Drove the kids to their soccer game this morning and the belt that Fergus spit out was still on the side of the road. I stopped and picked it up and then rolled into the parts store later and bought a new one. $4.99. Since I had to pull the power steering belt back off to get the alternator belt on, I replaced that too. $4.99.
I berkeleying love this car.
Fergus has had an exhaust leak on the drivers side manifold area since day one. It's small. It was not a priority. I ignored it. Once I got the cooling issue sorted out and everything clean, it popped up closer to the top of the list and I investigated. What I found was this.
This is the bottom of the drivers side air injection manifold thingy. I can't see this no matter how I stick my head in the engine compartment. It's invisible. I finally found it by feel and if I block it, the exhaust leak noise goes away. Ideally I'd unscrew in and block it all off. However, the car is 45 years old and no matter what I tried, I couldn't get it to budge. This looks like a job for JB Weld!
Just a heads up, if you're trying to apply JB Weld to the bottom of something, wait for it to set up a bit. Gravity does what it's supposed to do. I did manage to get a paper towel down before everything went all pear shaped so I didn't make a mess, which was nice. After everything set up I closed the hood and let it cure over night. Today I drove into the store to buy some milk and the leak noise seems to be gone. Success.
I finally remembered that I had left the paper towel in the engine compartment when I got home and smelled burning. Oops.
Did you get the power steering thing sorted out?
Maybe? I've tried everything I can to get more fluid in and nothing really works. The pump is a little noisy but the steering feels fine. I can turn the wheel lock to lock with one finger on cement, so there must be fluid in there. The big thing is that when I pulled the pump off I carefully drained as much as I could into a bottle. When I was working I spilled some more of course, but not a ton. When I went to put the fluid I had saved back in more leaked out until I tightened the hose more, but again, not a lot. I figured I'd need to add 1/4 quart or so, but I added two ounces and it was overflowing. Maybe I have enough in there and the pump was always loud and I didn't notice? I don't think so though. I think it's louder, but I haven't decided if that's actually a problem or not.
This thing is really coming along. I LOVE that you're driving it as you work on it.
Popped by the parts store to get a new fan clutch this morning and they had it on the shelf for $32. Was the old one bad? Well, it's wasn't good. New one and old one.
10 minutes later and it was all back together and I had to run out and get heart worm medicine for the dog. It seems to run a steady 200-205 and it's not getting any hotter at idle. I think this is as good as I'm going to get. I also changed the oil because I have had the new oil and filter for months and just haven't gotten around to it. Just a few miles away from flipping 83,000 miles on the old beast.
As far as driving it, I have to. I learned a couple of projects ago that I cannot let something sit. If I stop driving a car I lose interest in it, and then it's just another pain in the neck thing that's sitting around taking up space. When I can drive my projects they're wonderful and I love them.
One of my rules with the wagon was to only drive it when I had backup at home to come get me if things went wrong. They haven't, yet, so I decided to break that rule this morning and take the car grocery shopping even though my wife was on a plane out of town. Hopped in, cranked over very slowly twice and then sat there. Stupid car. I can't tell if the battery is going or if there is something wrong with the charging system. The voltmeter reads 13.5-14 when I'm driving, so it seems like it should be working. But on the other hand, if I put the charger on the battery it charges right up. I'm not sure how to diagnose this one.
I have seen a bad starter cause problems like that. My mom's Civic would crank slowly, but the battery was OK. We swapped batteries and same problem. It ended up being a bad starter.
Interesting. I does kind of hate starting when it's hot too. After I charge the battery it starts just fine though. It seem like a bad starter would always be a bad starter? Maybe?
ive also seen bad battery cables cause this same problem. too much voltage drop when the battery is anything but tip top.
I feel like my life is on constant repeat: Did you check the grounds?
No, I did not check the grounds. I will check the grounds and get back to you.
oh, oh, oh, I may know this one! Check the starter solenoid on the firewall. make sure there's no corrosion on the cables or where the selenoid bolts to the fender (ground.) They are a notorious failure item. I chased starting issues for a month on my F100 before I pulled the solenoid and cleaned it. Then it worked great. Until the solenoid crapped completely. Always carry a spare. Push starting a full size big block kinda sucks.
mazdeuce wrote: Interesting. I does kind of hate starting when it's hot too. After I charge the battery it starts just fine though. It seem like a bad starter would always be a bad starter? Maybe?
