1991 Mercury - best way to start out
 

I have a 1991 Mercury grand marquis. It has around 150k miles on it, but I love the car. It has an array of problems; locks not functioning, windows not working, air condition unit is dying, over heating, not holding oil well, and probably others to come. It works for now, but I hate seeing it in so much pain. I hate auto mechanics, and want to learn everything about it. I wanted to start out with an engine take down and cleaning process. Can someone point me in the right direction as in a guide or somewhere to start out? The goal is to replace everything that is broken and making this a very reliable car once more. I'm very new and any help is appreciated.

~Stealthlead

if you're real good at typical do-it-yourself type stuff anyhow, a decent repair manual (like Chiltons/Haynes) will definitely be a good start. They take you through most things that you can do to a car. as for the cooling system not keeping the engine cool, I'd start with a radiator flush... drain the thing out completely, change the hoses if they look worn (bulging, cracks at the ends, etc), change the thermostat for sure (this is probably the source of your problem as it may be sticking and not allowing proper cooling), and after a couple hours and maybe $50 (hoses add up, the thermostat is cheap) that issue will definitely be solved. as for the oil leaks... that's your basic tear-down, replace the gaskets, rebuild. If it involved taking the heads off then might as well check/replace the piston rings and any worn rod bearings, and get the heads machined at a reasonable shop before putting it back together. More than likely though, the main oil leaks on those old 302s generally come from the valve covers and main bearings. valve covers are easy, just make sure to torque them down properly. Main bearing seals are just a pain. The windows are probably due to ford's great idea to use nylon plugs in the window motors. replace them with 11/16 ball bearings and never worry about it again. be sure to grease it up though. getting to the motor however is the hard part and requires drilling out the doors where dimples mark the spot where the mounting bolts should be located. Locks not functioning can be harder to fix. If it's just a blown fuse... that's easy. but it's it's wiring or solenoids gone bad, that's another story. The chiltons I have outlines all of these things though. as for the AC, since that's an R-12 system (unless it's already been converted), I would suggest taking it to an AC mechanic and getting the conversion done right the first time (they should pump down the system for at least half an hour to an hour after draining it of r-12 and replacing a few key parts - dryer/accumulator, expansion valve, anything with a leak. this will make sure the system is completely evacuated of all impurities and allow for a pressure test to make sure there's not any leaks).

you definitely want to take care of that overheating business. depending on how bad it's been, you may have to replace the head gaskets and machine the heads (I forget whether or not the heads were aluminum on those already).

I think as a novice, a V-8 rebuild might be a little advanced for you. Why don't you get a junkyard engine w/decent mileage and try a swap. Believe me, taking the engine out and lableing every wire, hose, and bolt will be a challenge for a greenhorn. A good idea is to use color coding for hoses and wires or even take pictures of each major step so that you will have a good reference to go back to upon installation. Taking the engine out is the easy part. Putting it back in and having it work is another world, but very rewarding. P.S. There are alot of mechanics who frequent this page so be careful about your wording. I'm sure you meant, "I hate crooked auto mechanics". Right?

Slymer you make it sound so easy. Thank you so much for the advice, I'll try to decode it and understand what it all means. Although I am completely new with this, I've done soldering before and mechanical work in a certain hobby. I am naturally good with mechanics but in no way am I giving myself any credibility with cars. I have owned this haynes book here for quite some time. It's useful but pretty confusing. Yea, Mechanics are great but like I said, I went to one this morning and he wouldn't even look at me when I was talking. He was just working on another car. All I have seen is greedy money hungry mechanics that only want to help you when they see the money. Of course, I'm not stereotyping every mechanic. I know a lot of them are very helpful and nice. This is a different subject I don't want to get confused here, so I hope that clears it up. My wording is probably completely off, I don't know how to correctly word my sentences with cars yet so please don't get upset when I say something stupid. My engine is a V8 I believe, which is good, it just needs to be cleaned up. I want to replace all those cracked old pipes (Which I know are there) and replace basically everything that is wearing down. I just want a nice reliable car I can obviously rely on. Thank you for all the suggestions, there a big help. ~Stealthlead

If I make it sound easy, then I'm not saying it right. some things are easy, but most things are very time consuming and sweat producing. Even something that may seem simple... like changing a belt... can cause much cursing and breaking of tools, especially on these older cars. Changing the thermostat is actually harder than it sounds and falls into the category of time consuming and sweat producing. I would advise using the no-sealant gasket (usually at the top of the price list because it's a hardened rubber type) and a fail-safe thermostat (fails open instead of closed) if you do change that. It'll cost more up front, but will save you from future headaches should something go wrong. I'll be doing that to my 88 MGM when I get around to doing the flush and hose change on it (which I hope will be before summer gets here). Anything involving the engine itself (even valve cover gaskets) is a royal time user and can be very difficult due to the need of pricier tools like torque wrenches and possible replacement of numerous parts just on the grounds that it was taken apart. Knowing which parts these are and how to replace them can be difficult to figure out at times. Anything involving rebuilding the engine will be a long difficult task and best left to those who know and have done it for a long time. One thing to do is find a friend that knows a good deal about auto mechanics to help you out with stuff. But be aware that even your friends may be mistaken on certain things. Do get a repair manual. Read it. you will soon see that working on cars can be very rewarding and very painful at the same time.

