bradleyheathhays

So I put a headlight wiring kit from LMC Truck on my '96 Cherokee that circumvents the normal wiring and runs the headlights directly off the battery by way of a relay. The kit runs the lights at 55/100 (low, hi) watts instead of the original 55/60. One reason I did this was because the light output was terrible, and the other was because for some unknown reason the headlights would shut off after being on hi for a bit. Never did this on low. I've had the new wiring kit on for a few years now and it seems to have solved the issue. The problem I'm having now though is that this new harness is melting at one of the connections... You can see only one of the wires is overheating while the other seems to be ok. I'm guessing the hot one is used by the high beams. What could be causing this? Could it be related to why the high beams used to shut off before I replaced the wiring harness? A while back I asked about the shutting off issue on a number of Jeep boards but nobody had heard of this particular problem before.

Thanks EC. Great info in that video there. The check engine light went off (dark) on it's own after being on for only a couple days. After staying off for maybe another 2-3 days it came back on again. Have advice it might be my intake manifold leaking, but it was replaced new w/ OEM last year so that's probably not it. New plugs as well. I'll go ahead and replace the air filter just to make sure. Also, the engine takes about a quart of oil every 1000 miles or so. I don't see any drips in the driveway but I don't see any smoke from the exhaust either. Not sure where the oil is going. I was assuming it was leaking out only when it's being driven. Been told if it's burning oil that could be causing this code as well.

Sorry it took so long to get back. The check engine light went off but it came back on yesterday so I got the codes read again. Guy's machine read 4 codes but said they were all the same code...P0430. I'm game for the lacquer thinner option I've been hearing about. I see low voc lacquer thinner for sale. Wonder if it matters which version you use?

Thanks Elite. I've been advised against using armor all anything as it tends to dry things out. Been hearing good things about something called 303 though. Not sure what it is, still researching.

What's a good long lasting tire dressing? I used to use this stuff called Wipe New - Tires but it's since been discontinued. There was a process. First you soaped and scrub cleaned the tire, then let dry. Then you don a 3M chemical filter cartridge mask, because no joke this stuff was noxious, then you applied just a teeny bit to the provided sponge and applied to the tire. Go around doing all 4 then then come back and do it again. The black lasted for a good long while...couple months before you had to do it again. Is there anything like this still out there on the market?

2011 Crown Vic here with 305k miles, and today my engine light comes on. Scan at the local Advanced comes up with 4 codes on the cat converter. Guy says I need to get something called Cataclean and run it through the gas tank to correct the problem. Is it worth doing this...will it make the engine run better or get better gas mileage? Should I use Cataclean or some other product to get this done?

So my Mom drives a 2002 Ford Taurus that I believe has one of the Takata airbags that have been killing people. So far her car hasn't been recalled for the airbag, but I know this recall is being done piece meal as they can't do them all at once, and since the recall applies to the year right close to hers I suspect hers eventually will be recalled as well. Either way I don't want to take the chance, and here's why... The explanation for why these things are going off is there's some defect in the manufacturing that when the air bag is exposed to humid conditions and lots of temp fluctuations, something in them weakens and there they go. Mom's Taurus has a windshield leak so, even though it's never smelled, there's always been a virtual puddle of water in driver's side floor board. So the inside of the car has always been humid, just like in the airbag explosion scenarios. So, for the time being, until she gets into another car, I'd like to disconnect her airbag to be on the safe side. She is an amazingly vigilant driver, never even a speeding ticket, and the risk of her rear ending someone is virtually non-existent. How would I go about disabling an airbag on a 2002 Ford Taurus? Or, alternatively, how do I open the steering wheel column, or front of the steering wheel, which might be part of the disabling process itself, and identify if Mom's airbag is indeed one of the defective types?

I bought a 2011 Crown Vic with 300k miles 12 mos ago and I'm wondering how to approach servicing the timing belt. I know very little of it's past maintenance records other than what I've done with it this past year. Basically I'm wondering if I should go ahead and attempt to replace it now, or wait til something starts to go wrong. I don't know how timing belts typically go bad...if they just break or start to stretch or what. If this is an interference engine I'm imagining a fairly bad event so I'd like to get educated and be pro active about it. Second...Scotty Kilmer teaches that the worst wear an engine sees after changing the oil is before the oil gets pumped back into the filter and then into the engine components during the first engine restart. But he says if you disable the ignition spark somehow when cranking for the first time again, the lack of combustion in the cylinders helps with reducing this kind of wear quite a bit. I don't have an owner's manual and I'm not sure what fuse to pull to disable combustion ignition, or if removing a fuse would be the best way to do this. Any opinions on how this should be done?

