Couple Questions About My Mark

J

jbelcourt

Dedicated LVC Member
Joined
Nov 1, 2013
Messages
572
Reaction score
23
Location
Orlando
OK, so I know most of you have probably seen in my post about my headlights that I just recently got the car from my brother. I was researching it a bit when I first got it and based on my VIN number, I see that it's base 1993 model. However, it has the LSC rims (of course those easily could have been bought after the fact) but one thing I saw was what appears to be true dual exhaust. My brother and I both looked at it and agreed it appears to be true dual. I don't think it was changed because it looks like it's stock. My research showed that only the LSC's had true dual though. Aside from that, the car was already converted to shocks when he bought it and the previous owner had appeared to put a little money into it. Maybe my lack of knowledge is leading me wrong on the exhaust so hopefully someone could shed a little light on that.

Moving on from that, I had a few questions in regards to fuel efficiency, exhaust, etc.

When I got the car from him (he did not own it very long) the thing was getting pretty bad gas mileage. I believe it was mid to high 13 mpg city. I changed the plugs (which were pretty beat up and looked like they hadn't been changed in a while) to Bosch Iridium plugs and I had pulled a nice set of performance plugs from a scrap yard car that had just been dropped there the same day. After I did that, it dramatically increased where I was averaging about 17-18 mpg city. The last three fill-ups, I've started dropping back down again (18.3, 17.3, 16.8, 15.5). I'm about 90% positive my 3rd cat is blocked up pretty bad. It smells pretty strong on acceleration. Also, my check engine light comes on usually after driving for a little while and my brother had told me the O2 sensors were bad when he bought it and I needed to change them.

So. Is my assumption that the combination of the cat/o2 sensor being bad is causing my drop in gas mileage all of a sudden? Also, on that same note, I bought new sensors for it and attempted to change them...for several hours....and could NOT break them loose. I bought a small o2 sensor puller and was able to get it on the sensor but could not break it loose. Is there a trick to it? Or a guide somewhere on how to do it?

As for the exhaust, my thought was to just cut out the cat and weld in a x-pipe. Would that help a lot?

Sorry for the big wall of text. I have so many things I want to get done to this car, but there are a few priorities I'm trying to line up first. With my limited resources money wise, I'm trying to prioritize what needs to be done and get them done properly.

Thanks for any insight.
 
Third cats on these cars have a tendancy to get clogged up over the years, chop it off and put in an X pipe. You will most likely have to extend the pipes a bit since the x is smaller than the huge third cat so I'd just bring it to an exhaust shop. As far as it being an LSC..it is not, true LSCs weren't available until 1995..it was a package that included monochromatic bumpers and trim with no chrome strip, perforrated leather seats, true dual exhaust and 3:27 gear rather than 3:08s in the base. Also the later 95 LSCs had the factory HIDs as well all 96s.
 
Bad O2's can kill gas mileage. As far as cats go, I just cut my 3rd cat off and put an H pipe there. X pipe would probably be better.
 
Yeah I saw the LSC did not come out until the '95 model. So non of the older models came with true dual though? Only the LSC? If so, I need to look at it really good because it definitely looks like it is lol.

I'm worried no shop will cut the cat out or if I do they'll require a new one put in. I'd hate to run into that situation.

As for the O2 sensors, I did a ton of searching and finally found my answer in a thread I believe. Dropping the exhaust. Not to keen on that but I have to get it done. Will have to research a little more on dropping it so I can get them changed out.
 
Dual X will kill drone and give better equalization of exhaust pressure. If you like louder, single X and then there is always the Magnaflow muffled X.

2012-12-19220652_zps1ddab9ce.gif


2012-12-19221225_zpsa6cf6775.gif
 
NoLimit95 said:
Dual X will kill drone and give better equalization of exhaust pressure. If you like louder, single X and then there is always the Magnaflow muffled X.

2012-12-19220652_zps1ddab9ce.gif


2012-12-19221225_zpsa6cf6775.gif
Click to expand...

I have your your thread bookmarked already for reference to exhaust. Sadly i read every post lol.

