jmjustin6 Posted May 17, 2019 Report Share Posted May 17, 2019 So sadly my truck died. It's an 88 so it was bound to happen eventually. it's overheating and missfiring like crazy and I put a bunch of parts(about 10 or so new parts) in it and nothing seem to be doing the trick. Mechanic just couldnt seem to figure out what was causing these problems and I was tired of throwing money at it. Anyway so I needed a new car. I just didnt know what car was the right one for me. I seemed to have my heart set on either a Prius or a leaf (Rick was alot of help on the leaf research) but ultimately I just know that when the time cane to change the leaf battery I just wouldnt be able to afford it. With the Prius I just couldnt find a good enough deal for me to jump on it. So a guy at work told me he saw a crown vic for sale on craigslist a few days ago and said that it was a great deal. So I looked it up and I was shocked at how good it looked and was sure it had to be gone by now. So i messaged the guy and sure enough he still had it and I cane to look at it and I bought it. 2004 crown Victoria 1 owner and only 44,000 miles on it. Sweet old man owned the car and used it only to drive his mom around. Sadly there has seemed to have been a bit of taking advantage of a nice man because there has been $18,000 worth of work done to this thing. Alot of small stuff like for example whenever he went in to get his oil change (every 4,000 miles) he also had an alignment, wheel rotation, and wheel balance done. With all that said I am very happy to have this beautiful car and dont know what i did to deserve this. I am going to take good care of it and hopefully it will last a good while. Sorry for a long one here but I am very excited about this one nosweargamer, RickR and StormSurge 3 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
RickR Posted May 17, 2019 Report Share Posted May 17, 2019 Holy cow, man! That thing looks BRAND NEW! I love it. You found a nice one. Does it have a V8? The Leaf is going well for me on my daily commute to work. Perfect for that purpose. And we have a 240 plug being installed soon for faster charging. jmjustin6 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Atari 5200 Guy Posted May 17, 2019 Report Share Posted May 17, 2019 I had a Mercury Sable (Mercury version of your Crown Vic) I bought off a sign shop I was working at in 1998. Nice car, well cared for, but had a mechanical issue no one could figure out. I had it a year before the transmission just went out. But I now know why it went it. So a bit of advice should it happen to you. If you find your car just leaking transmission fluid from a hole in the transmission that "hole" is a pressure relief valve. Mine was doing just that. Come to find out the whole reason why the transmission was "relieving" itself was because it was getting too hot. And it was getting too hot because the water pump was not pumping water all the time like it should have. So, in reality, I was literally burning up the transmission. It finally just gave out after a year of owning it. A new one cost as much as I paid for the car which was around $1,800. So, do you and your new beautiful car a favor, if it starts leaking transmission fluid and the seals/gaskets are good, change that water pump. Fight with any mechanic who tells you otherwise...change that water pump. Otherwise, that is a sweet car and with only 44,000 miles it's not even broke in yet. Most engines don't break in until after 50,000 miles so you have a few thousand miles to go. Hell, it may still have mechanical parts still under warranty. Yea...that guy got taken to the bank by whoever he took the car to. No work should total to that much. The cost of a new engine and transmission together don't cost quite that much. I loved my Mercury Sable. It had a nice ride, was very comfortable, drove good, got good gas mileage as well. Unfortunately, the sign shop painted their vehicles red, white, and blue to match company colors and they painted over the original metallic charcoal gray paint but the red cloth interior was immaculate. Stereo sounded really good as well. Everything worked except cruise control but only because the button was worn out from the many trips the shop owners took out of town to try to nab customers with proposals. I'm betting yours has a V8. Those seem to be common in Vics. Mine had a V6. jmjustin6 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Atari 5200 Guy Posted May 17, 2019 Report Share Posted May 17, 2019 1 hour ago, jmjustin6 said: So sadly my truck died. It's an 88 so it was bound to happen eventually. it's overheating and missfiring like crazy and I put a bunch of parts(about 10 or so new parts) in it and nothing seem to be doing the trick. Mechanic just couldnt seem to figure out what was causing these problems and I was tired of throwing money at it. If that is your old truck in one of the pictures (the Ford) the overheating could be caused by the misfiring. And if it is misfiring a lot it could be a few things: bad distributor, bad brain (meaning coil), or a crack in a valve head. If you was replacing water often in the radiator, and while running if the exhaust had a lot of moisture in it, chances are a head was cracked. Might make for an interesting project. That's one of those things where you could pull the motor, completely strip it down, and rebuild it from the ground up. I understand the need for electric cars but I will still love the internal combustion engines. If done right they can sound amazing. I miss my '79 Monte Carlo. jmjustin6 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
