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

Had a short moment of total dread last evening, SMS called me to ask if I was sending the old seat covers? My heart fell to my crotch! I instantly advised the person on the phone that the tracking from USPS said they had received them last Thursday. He asked for the tracking number and in a few minutes told me they WERE in their possession! I started breathing again! WHEW!....Longroofs Rule!

 

That's proof that you weren't watching porn Otherwise, you wouldn't be here to tell us about it

 

Exactly. Unless there's a reproduction cover available most shops won't even touch trying to duplicate the patterns from before 1980. They'll gladly give you a tuck and roll or velour cloth seat though... then get pissy when you say you want the original style seat patterns AND material.

 

That would fry my pacemaker.

 

That might be pertinent to later CVT models. My manual doesen't mention anything about flushing. I wouldn't do it myself anyway, unless I could rent out the machine itself. Having a shop do it would be expensive

That would be the common sense way of doing it, if it was certain that running it dry for a short time wouldn't ruin anything. It won't drain the converter completely. But, what's important is that most of the old fluid will leave. Since I've got the cover plate off, I'll turn it over once, in case they've actually did weld in a drain onto the converter

 

No, that pertains to regular automatic transmissions. I do not recall when manufacturers started recommending against the pressure flushes, but it probably post-dates your vehicle. That doesn't mean that before that time it is a great idea.

You don't completely run the transmission dry, just until you see or hear sporadic output from the hose then you shut it down. I usually cycle 12-14 quarts of clean fluid through the trans (depending on trans fluid capacity) and that will give you 90-95% clean new fluid in the entire system.

 

How do I remove the fuel tank hose from the side of my 90 Grand Marquis? I removed the bolts from both sides, but not the ones by the edges of the door. I moved the hose cover from the inside of the wheel well, and the hose doesn't move.

I do have an official shop manual for this car and I'll read it, but I had to ask here just in case something's not clear in the book.

 

Which fuel tank hose? The filler pipe? Or the pressure and return lines? If it's the filler pipe, it's a pipe and rubber grommet only. Clean the pipe off, unbolt the filler flange from the body, spray the pipe at the grommet with WD40 or PB, and work the pipe inside the tank till the top end can be rotated down into the wheel well itself, and then pull the pipe out.

 

Thanks. I didn't phrase that well, but that's what I meant.

I got the tank off, I'll take photos. I should refinish it, it looks crusty.

 

Make sure the grommet around the filler pipe isn't cracked, and pull the fuel pump and gauge sender, ensure those O-rings are not cracked either, unless your tank got the integral pump and sender unit. Then it's only one o-ring.

 

Thanks, Andrew. I'm probably going to replace the O-Rings one way or another, considering I don't take a fuel tank off every year. I'm hoping that I don't need to replace the sending unit, though the lines look awful crusty.

As it turns out, the tank was crusty enough to have a pencil tip sized hole in the top of it after I knocked loose rust off. I'm most likely going to vent out the tank, wire brush it, patch any holes that show up, and repaint it. I did the same on my Suburban a few years ago, and it's held out fine since then.

When I paint the tank, I plan to put 2 or 3 coats of Zinc Primer on it, then I'll put 2 or 3 coats of color coat on top of that. Is there any reason why I shouldn't use White paint, to make it easier to see under the car when I'm working on anything? I can't imagine why not.

 

It looks like there are aftermarket tanks available for your car. I would strongly consider that option. Save yourself the aggravation and time of cleaning the old one up.

 

Not only that, but think about just how fast that white will get dirty and stay dirty. As for the hole, you can use 2-part gas tank repair epoxy, but a new tank is a better idea. You don't yet know if the inside is rusting or not. I'd have a new tank and sender if it were my car; I replaced all of that on my '83 just because of rust issues.

 

I've used some of the aftermarket gas tank repair products on a Kia with a rusty gas tank, but that was only because the gas tank was actually part of the rear structure of the car. I finally got the JB Weld product to hold. Given the choice between repairing a rusty tank and installing a new one I'd go for the new one every time.

 

I agree. As I said, until you look inside, you don't know what the condition is. If it's clean and un-rusted, you can have a professional welder close the hole, then take it to a shop that can clean and line the tank, but I'd be hard-pressed to say that doing that is cheaper than a new tank.