I had a quick question in regard to ac. When i got the car, it blew through all vents, but was warm. I thought it needed a recharge but wouldn't take any freon. My mechanic checked it and said the low side was show real high on pressurd and told me he was pretty confident the evaporator was bad. He vacuumed it out and i went and bought and installed a new one. After i installed it, it will only flow through the defrosters. Still wont take a charge either. I plan on just taking it to a tech and paying whatever to get it fixed when i have the money but for now i want to at least get the vents to flow so i can use the heat when it gets cooler outside lol.

Any idea?
 
Have you heard any clicking sounds from inside the dash? There is a plastic screw that turns and makes it change from defrost, vent, etc.. Might be the blend door, idk but mine clicks sometimes and if it ever gets stuck, it will blow out the vents hot but if I turn the heat on full blast and get it up to the 80's, the clicking will stop and then I can turn the AC on AUTO and then it blows cool air out the vents. The last time I had that problem is when I swapped batteries for a new one a month or so ago. That could be it or it could be that it is over charged too. Let some out and also make sure the compressor is turning like it should.
 
The defrost only sounds like the vac line broke when you were playing around in the engine compartment. Mine was broke and that seems to be the only pic I lost. It sits on top the motor. Someone on here has a pic of it though.
 
Is the vacuum line behind the glove box? If so, that makes sense. I dropped the glove box and was looking around and there was a nipple on top of the blender door (I think it is...there's a bunch of vacuum lines around it) that had no hose to it and it had vacuum. I looked EVERYWHERE I could see though and didn't see a broken or detached hose anywhere near by.

As for the over charge, that's what I thought it was. My mechanic hooked up the gauges and said it was holding way too much pressure on the low side. He let some out to try and balance it out but he wouldn't balance out. He said he thought my evaporator was bad. He vacuumed the whole system out for me so it was empty. I changed the evaporator myself and when I tried to charge it again, it did the same thing. It would take some freon and then just stop taking it. Like it wouldn't flow at all. Looking back though, the compressor never kicked on after we vacuumed it out so maybe it's safety locked, or whatever you call it. That's something I don't know how to do either though.

If I can at least get my vents to flow on something other then defrost, it'll be a start. It blows nice hot air when the heater is on, it just doesn't warm me as much coming through the defrosters lol.
 
If I had been paying attention to what you said, I would also say it is a vacuum leak or a line was removed. As for charging it up, it's going to take a can, maybe 2 to get the compressor to start kicking off and on and then it should start filling up and then stay on. Your little gauge on your can line, if you have one should get you pretty much in the right place. Check the vacuum line on top of the motor, on the passenger side. It's small and if it's messed with the wrong way, it can easily break. It might be back behind the glove box too where you were talking about being.
 
NoLimit95 said:
If I had been paying attention to what you said, I would also say it is a vacuum leak or a line was removed. As for charging it up, it's going to take a can, maybe 2 to get the compressor to start kicking off and on and then it should start filling up and then stay on. Your little gauge on your can line, if you have one should get you pretty much in the right place. Check the vacuum line on top of the motor, on the passenger side. It's small and if it's messed with the wrong way, it can easily break. It might be back behind the glove box too where you were talking about being.
Click to expand...

I was able to put a full can in but the second one wouldn't go in all the way. It would take some and then just completely stop flowing. I even bought a set of "pro" gauges from Harbor Freight (I hate that store but they had good reviews and they were cheap) and tried using those with no luck. I found out after trying to fill the second time (after changing the evaporator) that the high pressure hose was leaking from the connection port.

How likely is it that one of the hoses is plugged up? Or is it more likely that after I changed out the evaporator, I screwed something else up? lol.

I don't work weekends so I'm going to attempt to check everything out and see if I can at least get all the vents flowing.
 
jbelcourt said:
I was able to put a full can in but the second one wouldn't go in all the way. It would take some and then just completely stop flowing. I even bought a set of "pro" gauges from Harbor Freight (I hate that store but they had good reviews and they were cheap) and tried using those with no luck. I found out after trying to fill the second time (after changing the evaporator) that the high pressure hose was leaking from the connection port.

How likely is it that one of the hoses is plugged up? Or is it more likely that after I changed out the evaporator, I screwed something else up? lol.

