I promise that I haven't forgotten about the transmission. It is just this cold weather has put a hold on most of my projects on the car. I also have been way too busy at work. I am also the assistant coach for a High School bowling team in the area and that has kept me busy also.
As soon as it warms up a little I will get back to work and post what I get done.
Later,
Darren
Wednesday, February 17, 2010
Sunday, January 17, 2010
Where did the weekend go?
Seems like all I did this weekend was work and sleep. I have made a decision on what to do with the transmission issue.
I am going to attempt to remove the transmission on my own. If I am successfull I will then determine where the leak is. Hopefully I will be able to replace the front seal myself. If not it will be off to the transmission shop for the work. Since I have to take a lot of crap off of the car just to get the transmission out, I plan on also replacing the O2 sensor, replacing the guibo, and also repair the exhaust system.
When I get enough guts up to start this project I will be sure to post pictures.
We have pinewood derby this week so I will post a few pics of that and any pictures of the car as I take it apart.
Have a good night,
Darren
I am going to attempt to remove the transmission on my own. If I am successfull I will then determine where the leak is. Hopefully I will be able to replace the front seal myself. If not it will be off to the transmission shop for the work. Since I have to take a lot of crap off of the car just to get the transmission out, I plan on also replacing the O2 sensor, replacing the guibo, and also repair the exhaust system.
When I get enough guts up to start this project I will be sure to post pictures.
We have pinewood derby this week so I will post a few pics of that and any pictures of the car as I take it apart.
Have a good night,
Darren
Thursday, January 14, 2010
A Happy New Year!
The holiday season was good to me. I got some goodies for the Scorpio and I have a lot of plans to work on the Scorpio.
Crossing my fingers I think the radiator might be okay. It turns out the leak I saw was coming from a loose hose clamp on the top radiator hose. I tightened it up and so far so good.
The bad news is the front seal on the transmission is definitely leaking. This transmission is notorious for this and now I have to debate on whether to just replace the seal, or take out the transmission and rebuild it. It is working fine, so that makes the decision a little harder. I will keep you posted when I figure it out.
I will post an update later this weekend when I get some work done on the car.
Later,
Darren
Crossing my fingers I think the radiator might be okay. It turns out the leak I saw was coming from a loose hose clamp on the top radiator hose. I tightened it up and so far so good.
The bad news is the front seal on the transmission is definitely leaking. This transmission is notorious for this and now I have to debate on whether to just replace the seal, or take out the transmission and rebuild it. It is working fine, so that makes the decision a little harder. I will keep you posted when I figure it out.
I will post an update later this weekend when I get some work done on the car.
Later,
Darren
Wednesday, December 23, 2009
Merry Christmas from Kansas!
Well, Christmas is almost here and the weatherman is predicting 4-6" of snow between tomorrow and Friday!
After successfully registering the Scorpio, I was able to drive it around for a couple of days before having any issues :(
Apparently the 22 year old radiator has decided to quit. I saw some antifreeze underneath the car on Friday. I opened the hood and look closer and realized that the radiator was leaking on the passenger side where the plastic tank meats the radiator core. I am debating on whether to buy a new one now, or just swap out the other 22 year old radiator out of the blue Scorpio that is still in good order.
I will keep you posted.
Again, Merry Christmas to all, and safe travels if you have to make a trip this holiday!
Darren
After successfully registering the Scorpio, I was able to drive it around for a couple of days before having any issues :(
Apparently the 22 year old radiator has decided to quit. I saw some antifreeze underneath the car on Friday. I opened the hood and look closer and realized that the radiator was leaking on the passenger side where the plastic tank meats the radiator core. I am debating on whether to buy a new one now, or just swap out the other 22 year old radiator out of the blue Scorpio that is still in good order.
I will keep you posted.
Again, Merry Christmas to all, and safe travels if you have to make a trip this holiday!
Darren
Wednesday, December 16, 2009
Officially Registered in Kansas!
Today was a good day. I got the Scorpio officially registered in Kansas. It also got its first extended test drive. It went fairly well. The brakes are in good shape, very little shimmy, the tires need to be replaced. They are the wrong size and have a good deal of vibration. The alternator belt is either loose or bad, it makes a loud noise when the car is running. Other than those items it was a successfull test drive.
Later
Darren
Later
Darren
Wednesday, November 25, 2009
Happy Thanksgiving!
I again apologize for the lack of posts on this blog of late. Work has been very busy and family is right behind that.
I did get the speedometer issue resolved! Turns out I was doing damage to the circuit board and didn't even know it. When I was removing the motor from the circuit board I was not realizing that the motor assembly is actually soldered to it and by removing it I was destroying the contacts that the motor used to operate.
