I am not afraid of ball joints, especially with our Maine roads, I have had to change them often on all my Marks. The engine doesn't appear to have any oil leaks, if it did, what would be the likely cause, I hate oil leaks of any kind and always think that cars that have them just have lazy owners, but I could be wrong.
Just make sure the ball joints are lubed and they should last a long time. I suggest buying high quality lube such as Lucas’s X-TRA Heavy Duty grease. It’s primarily for bearings because it has excellent high and low temperature resistance, water resistance, and resists pressure, but it can be used for ball joints as well. If you have to replace the ball joints it isn’t going to be a picnic. I believe your ‘97 will be like my ’94, which means the ball joints are secured by 3, ½-inch rivets. They will have to be drilled out with a cobalt and/or titanium drill bit. The new ball joint will come with three bolts and nuts to replace the rivets. I replaced my ball joint and it took three to four hours mainly because I was not experienced at replacing riveted ball joints.
Thanks Mac for the tip on the diagnostic, I certainly didn't know that. I would obviously love to get the kind of mileage you are getting from yours. The car seems like it has been cared for, but I will know more when I have my guy take a look at it, even 150K would get us about 5 years but I sure would like more. It is mostly going to be used in the winter, we store the Mark from Nov 1 to April 30.
If the car was well taken care of odds are you will get well over 150K miles. In fact, the Northstar’s first maintenance is at 100K. However, since your Eldorado already has over 100K just beware that there is likely going to be at least some maintenance in the not too distant future. Hopefully, nothing major.
So if I understand the problem with the head gasket, it is where the bolts are screwed into that fails, therefore there is no way around fixing it short of buying a short block?
Threads will deteriorate if coolant is neglected, which will eventually cause the bolts to loosen. That is why I stressed making sure coolant is in good shape and why it would be best to replace the coolant if you don’t know the last time it was changed. It’s better safe then sorry, especially when it will cost upwards of $3,000 to replace both head gaskets, which leads to your question regarding a short block.
When head gaskets fail in a Northstar engine the remedy is to
Time-Sert the block, which is the practice of drilling out the thread holes in the block and inserting time-serts. Time-serts are similar to a heli-coil except they are stronger and were specifically designed for the Northstar engine. Click on the link above for more information about time-serting.
One thing that does bother me and I hope it is just a case of the owner not knowing any better, the tires were underated, the plaque calls for H rated tires and there are T's on it (which really are horrible). The tires are pretty worn although took a sticker evidently. The other thing about the tires that I didn't like is they are directional and some of the tires are on wrong, this disturbs me. Could be they just brought it to a cheap tire place that didn't know what they are doing or it could indicate a much bigger problem, don't know yet. In any event I ordered some Traction T/A's V rated, they will be in Friday.
The sticker I presume you found on the driver’s side door specifying the tire rating as “H” is not meant as the minimum tire rating allowed. The tire rating on the door sticker simply indicates what tires where mounted on the vehicle at the factory. That rating will also tell you if your Eldorado has speed-limiter, which will prevent the vehicle from going over a certain speed. If “H” is your factory tire rating then your speed-limiter is set for a maximum speed of 130mph. Once your Eldorado reaches 130mph the speed-limiter will cut off fuel preventing higher speed. If you saw a “Z” rating that would mean there is no speed-limiter, therefore your Eldorado would be able to reach top-end which is over 150mph.
My wife (the primary driver) loves the car, so even if we can eek 50 Kmiles out of it I will be happy, over 200K like Mac and we will be delighted. It was the kind of car we were looking for, and in that price range it is difficult to find something, I didn't want to spend a lot for a winter car, or any car for that matter. But I don't mind spending a few dollars to stay ahead of problems, one thing I don't need is my wife stranded somewhere.
Of course, no one can guarantee that your wife won’t get stranded. However, I strongly suggest you make sure she has flares (and that she knows how to use them) and/or a good emergency light that is bright enough to warn oncoming cars should she be stuck in a dangerous area, as well as a good fire extinguisher (if possible, put it where she can reach it from the driver’s seat).
If your really concerned, I suggest purchasing a AAA Platinum membership. However, a AAA membership is kind of give and take so to speak in that it can cost more than a tow. If you believe the car is about to give out for some reason, it might then be best to buy a AAA Platinum membership which will give you up to 100 miles of free towing.
I will try the diagnostic and have my mechanic take a look at the car in general, but people of this site are more familiar with the car than he is, we don't see that many in these parts.
If your mechanic finds any codes feel free to post them.
This is everything that I can think of off the top of my head (i'm a mechanic so there are the common things that come to mind w/ the years you provided and the make/model)