Slymer, thank you for the response.

Most of those repairs can be learned about and performed with the haynes car manual? (radiator flush, thermostat change, hose changes, valve covers, window failure, maybe locks to) The only one I am not sure of is the air conditioner. I am working on finding someone that does have experience just like you said. The only thing I've really done with this car is change the alternator so far, the old one was dying. I have no problem investing my time, effort, money and sweat into my car as long as I can do the majority of these repairs myself. I have time and money for tools, and am handy with them. There is also an auto shop down the road, which is a nice plus.

then it sounds like you're pretty much all set. The repair manuals like to avoid the AC systems due to the fact that purging R-12 into the atmosphere is an offense with hefty fines. that is also the one area where (unless you have access to a recovery unit) a mechanic's shop is your best friend. Once the system has been converted to R134a, it's much easier to maintain from a user standpoint. Which is why I'm glad that my car was converted before I bought it. All I have to do is make sure the valves are tight and that it has the proper charge (low side gauges are cheap - measured while running).

the manuals mentioned are pretty good, but don't cover certain things as a rule. AC systems (heaters are covered since it's part of the coolant system), transmissions (except as related to attached parts or just installation and removal), sometimes random little things are missed too. troubleshooting can be hit and miss too.

another possibility on the windows and locks could simply be the switches in the door have gone bad or gotten really dirty. The manuals will tell you how to remove the door panels (which on the 88-91 land yachts involves lots of screws before you can ever think of pulling the panel off). But for the switches you'll only need to take the one screw off the point and just lift it all up and out. Then you can disassemble it and hose it out with some contact cleaner (WD-40 may work too) to make sure that's not it. as for the windows... if you can hear the motor turning and nothing happening, it's the nylon plugs I mentioned earlier. If you can't hear anything... that may still be the problem and there's just a broken bit gumming up the works or the motor may be dead.

as for the door locks, it could be the switch, it could be the rod links from the solenoid to the latch, it could be the latch itself, it could be the solenoid. if they're ALL affected, it's probably the switches (just for the locks - my car had the window issue on all windows with the nylon plugs and have been replaced with ball bearings all around to prevent that from ever being the case again... silly nylon plugs melt and deform in the texas summer and if they don't, they tend to get brittle with age and shatter).

Thank you for all the help. I will make sure to use this page as a reference, you have all been very helpful. I'm pretty sure your right on the spot with the windows. Old, dirty and in need of cleaning fits the description. I do believe my AC unit has been switched over to R134a, and that will end up being a separate issue. On a different subject, you all will be happy to know I've been doing some work on my car today! Here is what happened; yesterday my car died at my girl friends house. Long story short, its the starter. I've got the new starter ready to go, the only thing I needed to do was get the current one off.. I'm pretty sure it hasn't been replaced in probably 10-18 years. So I've got this 18 year old started stuck to my car, and the objective is to get it off right? Simple? No, I spent 3 hours trying to remove the 2 screws. The car is not jacked up because frankly, I don't want to tow it. I am pleased to say, the bottom screw was successfully removed in the first 40 minutes, but the other screw is a different story. I tried, with 3 different wrenches, and one even cracked on me (Cheap Chinese ****) I was not being stupid, I was using the right size, I cleaned off the oil before attempting to do this, and I tried so hard that the nut is a big circle now. Do any of you have any idea how to get that last screw off now that it has been ground down to an "O"? It is in there VERY tight, in fact the washer between the starter and nut is cracked. (Guessing over time, the heat and grime really tightened it good on there.) The objective here is to get the nut off without spending a lot to tow it to a shop, pay them to get the nut off, then pay to get it towed home. Any help is appreciated!

if you can get a pair of vice grips on it and REALLY tight (so much so that the teeth on the grips dig into the bolt a little) then you may be able to get it to break free. hosing it down with some liquid wrench will help too. if it's a nut and not a bolt, the same thing should work. but you'll definitely have to replace it once you get it off. I'm not looking forward to doing that on my car either... the throw-out bearing in my starter seems to hang up from time to time. But it always works within 3 tries.

I think I'm going to try that today. Its a bolt with a washer in between. (the washer is cracked as said earlier, so it must be on pretty tight) That vice grip is a great idea, but I'm not sure if I'll be able to get it in, I probably could though. I'll try and take a picture to show you, but its just such a small space to work in not to mention my face 1/4 of an inch from the bottom of my car. :P Liquid wrench also sounds like a great idea, enough to make me go back and try again!