look great on my wagon. Unfortunately they're the wrong size but I like them enough that I'm trying to figure out what they are. Does anyone else recognize the logo on these wheels? The seller says they're from a Caprice, but the tires are a 205/75R15 which would probably make it a 77-90 box Caprice.

 

Don't know what the wheels are off of, but they are very similar to some that I had on a car and a word of caution, they were a bugger to keep clean. Getting in to the slots was time consuming and needed to be done frequently to keep them looking good. Particulary on the front with the disc brake dust.

And glad to see you posting. Missed your input.

 

I'm pretty sure those wheels are aftermarket. Late 70's / early 80's.

 

Yeah, I was thinking the same thing. They're 5x4.75 so that's perfect for a box Caprice, but they'd look silly on my Parisienne. I emailed the seller to ask the size and manufacturer. He told me the size, but when he realized I wasn't interested in buying due to the size he didn't seem to want to answer any more questions. He said that the manufacturer's name was incomplete. The logo looks intact enough to me, I just don't recognize it.

 

I'm more than a bit of a clean freak so keeping them clean would be fun for me.

Yeah, I've been focusing more on updating my blog than you guys lately, I've missed being around here.

 

Didn't Pontiac have a similar rim at one time? I'm thinking the SSE, or.... I've seen similar rims on something.

 

Starting to get back on the wagon...so to speak

I haven't been around here lately other than as an occasional lurker, and that's mostly been for the Wagon's in Vintage Street Scenes thread. I'm no doubt way behind on everyone's projects. I'm going to have to put some effort to get caught up on my reading here. I've been pretty busy with work, yada, yada, yada...<insert other non-wagon-related stuff here>.

The winter here in Ontario seemed to go on forever this year. No sooner did the snow go away when we launched right into weeks of cold rain. We got a some beautiful weather in February but it was really just a tease. I've been updating my blog a bit as work gets done but I want to post it here as well. A blog is just for vanity, people come here for the real information. Some of this stuff was done a while back but I'll post it up. ...and yes, I have pictures.

I took several days off of work when I bought the Roadie and used up the last of the warm days repairing the window switches and the rear window rollers. It took much longer than I expected to locate the wiring issues causing the window switch problem and before I knew it winter was upon us and it was time to hibernate.


I’m still having some trouble getting into the habit of picking up the camera while I work. I get carried away with what I’m working on and I forget to document it to share. I am getting better though.


I decided to work on the Pontiac in the garage and see if I could make another attempt to get the seats clean. While my Folex was soaking in on the Parisienne’s cushy keister holders I decided to get started on cleaning the Roadmaster’s engine compartment.


If keeping cars clean has taught me anything it’s that it’s a huge job! Especially the engine compartment. As with any large task, simply breaking it down into much smaller parts makes it go much smoother. As each little piece gets done the sense of accomplishment keeps the projects’ momentum up.

In addition to the Pontiac fabric tests I decided that I wanted to see the master cylinder, brake booster, and brake lines clean and I would try to get the mouse urine stains off of the top of the intake as all of those items have really been bothering me. As you can see in the image below, the mice left quite a mess while they lived under the resonator before I bought the car. The car has been undercoated and it seems to have gotten everywhere. That black sludge on the master cylinder and brake lines has been bugging me for some time. Actually the sludge everywhere has been bothering me but one step at a time.


I started by spraying down the master cylinder, brake booster and brake lines with Releasall bio-degradable de-greaser. It’s pretty nice stuff. It’s not as strong as some of the others but you don’t have to worry about how you rinse it off either. I’m a big fan. After it had soaked in for a few minutes I worked all of the sprayed areas with a soft paintbrush. I keep a number of these brushes around for doing the door jambs when I’m cleaning the cars. It worked perfectly well here. Any areas what were more caked I used an old toothbrush on and they cleaned up fine.



As I’m more than a little picky when I’m cleaning the car, I repeated this process several times until I was comfortable with the result and I gently rinsed it all off with the garden hose. Voila one small portion of the car is clean at last! I’m not exactly ready for the concours but I feel like I’m making progress.



Next I went to town on the top of the intake manifold. Them meeses shure can be messy little critters. As least this is cleanable. I’m still a little bitter about them having made their nest by tearing a large hole in my hood liner material.



Here we are. Now there are at least a few things in my engine compartment that are starting to look clean. I won’t be quite so embarrassed every time I lift the hood. Discounting the time I left things soaking with degreaser I think my total time on task was maybe 30-45mins. Doing this stuff in little bits means that I can work things in while other projects are going on.