A Couple of Newbie Questions

[6hayden9]

Hello everyone! I just acquired a 2002 Continential and have a couple of questions. Mine has 165,000 miles, but is in fantastic shape, body is excellent, no tears in the seats, everything works, etc. I had to have a ball joint replaced to pass inspection, and from what I have been reading on the forum is a common problem, and I had to change out the IAC valve due to the car idling so low it was flickering the oil light. That seems to have cured it.

1) I changed the oil in it, put 6 quarts in, but the dipstick still reads 1/4 to a 1/2 quart low. I drove the car for the day and checked again, thinking that some oil might have stayed in the heads after I started it and first checked it- but read the same. I have a 1988 Cougar, that's my summer car, and I know that the dipsticks are notorious for being very inaccurate for the 5.0s. Is this the case with the 4.6? I would hate to add more oil, when I know I put 6 quarts in.

2) How bad a job is it to get the dash/console apart? There are a couple of lights out, the clock and the heated seats dial thats iritating to me and I would like to change them.

3) While changing the IAC, it seemed that the throttle cable had a bit of slack. Is there a way to adjust this?

4) Does anyone out there have this kind of mileage?

Thanks for listening to a newbie! And by the way, I LOVE the car!

 

[bradyelich]

1. are you level when you check the oil? Did you look up the oil capacity? Mine is right on - 5.7 liters with filter.

2. Dash unbolts and has pop pins, mine was already busted up by Ford techs so not much of a problem.

3. There is no throttle cable... you need to do some more reading.

4. 185,000 plus miles.

 

[MooJohn]

If I remember correctly there's one screw below the interior temp sensor (while it's out, clean this thermistor with a cotton swab dipped in alcohol) that requires you to pop the trim panel above the driver's footwell to reach. After that you can just pull the entire radio surround unit out as one piece and the seat heat controls are attached directly to that. Not sure what you'll find bulb-wise inside that though; I don't have heated seats