Welcome to the Crown Vics ETC blog!

On April 6, 2000, I purchased a 1998 Ford Crown Victoria LX HPP with 23,490 miles. I decided to start a little website for it featuring a running log of my experiences with the car. Vic 1.0 was retired in 2015 due to rust and electrical issues. Vic 2.0 was a 2006 P71 in Blue Pearl that belonged to my boyfriend. It was a Ford demo and never saw actual police use. It was damaged in September of 2018 with well over 186,000 miles. It was replaced by Vic 3.0 in October 2018, a 2008 P71 in Silver Birch with 120,971 miles. To read posts prior to 2010, click a link at right, or go to Crown Vics, ETC.

Thursday, May 11, 2017

Vic 2.0 Gets Intake Transplant

Anyone who has owned Crown Vics for long enough learns about the old silent recall for the intake manifolds.  Vic 1.0 eventually got it done, and now 2.0 is at Taxi Guy's shop getting it done.  When Mystery Mechanic owned the car, he had to replace a coil pack due to what appeared to be the start of coolant leakage.  A few weeks ago after smelling occasional whiffs of coolant, I had another coil pack go on me while on a highway.  Taxi Guy stated that he could try to save me money by adding a bunch of sealant around the top of the coil pack to try and keep liquid out of the cylinder. 

But the smell continued, and I noticed that the overflow tank was empty.  Two full bottles of coolant later, this past Monday, someone noticed a nice green puddle under the car.  I got on the ground to look under and see where the drip was coming from, but without a jack I couldn't see past the air dam.  I started wondering if the water pump was bad.  The next day I started the engine and stared under the hood to see what I could see.  Sure enough, coolant was dripping out of the intake and onto the new coil pack!  From there it dripped down the front of the engine, which is why it looked like the water pump was bad. 
Watching one of the last Ringling Brother's circus trains (4/4/17)

Never seen an intake so bad you could literally see the leak, and hear the steaming and gurgling after shutting the engine off.

Another issue to figure out is the water leaking down onto the carpet by the brake pedal.  I have been smelling a musty odor for a while now, and the carpet under the floor mat has been damp.  Bob at Belmont Seat Cover helped me remove the driver seat and pull back the carpet, which revealed a solid floor, but standing water!  I vacuumed it all up, set a hose on the windshield, and turned the water on.  Sure enough, water started to drip inside the car.

I still have to determine if the issue is the recently replaced windshield, or something in the cowl by the wipers. 

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