Couldn't Resist

So we got back from my In-laws house yesterday afternoon and I had some free time. I couldn't resist the opportunity to get some maintanence done on the Scorpio.

One of the first things on my list was to check the cooling system for fitness and to replace the temp sending unit. (I had already performed a drain and fill to get rid of old antifreeze and any sediment build up)

The sending units are notorious for going bad with age and this one was no different. I had already purchased a sending unit for the other Scorpio and I had a new thermostat waiting to be installed. I had noticed that the bypass hose from the thermostat housing to the coolant bottle always had coolant flowing through it. I figured either the thermostat was gone or just weak.
In order to get to the thermostat and the temp sending unit I needed to take apart the throttle body assembly so it seemed like a good time to clean it up also. These are also known to cause driveablitity issues when dirty and coched up with carbon build up. This Scorpio had idling issues. It started right up but never has idled very smooth.

Unfortunately I didn't think about taking any before and after pictures, I have to get better about that.

The whole process took about two hours. This included removing the temp sending unit from my spare Scorpio since it had the "good" sending unit installed in it. After I got it all put back together I topped off the coolant tank and started her up.
She started right up and had a much improved idle. I let the car warm up enough to have the thermostat cycle to make sure it was going to work correctly. The temp gauge worked reading in between the "n" & "o" in the normal range. I will call it a success!

Next up is to R & R the instrument cluster. The tachometer is non-funcitonal, a lot of lights out, and the gas gauge is erratic. In addition to these items the entire cluster face is flaking off. I assume from exposure to sun or heat. I have two spare clusters so I plan on replacing both the tach and the temp/gas cluster and pull the face off of the speedometer and re-attach a "good" face to it. I think it will look fine.

I promise to take pictures next time.

Later,

Darren