Crown Vic Repairs,Maintenance,and Modifications
Marauder airbox w/ 80mm MAF - xx-Aug-02 - 94,xxxmi Ordered the new box and a reburned chip from Dennis Reinhart (link) for $247.17 including shipping. The car is definitely louder upon acceleration, and my what acceleration it has!! Not sure if it was worth the dough but the car is more fun to drive. Motorcraft spark plugs - 24-Aug-02 - 93,990mi Replaced the old AWSF-32C's with a set of AWSF-22E's (22 = one range colder than 32, E = platinum, C = copper) to go along with the new airbox & chip. Yokohoma Avid Touring tires & tie rod replacement - 16-Aug-02 - 93,477mi The front two Generals were getting worn, so I replaced all four with the Yokohoma Avid Touring tire as recommended by users of tirerack.com. The technician found a worn tie rod and replaced it so that he could perform an alignment. The tires were $296, the parts & labor for the tie rod was $120. Blinker intermittently flashes rapidly - 4-Aug-02 - ~9x,xxxmi Headlight assembly replacement - 30-Jul-02 - 92,xxxmi Something I should have done a long time ago. The difference is astounding. Bought the pair (YW7Z-13008-AB and YW7Z-13008-AA) from www.fordpartsnetwork.com for about $212 including s&h. On the floor • In daylight • Closeup at night (cheap digital camera = greenish light) Windshield replacement - 16-May-02 - 87,976mi Windshield had been replaced once (before I bought the car), some of the weatherstripping was coming off and also I had a small leak that was dripping on my cruise control buttons on the steering wheel. Not good. Took it to a local shop and had both problems fixed for $36, kinda expensive for 5 minutes work and the motherf'r still leaked (May 7) so I took the plunge and had my insurance replace the whole thing, I paid a $100 deductible and everything is fixed now. Wiper blades - 9-May-02 - 87,163mi This was way overdue. The passenger side blade was starting to tear off the channel, and both blades were leaving nasty streaks. $6.88 and a trip to Walmart bought me a pair of 22" Tripledge Silicone blade refills, and the R&R took about 5-10 minutes. Much better now. Dennis Reinhart chip - 7-May-02 - 86,868mi 
All it took was an email to [email protected], and $265 (incl shipping), and I had a chip programmed by the Master himself. He firmed up & spread out my shifts, and massaged my timing & such so that I had a meaner, harder-driving Vic... exactly what I wanted. Click here for PCM removal & chip installation instructions. Synthetic gear lube - 29-Mar-02 - 83,224mi I used 2 quarts of AMSOIL fully synthetic 75W90 ($17, AMSOIL.com) along with a Victor Reinz cork-metal-cork reusable gasket, p/n P27608TC, should be available through NAPA. Synthetic ATF flush & filter - 16-Mar-02 - 82,148mi Followed 99NDP71's tech article with spectacular results! Thanks John! I used 14 quarts of AMSOIL fully synthetic ATF ($76.80, AMSOIL.com) along with a Motorcraft filter (F6AZ-7A098-A, $30 at the dealer). Should be set for 90,000 miles. WARNING!! Do NOT buy parts from these websites!! WARNING!! 185° Thermostat - 6-Mar-02 - 81,376mi Went with CVN user 99NDP71's suggestion to use a cooler 'stat to reduce pinging. He recommended the 180° version (D5PZ-8575-B) but I wanted something a little warmer for creature comfort. So I got the 185° (YC2Z-8575-BA, $11.39) and a new o-ring (F1VY-8255-A, $3.01) from the Ford dealership and installed it when my engine got cold. TIP: Make sure the engine is stone cold, and crack the reservoir cap before unbolting the 'stat housing. Trust me. Brake fluid service - 6-Mar-02 - 81,376mi Again, the color of the reservoir inspired some action. Picked up a turkey baster and a $2.99 bottle of Valvoline SynPower DOT 3-4 and went to work. Made sure to keep everything clean to avoid contamination. Obviously didn't drain all the fluid but it has to be an improvement. Coolant flush - 25-Feb-02 - 80,723mi Took about 45 min and $62.14 at the dealership. The color in the reservoir is much more healthy-looking now. Bilstein HD shocks - 28-Jan-02 - 78,100mi 
