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Tuesday, September 25, 2012

Harpooning the Whale

Aye, mateys, 'tis a difficult thing to get to the White Whale.  'Tis even tougher to bring 'im in.

The Great American Story is trying to get to failed parts on cars.  If you can reach 'em, you can replace 'em.

at this point, I have everything taken apart on the dashboard of The Great White Whale to take it out, except the wiring harnesses to the engine compartment.  there is enough slack there to pull the dash out half a foot and replace the darned heat control motor that is failed out.

but Captain, she will not rrrelease.

it would appear that a stud through the chassis has a shoulder next to the A pillar too wide to come out of the dash slot, and initial assembly cranked it over there so tight it's practically swaged onto the stud.  seeking help from the Edmunds forums.

meanwhile, down to one car.

Thursday, September 20, 2012

It's been a quiet couple of weeks at Lake Woebegon...

.. but that's another writer, and no good reason to draw adverse reactions.

what's up has been chasing issues with The Great White Whale.  fine upper-body exercise.  tore out the steering flibberbegibbets from the Pitman arm to the steering knuckles and replaced it all with greaseable components.  the idler arm that anchors the other end of the cross-car steering bar was all rust and the right lower ball joint, on which up to 70 percent of all the car's force rests during some turns, had no grease... was packed full of fine black dust, though.

these parts were originals to the car with the Ford stamp.  after 208,000 miles, you can expect some wear ;)

car was nearly uncontrollable, had to be done.  got it down the road for alignment, all that's left is a little steering wheel wobble that is endemic to the Crown Vic / Grand Marquis, a signature feature.

next up:  no heat in the winter but plenty of cold... no cooling in the summer but 140 degree air coming out the dash cowls.  the culprit, since it appears the EVAC computer should be working, is a $27 part (OEM is $85) that sits on the top of the plenum under the dash to control a damper door selecting between heater air and a/c air supplies.  unreachable, of course.

it is alleged by hacks that you can rip the airbag, take out ductwork, and sorta maybe get to the blend door actuator through that pathway.  well, the duct screws face the damn wrong freakin way, and you can't get the ol' Yankee ratchet right angle screwdriver to them.  or any of my other wacko right-angle tools.

so, the dashboard is coming out.  38-odd steps per Chilton.  big-ass 15mm socket bolts and nuts among other fasteners.  got seven Ziplocs of screws from this place and that on top of the car, and the left side isn't moving.

appears I have to drop the steering column.  four bolts to remove with that thing over your head, and three wiring connectors.  DO NOT TURN THE WHEEL it implores.

so that goes down on the weekend when Cheryl can help.

ETA to replace the controller that's failed out (and generally does) once the dash is out of the freaking way... 3 minutes.

bastards.  why don't they have a repairability engineer at any of these car companies?