I don't work weekends so I'm going to attempt to check everything out and see if I can at least get all the vents flowing.
Click to expand...

Have you seen the compressor turning while you're trying to put the 134a in?
 
The colored vac lines behind the glove compartment are for the eatc. One of the spots should be empty. The vac line I was talking about sits on top of the motor and will dry rot and break. If it does you only have defrosters. Remove broken piece and plug the line back in to the elbow.

Read through this post:
http://www.lincolnvscadillac.com/forum/showthread.php?83676-Defrost-vent
 
Thanks guys. I'll check out for a vacuum hose break tomorrow.

I plan on going over to my brothers and jacking up the front and going at dropping the exhaust to change the O2 sensors. I REALLY need to get them changed ASAP. It's been on my to-do list for like 2 months. Hopefully all goes well and I get that done quickly and have time to swing by the junk yard to see what kind of goodies I can find :D
 
OK so, I didn't get to my vacuum leak today but I DID get my O2 sensors changed! What a PITA.

I don't know if the exhaust is suppose to be the way it was, or if it was altered by a previous owner but the passenger side was able to be dropped before the first cat by taking off two 15mm bolts. The driver side, however, detached AFTER the first cat, which was absolutely NO use to getting to the O2 sensor. We detached the first cat, detached behind the second cat, then detached the middle anchor and pulled the exhaust back a bit. Passenger side was cake. Driver side we messed with for a good hour before we spent another house squeezing our hands into a tiny space and trying to make JUST enough room to get the O2 puller socket on it and inch by inch break it loose and take it off. Reassembly was cake.

In the process, I got a nice little victory wound. We were using a cheater bar and it slipped off the ratchet and I SMASHED my finger, nail down, on the cement. I hit it so hard it blew a small hole on the back side of my finger and was bleeding through it. Weirdest injury ever lol. Hurts so incredibly bad, but the feeling of getting it done out......who am I kidding, it still hurts terribly bad lol.

CAM00114.jpgCAM00115.jpg

Old O2's were definitely bad and they were the FACTORY ones! Glad to get those changed out.
CAM00117.jpg

While we had the exhaust off, just for fun, we decided to crank her up and see what she sounded like. WOW! Sounded like I was sitting at a drag strip! Was pretty neat sounding lol.

Ok so on the note of the exhaust. We were looking at it and were thinking about doing this. Right where the 3rd cat is located (right after the middle exhaust anchor...see picture) we were thinking about cutting there and pulling all the exhaust off from that point back. Then, we were considering going straight pipe from there back. Is that a logical idea or would I HAVE to put an Xpipe in place of the cat then straight pipe from there?

CAM00109.jpg

PS- Please excuse the obvious oil all over the bottom there. There is a lot of old oil from the leak it had that hasn't been cleaned up yet plus it still has a small leak somewhere :(

CAM00114.jpg


CAM00115.jpg


CAM00117.jpg


CAM00109.jpg
 
jbelcourt said:
OK so, I didn't get to my vacuum leak today but I DID get my O2 sensors changed! What a PITA.

I don't know if the exhaust is suppose to be the way it was, or if it was altered by a previous owner but the passenger side was able to be dropped before the first cat by taking off two 15mm bolts. The driver side, however, detached AFTER the first cat, which was absolutely NO use to getting to the O2 sensor. We detached the first cat, detached behind the second cat, then detached the middle anchor and pulled the exhaust back a bit. Passenger side was cake. Driver side we messed with for a good hour before we spent another house squeezing our hands into a tiny space and trying to make JUST enough room to get the O2 puller socket on it and inch by inch break it loose and take it off. Reassembly was cake.

In the process, I got a nice little victory wound. We were using a cheater bar and it slipped off the ratchet and I SMASHED my finger, nail down, on the cement. I hit it so hard it blew a small hole on the back side of my finger and was bleeding through it. Weirdest injury ever lol. Hurts so incredibly bad, but the feeling of getting it done out......who am I kidding, it still hurts terribly bad lol.

