MN12hybrid
Active LVC Member
Greetings - I used the search function, but found that I still have a few questions that werent fully answered so I thought I would start a new post, even though this topic has been covered over and over again.
I just bought my 94 Mark 8 and I love the car and have already fixed a few dozen things on the car.. I pulled into a gas station 2 days ago, and it FAILED! The drivers front wheel went up into the wheel well - I barely managed to get it into a handicapped spot. I was just about to fill the gas tank, and get on the freeway
The ball joint yanked right out of the lower control arm! I have dealt with MN12's for years (tccoa.com), and several Mark 8's but this is my first that I have actually owned. When I bought the car, I knew the front end needed to be rebuilt but I thought I would have a little more time before breaking! The car was VERY difficult to control, with the same symptoms you mentioned. This is the 3rd time this has happened to me with my Thunderbirds (and now this Mark 8) in the last 10 years, so I feel pretty dumb right about now! I actually have a LOT to contribute here, and I know these cars inside and out, so once I get this problem taken care of I will be more than happy to share a lot of my "fixes, and mods" that have been applied to my new Mark 8, and all my other Thunderbirds in the past as well. There is nothing quite like a rebuilt front and rear end on these Tbirds, and Marks as the car feels like a new car when you change out everything. Its expensive but very worth it!
When the tow truck driver came, He jacked up the car, and I stuck a crow bar under the tire to lift it up, and we positioned it so the ball fit back on the lower control arm. Then I backed the car out of the handicapped spot carefully, and got it on the tow truck. This was a VERY stressful 45 mins. because the wheel was pushed so far up in the wheel well towards the bumper, I thought it would break the bumper! On my 93 LX Tbird, it actually destroyed the wheel well, lolol...
its now on the street, and i am going to repair it so I can at least drive it safely back to my girlfriends house (about 30 miles away) so I can rebuild the entire front end. Luckily for me though, all the air shocks seem to be very very clean and in overall great shape! They were operating perfectly too before this happened. I havent been able to push the car much because of the fact its hard to control, but I can tell you that the car will spin the tires VERY VERY easily even with traction control ON - it will spin for 5-10 feet, or fishtail very easily and then traction control catches it and makes the car behave.. I took the traction control off a week ago and mashed the gas.. the tires spun like crazy, and it would have done it for a LOT longer than 30 feet but i let off the gas at that point.. lol... The other 97-98 LSC marks I looked at (before buying this car) would only spin them for about 10-20 feet roughly.
I just bought the car on 5/11, with 236k on the clock for $1500 and the car runs like a bat outta hell - Motor and trans apparently have 60k on them, although I am beginning to think the guy was fabricating that due to these stories I hear about these modular engines being able to last forever! I was about to create my first post on this site the other day, showing off my ride and what I got for the $$ and all my other experiences with working on it for almost the last month, but now this is my first post I guess.
My question(s) are listed below.
1. I am going to change out the entire control arm with one from Autozone (TRW brand). I of course turned off the air suspension when the car was towed. What is the best way I can deflate the air shock? disconnect and pull the solenoid? I know if I dont deflate it completely, it will be a real PIA to get the new control arm in.
2. Any other suggestions for now would be VERY helpful and I greatly appreciate it! As soon as I get the car moving again, I will be all over this site with all the other repairs I have to do, and mods that I will be making to the car as I have a lot of goodies to share.
-- I will be doing this tonight or tomorrow as soon as the part comes in. I will be taking plenty of pics to detail this fun event. As as I mentioned, I only plan to do the front drivers lower control arm for now, so I can safely move the car to a better spot to work on the rest of it. Its a daily driver, so I will have to get it done asap. I looked at the rest of the suspension and the upper arms on both ends need to be done as well, but the passenger lower arm looks ok as the ball joint isnt damaged. I am trying to recover on the money right now, so I may just be fixing the broken parts, and then taking care of the rest in the next few weeks as long as it looks like nothing else is going to break.
I just bought my 94 Mark 8 and I love the car and have already fixed a few dozen things on the car.. I pulled into a gas station 2 days ago, and it FAILED! The drivers front wheel went up into the wheel well - I barely managed to get it into a handicapped spot. I was just about to fill the gas tank, and get on the freeway
The ball joint yanked right out of the lower control arm! I have dealt with MN12's for years (tccoa.com), and several Mark 8's but this is my first that I have actually owned. When I bought the car, I knew the front end needed to be rebuilt but I thought I would have a little more time before breaking! The car was VERY difficult to control, with the same symptoms you mentioned. This is the 3rd time this has happened to me with my Thunderbirds (and now this Mark 8) in the last 10 years, so I feel pretty dumb right about now! I actually have a LOT to contribute here, and I know these cars inside and out, so once I get this problem taken care of I will be more than happy to share a lot of my "fixes, and mods" that have been applied to my new Mark 8, and all my other Thunderbirds in the past as well. There is nothing quite like a rebuilt front and rear end on these Tbirds, and Marks as the car feels like a new car when you change out everything. Its expensive but very worth it!
When the tow truck driver came, He jacked up the car, and I stuck a crow bar under the tire to lift it up, and we positioned it so the ball fit back on the lower control arm. Then I backed the car out of the handicapped spot carefully, and got it on the tow truck. This was a VERY stressful 45 mins. because the wheel was pushed so far up in the wheel well towards the bumper, I thought it would break the bumper! On my 93 LX Tbird, it actually destroyed the wheel well, lolol...
its now on the street, and i am going to repair it so I can at least drive it safely back to my girlfriends house (about 30 miles away) so I can rebuild the entire front end. Luckily for me though, all the air shocks seem to be very very clean and in overall great shape! They were operating perfectly too before this happened. I havent been able to push the car much because of the fact its hard to control, but I can tell you that the car will spin the tires VERY VERY easily even with traction control ON - it will spin for 5-10 feet, or fishtail very easily and then traction control catches it and makes the car behave.. I took the traction control off a week ago and mashed the gas.. the tires spun like crazy, and it would have done it for a LOT longer than 30 feet but i let off the gas at that point.. lol... The other 97-98 LSC marks I looked at (before buying this car) would only spin them for about 10-20 feet roughly.
I just bought the car on 5/11, with 236k on the clock for $1500 and the car runs like a bat outta hell - Motor and trans apparently have 60k on them, although I am beginning to think the guy was fabricating that due to these stories I hear about these modular engines being able to last forever! I was about to create my first post on this site the other day, showing off my ride and what I got for the $$ and all my other experiences with working on it for almost the last month, but now this is my first post I guess.
My question(s) are listed below.
1. I am going to change out the entire control arm with one from Autozone (TRW brand). I of course turned off the air suspension when the car was towed. What is the best way I can deflate the air shock? disconnect and pull the solenoid? I know if I dont deflate it completely, it will be a real PIA to get the new control arm in.
2. Any other suggestions for now would be VERY helpful and I greatly appreciate it! As soon as I get the car moving again, I will be all over this site with all the other repairs I have to do, and mods that I will be making to the car as I have a lot of goodies to share.
-- I will be doing this tonight or tomorrow as soon as the part comes in. I will be taking plenty of pics to detail this fun event. As as I mentioned, I only plan to do the front drivers lower control arm for now, so I can safely move the car to a better spot to work on the rest of it. Its a daily driver, so I will have to get it done asap. I looked at the rest of the suspension and the upper arms on both ends need to be done as well, but the passenger lower arm looks ok as the ball joint isnt damaged. I am trying to recover on the money right now, so I may just be fixing the broken parts, and then taking care of the rest in the next few weeks as long as it looks like nothing else is going to break.