Couple wrap up questions... What advantage is there to using the more expensive Mobil 1 synthetic as opposed to a cheaper Valvoline full syn... $20 a bottle vs. $13, times 3. Also, I've been given advice to replace the clutches and 'steels?' in the diff as mine are probably worn out. What advantage in performance would I gain by doing this and is it expensive/ worth it?

I have a '11 Crown Vic with 300k miles on it and my rear diff fluid looks like this... {pic} Been watching some utube vids on how to change this fluid out but after a visit to the local Advance store I've got some questions. Up til now, forums on the net have led me to believe that all former police cars (which is what mine is) need 75w-140 fluid with friction modifier, but after giving them my VIN at Advance the computer comes back with a fluid suggestion of 80w-90. Here's the diff tag... {pic} I believe that shows a 3 (L or 1)? 27 which indicates a 3.27 gear ratio, and then an 88 after, which indicates the 8.8 axle. Not sure what that SYN means, unless it means synchronous? This car is driven VERY sparingly, never hard, and operates in a climate that can get up to 95F in the summer. When the rear is jacked up and one rear wheel is spun, the other moves in the opposite direction. So my first question is... what weight fluid should I use? Also, I need confirmation if I should use a friction modifier. Next is how to go about changing the oil out. I'm being lazy here and after watching a vid on how you can extract 80% of the diff fluid out the fill hole by using a flexible hose I'm thinking about just doing it that way. But if you guys think it's necessary to get all that old fluid out I'll take plate off and do it the regular way. And lastly, if I take the plate off, should I spray all the gears down with brake cleaner to get all the old fluid out, or just let it drain for a while and call it good?

After I took the gauges off I noticed one of the schrader valves was hissing, and now the system is down to 0 psi. So I believe a faulty valve has been the culprit all along. Now that the system is down I'm going to replace both valves, but my regular schrader valve removal tool won't fit down on the valve. The stem of the valve is too long and the tool won't go down around it to twist it out. I need a tool with prongs longer to fit down into the recessed sides of the valve. Does this '11 Crown Vic have schrader valves or a different kind of valve? Also, when I go to fill the system with refrigerant, do I need to add any PEG oil or just add refrigerant up to the specified capacity?

Hooked the gauges up and it seems like I've got a low refrigerant condition. Before turning the engine on both gauges read about 75. After starting the engine and setting the AC on max you could really tell the compressor was cycling fast. The needles cycled every 5-6 seconds...one going up and the other down, then reversed. The blue gauge cycled between 22 and 38 PSI while the red went between 90-140. The outside temp was about 60 F. From what I've read, especially with the compressor cycling so fast, this indicates low refrigerant. Hopefully my compressor isn't hurt by running it for so long like this. How do I go about using this 2 gauge setup to add refrigerant? Should I add it through the middle hose somehow or get a can of 134 with a gauge on it and just add it directly from the can? And how do you know how much to put in?

I'm gonna assume my problem is being caused by low refrigerant and take a shot at fixing it as cheaply as I can. But at the same time I'd like to take steps at identifying where the leak might be. So what will this look like? Renting some gauges from the local car store and checking my refrigerant lines? How would you go about this and what readings should I be looking for? And then if things read low I would get a can of refrigerant with leak revealing dye and put it in the system? Sorry I'm so remedial here, first time working on an a/c system.

Yeah the B stands for Boss yall. Haaaar. Sorry it's been so long since I posted. Life got complicated all the sudden. I'd guess the heater core too if the dang thing just hadn't gone bad a few months back and I changed it out in 20 deg weather, yeah. The fogging problem was going on before the core leak, it just happened to go as well. Now that it's gotten a little warmer I've ran the a/c a little and it's doing the same thing it did last summer. The air temp alternates between somewhat cool and not much cool, never getting down to cold. I would guess I'm looking at 2 problems here but if I could just get the a/c problem fixed I wouldn't mind just having the air come out the vents. Any ideas on how to start testing my a/c?