View attachment 828463426View attachment 828463427

Old O2's were definitely bad and they were the FACTORY ones! Glad to get those changed out.
View attachment 828463428

While we had the exhaust off, just for fun, we decided to crank her up and see what she sounded like. WOW! Sounded like I was sitting at a drag strip! Was pretty neat sounding lol.

Ok so on the note of the exhaust. We were looking at it and were thinking about doing this. Right where the 3rd cat is located (right after the middle exhaust anchor...see picture) we were thinking about cutting there and pulling all the exhaust off from that point back. Then, we were considering going straight pipe from there back. Is that a logical idea or would I HAVE to put an Xpipe in place of the cat then straight pipe from there?

View attachment 828463429

PS- Please excuse the obvious oil all over the bottom there. There is a lot of old oil from the leak it had that hasn't been cleaned up yet plus it still has a small leak somewhere :(
Click to expand...

Go with at least one X pipe for pressure equalization. It will have more drone than having 2 of them but it depends on what you like. I never been a fan of straight piping a 4.6
 
NoLimit95 said:
Go with at least one X pipe for pressure equalization. It will have more drone than having 2 of them but it depends on what you like. I never been a fan of straight piping a 4.6
Click to expand...

Cool thanks man. I'll see what route I go, but I was thinking I should probably just put the X in. My brother is trying to convince me to just straight pipe it.

Any advice for a place to get good priced piping?
 
jbelcourt said:
Cool thanks man. I'll see what route I go, but I was thinking I should probably just put the X in. My brother is trying to convince me to just straight pipe it.

Any advice for a place to get good priced piping?
Click to expand...

http://www.mandrelbendingsolutions.com/servlet/the-Mandrel-Bends-cln-304-SS/Categories

or

I bought from these people. They listen when emailed and add some things to a big box at no extra cost.

http://www.mandrelexhaustsystems.com/servlet/the-Car-Exhaust-cln-Lincoln-cln-93-dsh-98-Lincoln-Mark-VIII/Categories
 
NoLimit95 said:
Since you live in Orlando, just go with the aluminized steel. No need for stainless and the cost of it if rust isn't going to be happening where you are.
Click to expand...

I was going to ask you that. I was assuming aluminized steel would be fine. As for the kit...if I'm going from the third cat back, I would need just the tubing kit right? That's the full back end? I'd just have to buy an X separate if I decided to install one as well.
 
jbelcourt said:
I was going to ask you that. I was assuming aluminized steel would be fine. As for the kit...if I'm going from the third cat back, I would need just the tubing kit right? That's the full back end? I'd just have to buy an X separate if I decided to install one as well.
Click to expand...

Yes, that's all you would need and I believe the shipping was $30 but could have changed.
 
NoLimit95 said:
Yes, that's all you would need and I believe the shipping was $30 but could have changed.
Click to expand...

What's your opinion on the slip fit vs ball socket? Keeping in mind I'm likely doing this myself due to cost. I have access to a welder but I've never welded before. Figure it can't bee too hard to figure out lol. I was thinking about just going the clamp route though..
 
If you plan on making changes anytime soon, clamp it for now so you can easily take it apart later to get it like you want it and then weld it to complete it. Or spot weld and wrap it with that exhaust tape they have. Unless you really have an exhaust problem, just buy all that stuff little by little until you have everything needed and then weld it all on at once and be done. When I bought everything, I wasn't far from $1000 with SS 2.5" pipes, muffled X, 2 Magnaflow mufflers, Pypes tips some 45 degree pipes sent in the box. It adds up quick.
 
Fixed my check engine light! (I think).

Changed the O2 sensors over the weekend to fix my check engine light issue but it was still coming on. I had a "brum bum bum bum bum" sound (like those sound effects right?) coming from the passenger side that my brother worked on while (I was doing the driver side). I had a serious loss of power on hard acceleration after we did this too. Had a feeling I should have double checked his work.

Turns out he didn't properly tighten the passenger side exhaust top bolt at the cat. Got under the car after work tonight and cranked it down. Pulled out of parking lot and floored it and BOOM! Power!!! No check engine light the whole 30 minute drive home. We'll see if that holds up :)
 
You must log in or register to reply here.

Members online

Total: 400 (members: 2, guests: 398)
Back
Top