96 diamond anniversary for you

Must be something about these diamond anniversary marks blowing head gaskets..

http://phoenix.craigslist.org/evl/cto/3569365616.html

Although it doesn't have the cordovan seat inserts so I'm not convinced it is a true DA..I was under the impression that cordovan paint was only available on DAs from 96..this isn't the first time I've seen just a regular base 96 in this color though. I'm sure it could be a repaint but it looks pretty stock and factory..and the color is dead on cordovan. I'm stumped.
 
i did intake gaskets on my gen 1. they weren't that expensive. the only ones they have are above and below the IMRCs. then EGR, IAC, and throttle body. that's about it.
 
Thanks for all the good advice guys!

The main reason I would consider spending a little more for an actual '96 engine is because I would then end up with spare '96 intake parts. Like the IMRCs for example. It's always a good idea to have a spare set of those for a '96. I do have one spare set now. I could keep the ones off the engine in the car as spares or I could sell them. I hear they are worth good money and are difficult to find.

And no, I don't want to sell the spare set I have.:p
 
Sapperfire said:
I think thou.. if I were putting a 97 into a 96..I'd delete those dayum IMRC controllers, but that requires a tune
Click to expand...

Not sure I am correct but, I read that doing this on a nonforced induction engine can adversely affect low end torque.
 
shawn_sloma said:
Not sure I am correct but, I read that doing this on a nonforced induction engine can adversely affect low end torque.
Click to expand...

I think he may be saying that you can use 93-95 imrc's with a tune
Being that 96 imrc is vacuum actuated and the electronics are only for the obd2 to know whats going on
 
Well, I'm crossing my fingers. Tomorrow the plan is to drive it home to my house. It has been at a friend's home since I bought it. He has a hoist. My test drives with the replacement radiator have gone well. There has been no overheating. But then I am also running with virtually no thermostat. The center is cut out. The reason for doing that was because if it still overheated with the system well bled, a good radiator and a new water pump, and NO thermostat, then something seriously is wrong, most likely head gasket.

Tomorrow it will get new spark plugs and wires before it comes home.

It's 45 miles home and my friend will follow me. I'm still nervous. I need positive affirmations:

It won't overheat.
It will run fine.
It won't breakdown on the highway.
There is only very minor problems with the engine.
 
And....it's not home.:(

Today the plan was to install new Motorcraft plugs and plug wires. So, first we had to get the old plug wires off. They were new, but some cheap aftermarket brand. Five of them had to be destroyed to remove them. Pulling on the boot did no good, so I just yanked the wire out of them. Then I stuck a screwdriver down the center to spread them and twisted them to pull them out. The plugs were already new as well. They were Bosch platinum.

I personally had trouble getting the threads on the plugs to start in the hole, but my friend seemed to do it easily. I was surprised at how few turns it took for them to get tight. It really worried me. I didn't remember it being that way on my other Mark VIII. My two friends thought I was worried about nothing. Eventually we got all the plugs and plug wires installed.

When I started the car it misfired bad enough to get a flashing check engine light. Unfortunately we didn't think to bring the code reader. We double checked to make sure everything was tight, but that didn't help. I then put dielectric grease on both ends of the plug wires and tried again. No good.

Next, we pulled all the spark plugs and put the old ones back in. That seemed to make it run slightly better, but it misfires at idle. Giving it a little throttle smooths it out. It misfires while test driving though, and is worse under acceleration.

We then started pulling up plug wires one at a time to try to find the source of the misfire(s). That yielded troubling results. I could hear the arcing on every cylinder but there were at least two that didn't seem to affect the idle as much. I can't remember which two right now, but at the time I noticed they were not two cylinders that fire together.

The next step is to check the codes, which I will do tomorrow if the weather permits. I have two spare coil packs so I will bring those too.

This sucks.:(
 
It's home! I wrote about it in the spark plug thread so I won't go through it all again, but I finally got it home and it is drivable.

Now I'm just crossing my fingers that my luck holds and it continues to run OK and hopefully gets better and better.

Of course now my wife wants it. I might never drive it again and if she never complains about it I might never fix anything else either.;)
 
Hey, I notice on my ten spoke rims that they are directional but are going in opposite directions on the same side of the car. That can't be right!:rolleyes:
 
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