I did have a spare good speedometer that just needed the odometer gear replaced. This time I took the assembly to my father in law and together we got the gear replaced and set the odometer to the correct mileage.
I will hopefully post more often, probably after christmas. Everyone have a great Thanksgiving and a great holiday season!
Darren
I did get the speedometer issue resolved! Turns out I was doing damage to the circuit board and didn't even know it. When I was removing the motor from the circuit board I was not realizing that the motor assembly is actually soldered to it and by removing it I was destroying the contacts that the motor used to operate.
I did have a spare good speedometer that just needed the odometer gear replaced. This time I took the assembly to my father in law and together we got the gear replaced and set the odometer to the correct mileage.
I will hopefully post more often, probably after christmas. Everyone have a great Thanksgiving and a great holiday season!
Darren
Sunday, November 1, 2009
Speedometer Woes
After the trials and tribulations of the cooling system I thought I would take on something a little easier, aka the vehicle speed sensor (VSS). After I had installed instrument cluster I hadn't taken it for a test drive. When I finally did last week the speedometer was not working. In my experience most of the time the speedometer isn't working is a result of a failed VSS. My solution was to swap out the known good VSS out of the parts car and take it for a drive. Did this on Wednesday and still no dice. I removed the cluster and swapped in a speedometer that I knew was working in the other car. Took another test drive and it worked fine.
I proceeded to take the cluster apart so I could look at the speedometer more closely. I didn't really see anything wrong with it, but the needle seemed a little sticky when I first moved it. After more inspection I decided to just install the speedometer unit and go for another test drive. This time the speedometer worked. I was hoping the problem was solved. Unfortunately the odometer wasn't working. Crap! The repair procedure for the odometer is fairly straight forward, replace the little nylon gear in the mechanism that 99% of the time has deteriorated.
You can see the missing tooth. This picture was from my first attempt at repair. The gear in the current cluster was missing some teeth and the bigger odometer gear crumbled in my hand.
In the one attempt I have made at repairing an odometer I was unsuccessfull in getting it to work after I replaced the gear.
Friday night I started work on the odometer. Everything started out good, I was very careful and took my time in dissassembling the odometer. The trouble began when I tried to re-install the small motor onto the circuit board. There are three small contacts that the motor pushes into. One of the contacts was bent. When I "gently" straightened it, the solder holding it to the circuit board broke. At this point I was in trouble. I used a pair of needle nose pliers to try to hold it in place while I re-soldered it to the board. I needed three hands, a bright light, and more skill. After a couple of failed attempts I decided that the best approach was to get the contact into the motor, and then mount the motor and solder it that way. This worked much better, but after re-installing and going for a test drive the odometer is still non-functional. I turned the motor by hand and the odometer will advance, so I believe that the fault is in the connection between the motor and the circuit board. My solution is to take this to my father in law who is an electrical instructer at a nearby power plant and a much better solderer than me. Wish me luck!
Have a great day!
I proceeded to take the cluster apart so I could look at the speedometer more closely. I didn't really see anything wrong with it, but the needle seemed a little sticky when I first moved it. After more inspection I decided to just install the speedometer unit and go for another test drive. This time the speedometer worked. I was hoping the problem was solved. Unfortunately the odometer wasn't working. Crap! The repair procedure for the odometer is fairly straight forward, replace the little nylon gear in the mechanism that 99% of the time has deteriorated.
You can see the missing tooth. This picture was from my first attempt at repair. The gear in the current cluster was missing some teeth and the bigger odometer gear crumbled in my hand.
In the one attempt I have made at repairing an odometer I was unsuccessfull in getting it to work after I replaced the gear.
Friday night I started work on the odometer. Everything started out good, I was very careful and took my time in dissassembling the odometer. The trouble began when I tried to re-install the small motor onto the circuit board. There are three small contacts that the motor pushes into. One of the contacts was bent. When I "gently" straightened it, the solder holding it to the circuit board broke. At this point I was in trouble. I used a pair of needle nose pliers to try to hold it in place while I re-soldered it to the board. I needed three hands, a bright light, and more skill. After a couple of failed attempts I decided that the best approach was to get the contact into the motor, and then mount the motor and solder it that way. This worked much better, but after re-installing and going for a test drive the odometer is still non-functional. I turned the motor by hand and the odometer will advance, so I believe that the fault is in the connection between the motor and the circuit board. My solution is to take this to my father in law who is an electrical instructer at a nearby power plant and a much better solderer than me. Wish me luck!
Have a great day!
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