What have you done to your wagon lately? (Let's keep the thread going!)

Suspension rebuild all finished. Off to the alignment shop tomorrow afternoon!

 

Yesterday:

Cleaned dust off the 1990 Mercury with the new power washer; rinsed, soaped and used a microfiber mitt. Would have liked to have driven a bit but there was heavy traffic following a burning truck wreck on I-80.

Today:

Took it out to the gas station, someone asked me about it and I answered the questions he had. I then opened the fuel door, noticed there was still water behind the door (are there supposed to be drain holes there or not?) then I put HEET (Yellow Bottle) in the fuel tank and filled it up with nearly 15 gallons of 91 E0 gas to dilute the old ethanol-separated fuel.

On another note, the A/C seems a bit on the hot side.

 

Dis assembled the front end, polished all the chrome, repainted the front filler and then detailed the entire car.

 

Very nice. A lot of hard work, dropping the bumper to do all that.

 

The other day while driving the wagon, I noticed the speedometer wasn't working. Then about 20kms down the hwy it gave a couple of flips then started working again??? It's been working fine since.
Then a day or so later at the bottom of our street at the stop sign, the engine had a few misses. So I went back home and switched cars. Later that day Hubby changed the spark plugs and all seemed well.
Over the past weekend in the pouring down rain I took the wagon with my grandson to the cottage, 1 1/2 hour drive away, again all was well.
Yesterday, again at the stop sign the engine just stopped. All the dash lights came on, I put it park and restarted the car. It starts right up but I didn't take it work, I switched cars and left it home. Hubby said it seemed to drive fine???

So what's up?

 

Right off the bat, you should verify the ignition electrical switch connectors are firmly plugged in, but that requires dropping the steering column to do it. Hell, if you do, you might as well put a new switch in; it's likely less than $25CDN, easy to unbolt and swap, and as long as you pay attention to what you're doing, it doesn't need adjusting. Other than that, clean the battery terminals thoroughly.

 

Thank you.

 

Yah velcome. Lemme know what you find.

 

Do you think the stalling and the speedometer issues are connected? We have a few busy days ahead so it will be a while before hubby can check it out.

 

I can't say they are, but if you can do the checks and cleaning I suggested, it's possible the cleaning will take care of the problems.

 

Well
the Colony Park is back in shop, leaking oil from the drivers side - somewhere, I think its the valve cover? - the dealer that did the intake manifold repair is less than thrilled. As I was driving out of the parking lot - 3 mechanics came out of the shop to peer at the wagon - either they were talking about a car they haven't seen in ages or oh crap its back!

 

Usually the latter. I've done that soooo many times, and especially if the customer is a "problem child."

 

Oh man, I used to tell people especially after doing a big job, please don't come back for at least a couple weeks, not even to bring beer just to say thanks for the great job!It's not a good feeling seeing a car you've recently worked on pulling into the lot. On second thought I will take that beer

 

Beer o'clock was always done after hours, at the back of the shop, and next to a garbage can.

 

Many alcoholics were created because of automobiles!