jmjustin6 Posted May 19, 2019 Author Report Share Posted May 19, 2019 Yea that was it 88 blue f150 Yea I replaced the distributor, the cap, and rotor. I replaced the coil, the fan clutch relay, the thermostat, the ignition, the ignition switch, the ignition control module, the radiator, the fuel pump (because while this problem was happening the feul pressure just happen to start to dip woo hoo), couple of pullys, a few vacuum lines (there is still a vacuum leak somewhere in there) the transmission was rebuilt last year. All new plugs and wires. I do know that it needs a new water pump. Anyway...I could go on but for real I was just tired of putting money Into this thing and it still having problems. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
jmjustin6 Posted May 19, 2019 Author Report Share Posted May 19, 2019 On 5/16/2019 at 10:37 PM, RickR said: Holy cow, man! That thing looks BRAND NEW! I love it. You found a nice one. Does it have a V8? The Leaf is going well for me on my daily commute to work. Perfect for that purpose. And we have a 240 plug being installed soon for faster charging. Yea it's a V8. Not the best on gas but hey not a single car I've had before has been good on gas so ehh I'm used to it. That's great to hear about the leaf. I just couldnt pull the trigger myself. but one day I hope to get me an electric car. Also I was reading you should fast charge it all the time. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
RickR Posted May 19, 2019 Report Share Posted May 19, 2019 The quick charge shouldn't be used often, as I've read the opposite of you -- that it wears out the battery faster. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
jmjustin6 Posted May 19, 2019 Author Report Share Posted May 19, 2019 2 minutes ago, RickR said: The quick charge shouldn't be used often, as I've read the opposite of you -- that it wears out the battery faster. Woops I meant to say you shouldn't fast charge all the time. Dang autocorrect Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
RickR Posted May 19, 2019 Report Share Posted May 19, 2019 I hate the autocorrect! The good news is that I've only ever seen one quick charger so far, and my new hobby is finding charging stations. That quick charger was at a Walmart. I'll keep it in mind for emergencies only. I totally get the pouring money into a car issue. When you can't really solve the problem, you just never know when it's going to end. And once you lose confidence in your ride, it all kind of goes downhill. I think you did the right thing, and that car you found is just about as nice a used car I've ever seen. jmjustin6 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
chas10e Posted May 20, 2019 Report Share Posted May 20, 2019 "the new Bluesmobile" I'd say, nice looking ride RickR and jmjustin6 1 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Atari 5200 Guy Posted May 20, 2019 Report Share Posted May 20, 2019 Your car is really nice for its age. That is a rare find. No matter what you gave for it it still looks showroom fresh. I need to make a small correction in my original post. The Mercury I owned was an early 1990's model. Image of a similar model below if you care to look. The sign shop I got it from purchased every option they could for it. My interior was a nice rose red color and my dash had the woodgrain trim around the gauges and like you have on your dash across the glove compartment. Everything was electric including the trunk latch which was a push button in the glove box. Hater's are going to hate but I was never really a Ford person except for Mustangs as I always had problems with them no matter what kind of Ford it was. But I loved that Mercury...it was about as close to luxurious as I was going to get. Got good gas mileage, too. And it would run for a V6...I just wish I would have seen the water pump issue sooner. If I could find another one that was in as great of shape as your Vic I'd jump on it in a heartbeat. It was the only Ford product I ever liked owning. jmjustin6 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Atari Creep Posted May 20, 2019 Report Share Posted May 20, 2019 Congrats!!! I have had a few Crown Vics in the past, love them and wish they were still being made. ENJOY the new wheels yo. jmjustin6 1 Quote Don't just watch TV, PLAY IT! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Atari Creep Posted May 20, 2019 Report Share Posted May 20, 2019 Oh and as a side note if you wanted to have some fun, the 4.6 in the Crown Vic is the same motor used in the Mustang GT of the time. It would be easy to build that bad boy up and make a sleeper out of it! I DID! lol jmjustin6 1 Quote Don't just watch TV, PLAY IT! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
StormSurge Posted May 20, 2019 Report Share Posted May 20, 2019 Congrats! Nice find!! jmjustin6 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
jmjustin6 Posted May 21, 2019 Author Report Share Posted May 21, 2019 13 hours ago, Atari Creep said: Oh and as a side note if you wanted to have some fun, the 4.6 in the Crown Vic is the same motor used in the Mustang GT of the time. It would be easy to build that bad boy up and make a sleeper out of it! I DID! lol Yea my mechanic friend has a 2005 f150 and apparently my vic and his truck also have the same engine in them Atari Creep 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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