Have a '11 Crown Vic with 290k miles and I've been having a problem with the windows fogging up all the way around. The defrost seems to be working about half the time. On humid rainy days it'll work for say a half hour keeping the windows clear, then the windows will fog hard for 10-15 mins. And then it might decide to start working again, back and forth it goes. When I started it just now the compressor clutch turns when the a/c is turned on, although I haven't had a chance to observe it when the windows are fogging. A secondary problem it has is that it only blows air through the vents on the front of the dash, straight out into the cabin. The air flows only very weak out the defrost vent at the windshield or the floor. It does this on all settings. Although this might contribute somewhat to the problem, it seems like the a/c does completely cut out as the windows will still fog hard with the a/c set to on and on full fan. When it cuts off the air in the cabin feels immediately humid. One that that helps somewhat is to turn the temp toward cooler and it seems to not fog as much and gives it a chance to maybe clear the fog some. Any idea what's causing this or what I should do to start testing?

Bought an '11 Vic with the 4.6L back in June and a few months back I tried to change out the plugs. All came out ok except for cyl 4 which only cranked out 1/4 turn. Had a shop take it out and they said they had to redo the threads. I've seen videos where you can remove a stuck plug by drilling into it somehow, but because this was in the 4 position and hard to get to I'm guessing they just power cranked it out. Not sure but I'm guessing those threads are compromised now. Well, this past weekend that same plug blew out of cyl 4. Inspection reveals a coil and boot jammed up underneath the fuel rail and a plug that I fished out without any turning. When I go to install a new plug it just sits on top of the threads and turns without going in. So I guess what's happened is that the plug rotated most of the way out but when it got to the last couple threads the compression blew it out the rest of the way, and that it's just the top few threads in the hole that are damaged. Inspection of the plug reveals that most of the threads are intact except for the 2-3 that are closest to the element. So my question is...should I try to fix this myself or just take it to a shop? Some kind of tap tool would probably fix it, but since it's the beginning threads that are boogered it'd probably have to start from the inside of the cylinder. I really don't have a clue as to how to approach this.

'11 Grizz 700 here. Since I've got some warm weather these next couple days I've decided to start the bike after about a year of just sitting. Took out the plug and sprayed a good amount of fogging oil on top of the piston to help lubricate things. After about a minute of letting it soak I stuck my air line tubing in to suck out the excess, but it seems like I didn't get nearly as much in return. Repositioned the tube enough so that everything that was gonna come out pretty much did. I'll probably shoot some compressed air down the plug hole before doing the start just to make sure it's all out, as well as cranking it for a second before putting the plug back in. How long would it take for a bit of standing fogging oil to seep past the piston rings, and where would it go? I guess into the engine oil? The oil was fairly new the last time it was started but I'm sure it could stand to be changed after sitting for so long. If much of this fogging oil got into the engine oil should I do the change before the startup?

Thanks for all the advice. Doesn't have to look all that good really...just don't want it having the crappy rust look it's got going on now. I'll prob blast it, paint it then be done. What's that old saying, 'dones better than good'

Sandblast and then cover with some black high temp spray paint?

I'm about to sell the ole '11 700 Griz and I'd like to clean up the metal exhaust cover that's toward the front of the machine. Its got a lot of surface rust so I'm figuring the best thing to do is just sand blast it? Any other ideas or thoughts on cleaning it up?

Right on thanks for the advice

Someone had mentioned they thought Wilderness Trail Off Road Park was closed. Can anyone else confirm this?

After some research, Wilderness Trail Off Road Park close to Pineville, KY paired with the nearby Pine Mtn. State Park looks like a pretty good deal. Only 119 miles away, no trail fees (saving ~$140), decent log cabins at the park for $90/night vs. $140 other places, saving $100. People there say they have easy trails leading up to great views, called 'top of the world.' And with zip lines and hiking in the park I don't see how you could go wrong. Maybe they'll be a space we can set up a tent outside the cabin. Anybody with experience with this area?

2011 Grizz 700 here and so far the only thing I've been told about replacing my coolant is that I should put the same color stuff back in that came out. But other than that nothing specific. A search through both the service or owner's manual gave no coolant info other than capacity. Here's a comparison of the old and the proposed new... The stuff on the left, what's coming out, is a blue-green. I'm second owner and only put about 75 miles on the machine, so I have no idea how old this coolant is. Stuff on the right is the new coolant the guy at the car shop suggested, and is more of a pure lighter translucent blue. It's Pentofrost NF, whatever that is. He said it's what's recommended for European, including BMWs. Here's the bottle... So... 1) have I found the right coolant? and 2) does this stuff need to be diluted? The bottle says it's 'full strength.'