No, it would always sound like a weak battery. We charged and it did not make any difference, we then swapped the battery from another car and it would also crank slow.
Like someone else mentioned, check the grounds first.
Also, if you have a test light, connect it in series with one of the battery cables in order to check for "leaks".
ultraclyde wrote: oh, oh, oh, I may know this one! Check the starter solenoid on the firewall. make sure there's no corrosion on the cables or where the selenoid bolts to the fender (ground.) They are a notorious failure item. I chased starting issues for a month on my F100 before I pulled the solenoid and cleaned it. Then it worked great. Until the solenoid crapped completely. Always carry a spare. Push starting a full size big block kinda sucks.
This is the third time someone has told me to carry a spare solenoid. I think I better listen. I'll also go through the cables and see what I can get cleaned/tightened up.
It may not hurt to run a few extra ground wires/cables.
Starters can get weak before they quit, bushing wear etc...
You remember that scene in the first Fast and Furious where they're fighting and Dominic breaks it up? He looks at his friend and yells "You're embarrassing me!" Every since the new alternator belt went on it's been noisy at any speed above idle. I was the noisy belt guy. It was embarrassing. I tightened it up twice and still the same. Finally I was kicking things around the garage and I noticed a bracket with the smog pump. I thought it was just for the smog pump, but then I looked at it and wondered if it wasn't supposed to provide support to the alternator too. Hmmmmmmm........ 
Of course it was held on by the one bolt that required the water pump pulley to be removed. Still, the whole procedure only used two box end wrenches and took 10 minutes. Got done, fired it up and went for a drive. A nice quiet drive.
It's only 60 degrees out and the temperature gauge parked itself at 190 degrees and stayed there for the whole 20 mile trip. For the foreseeable future it looks like my cooling issues are sorted out which makes me happy. I also flipped 83,000 miles. I really want to drive the car enough over the next couple of years to roll the odometer over. I've never done that in a car before.
woohoo!
I took Fergus grocery shopping this morning because he's a wagon and I like to be as cliche as possible with my vehicles. I thought I'd use this opportunity to show you "The Dual Action Tailgate - another Ford First in the industry - is the greatest thing that ever happened to a station wagon." as the owners manual says. 
While I was getting the owners manual out of the glove box to make sure I got the above quote right I ran into this little mess. I haven't had a rodent in any of my cars in the 12 years I've lived here until now. Interestingly, he only chewed up the registration. 
The other thing that happened on the trip to the store involved electrons. Specifically, once I got moving, voltage jumped to 15v. It stayed there as long as the car was above idle. At idle it was 13.5. I turned on the headlights and that seemed to bleed voltage back to about 14.5 when driving. I went shopping and figured it would probably start on the way home. It did, but then it behaved and was at 13.5 the whole way headlights or no. I'm wondering if my voltage regulator is misbehaving. Thoughts?
mazdeuce wrote: The other thing that happened on the trip to the store involved electrons. Specifically, once I got moving, voltage jumped to 15v. It stayed there as long as the car was above idle. At idle it was 13.5. I turned on the headlights and that seemed to bleed voltage back to about 14.5 when driving. I went shopping and figured it would probably start on the way home. It did, but then it behaved and was at 13.5 the whole way headlights or no. I'm wondering if my voltage regulator is misbehaving. Thoughts?
It may not be OEM or NOS for a Ford, but maybe you could add some of this?
Did you check your grounds? 
Bryce
Probably voltage regulator. As I remember mine was a stand-alone reg mounted on the the radiator support somewhere. I think I replaced it at some point between 70 and 100k miles...
The regulator is a giant box on the inner fender. It's pretty and blue and says Motorcraft. It's probably really old. I should check the grounds first.
Long time no update. Honestly, the last time I drove Fergus was November. I had gotten to the point where I decided that I needed to redo the front suspension and rebuild the steering column at a minimum to feel at all good about taking my my kids anywhere in it. That led to seriously deciding to rebuild the garage. An honest time frame for the garage gets it ready to move cars inside in the beginning of June. I won't really get to work on Fergus until fall, and that means I probably won't have him back on the road until this time next year. Today I suspended his insurance. I'm sad.
My favorite picture from the whole thread.
You'll need to log in to post.