Front P/N: B46-1495, Rear P/N: B46-1496, $299.80 shipped from shox.com (excellent service, quick shipment). Skipped the CrownVic.Net custom shock tools and did the job with regular tools and the help of a friend. Took 6 hours but 90% of that time was spent trying to get the old shocks off, which wouldn't have been any easier with the custom tools. See my Shock Removal & Installation Page. ABS/TRAC errors - 21-Jan-02 - 77,9xxmi Motorcraft spark plugs - 5-Jan-02 - 77,850mi $2.19 each from Murray's. p/n ASWF-32C for those that are interested. Even after blowing out the spark plug wells with compressed air, I had trouble with the socket & plug getting stuck in the well. So I came up with an ingenious plan! WARNING!! Do NOT buy parts from these websites!! WARNING!! Belt and idler replacement - 5-Dec-01 - 75,439mi Gatorback p/n 4060980, $27.99 from local auto parts chain. Couldn't wait any longer for carparts.com to ship the one I ordered from them. Installed in 5 minutes with a 1/2" ratchet. See belt comparison. GUIDE TO GATORBACK BELTS ON CV/GM/TC 1997-CURRENT I thought my idler pulley was rattling a little so I spent the $12.59 for a Dayco idler pulley (#89007). The only differences are cosmetic. Both the belt and idler came with lifetime warranties. Fuel filter change - 4-Nov-01 - 73,830mi Purolator F65277, $9.99 from Meijer. Figured I might as well, since I had the car on jackstands for my trunk-mounted battery project. The old one was obviously original as the word "Motorcraft" was hardly visible under the corrosion. I broke one of the QuickConnect clips so I just used tie-wire to hold the connector on the filter. Battery relocation to trunk - 4-Nov-01 - 73,830mi See the whole writeup here. Synthetic oil changes w/ Superplug™ - regularly 
Currently I am using AMSOIL 5W-30 Fully Synthetic oil, AMSOIL Full-Flow filters, and the www.superplug.com Superplug™. I was using Royal Purple for a while but I thought it was getting dark too quickly. 100,058mi - 9,535mi interval - 17-Nov-02 - business as usual. 90,523mi - 8,925mi interval - 20-Jun-02 - looking good! See dipstick, See SuperPlug 81,598mi - 4,835mi interval - 8-Mar-02 - first use of AMSOIL, first use of Superplug™, RP was getting dark already 76,763mi - 3,240mi interval - 31-Dec-01 - short interval because oil turned black quickly (RP) 73,523mi - 21-Oct-01 - first known use of synthetic oil on this car (RP) Rotors turned - 28-Sep-01 - 72,161mi Even with new pads on all four corners, the brakes still howled at stoplights. Went to Tuffy and waited for 2.5 frikkin hours to get them turned, they said it would take 45min to 1hr. No more squeaking though, after $50 to turn the fronts and $75 to turn the rears. Next time I'll just buy new rotors all around, they are only $17-20 each. D'oh! Rear brake pad replacement - 3-Sep-01 - 71,XXXmi Same problem as the fronts. Bought Performance Friction pads for the rear but they didn't fit (IMAGE), apparently for the 98+ civilian Vics you have to get pads from a 97 Police Interceptor. I was too impatient so I just got the $20 fibrous Albany pads from Autozone. Front brake pad replacement - 24-Aug-01 - 70,430mi Tired of squeaky OEM(?) brake pads. Surprised to find that there was still LOTS of material on the pads I removed, they must have been Motorcrafts to be so loud at such a young age. Put on a new set of Performance Friction Carbon Metallic pads anyway, the guys on www.crownvic.net swear by these things. $50 for the front set from Autozone. Crank, no start - 20-Aug-01 - 70,340mi WARNING!! Do NOT buy parts from these websites!! WARNING!! [email protected]
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