Did you recently take on (or consider) a loan of 84 months or longer on a car purchase?
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Cougar Support Group - Bigger & Better
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When a person want's to check how much brake pad is left in a drum brake, how is this done? Does the whole cover on the drums have to be taken off? or can it be read off by only taking off the wheel?
thanks
Pritesh
The only way to see the brake shoes is to slide the drum off the brake assembly and take a peek. How many miles do you have on your cougar? You shouldn't have to be too concerned with it if you have less than 45,000 miles on your car. The rear drums don't take a lot of punishment when applying the brakes, they usually last a long time.
On a side note, I am taking my car in tommorow morning for the brake recall order. According to the service rep, it shouldn't take too long to do. I should get it back the same day, but we shall see. Man,I hate giving up my baby. I think I'll ask about that "lifter clatter" I hear the first start of every morning.
I had the brake recall work done a week or so ago. Apparently it's a quick and easy fix. It didn't take them very long.
I don't have ABS, so the recall may only be for non-ABS cats.
The main reason I ask is because the dealership told me that they checked my pads without taking the drum cover off. (I really didn't believe this, but I thought I'd check with other people).
Well the main problem is that ever since my 20K service, the car has been vibrating when I brake. (They rotated the tires, and checked the brakes). I took the car back and they said that my front rotors became warped. The machined them for me, but the vibrations still occur. Using one of Fredly's tips, I figured out that the source of the vibrations is my drum brakes. The dealership claims that they could not have done anything to cause this. What baffles me is why then did it start ONLY after they serviced the car....
Something doesn't seem to right to me.
If anyone has any ideas.. I welcome them!
...Pritesh
I have the BFG KDW's and I love them and the price was right... The handling improvement over the stock tires VR4's was very noticable... I did about oh 8-9 Autocrosses on them and burned them up pretty quickly I only got 12k out of them, but guys on the Contour site regularly get 30k +
I FINALLY found the 9006CB "Cool Blue" Xenon Sylvania replacement bulbs for the 1999 Cougar. These are for the low-beam headlights -- I've been to every AutoZone, Advance Auto Parts, NAPA Parts Store, and Wal-Mart around my area without finding the low-beam replacements, which I wanted to try first. Found 'em at a Pep Boys last night -- last pair. $32 and change for the pair.
The 9005CB "Cool Blue" bulbs for high-beams seem to grow on trees. I don't think people are using them for very many high-beam applications. Might be TOO bright, ya know?
On the recall front, I too have seen the new non-ABS brake system recall on the OwnerConnection website. I'm making my dealership fix it PRONTO. For those of you who haven't checked, there are two additional recalls on the NHTSA website for replacement of throttle linkages and controls (99V194000) and door assemblies and latches (99V226000).
What peeves me is that I NEVER would have known about these recalls through the mail. I NEVER get any correspondence from Mercury, except my damn payment statement each month. I think it's my dealership's fault -- they've not changed my address after being asked to do so 3+ times.
Mr. Sprague? Where can I change this essential mailing address information? Should it be through my dealership? Through the Ford website? Through OwnerConnection?
I'm getting these recalls fixed (if they apply) next week. Wish me luck.
Regards,
burnsmr4
Good luck on your recall service Burnsmr4. Let us know how things go.
Ptailor, as far as checking drum brakes go, I'm pretty sure I remember having to take the drum off the brake assembly to even get a look at the shoes (pads), but that's not to say that technology hasn't passed my perception, and perhaps there's a tool now that they use so they don't have to take the whole thing apart. I'd be more inclined to believe the service technician if they'd actually taken them apart though.
Let us know if they fix your vibration problem though, as it sounds like you're getting ready to take it back in for more service.
Take care all, and have a great weekend! Happy Cougaring!
The car is white, V6, side air bags, ABS, leather, power seats, sports package, convenience package, spoiler, 16in aluminum wheels and 5-speed manual tranmission.
The car has been very well cared for and garaged both at work and home and has only 5,400 miles. It is is immaculate condition.I am asking $15,500
I am relocating back to the UK in the fall but like most other Cougar owners love the car.
let me know if you are interested.
Oh, the overall highest ranked tire was the Pirelli P400. Don't know if it comes in kitty sizes, though. They didn't show what specific tire was being tested on the Cougar.
And just for my own curiosity, where the heck is everyone?????!!!!!?????
Except for those of us who don't have anything to say and don't wish to inflict our vacuous musings on the community.
Except for me.
That address again is: csg_stageleft@hotmail.com
Thanks for understanding everyone!
Happy Cougaring!
Am I one of the first to actually have a title to his/her cat? Nobody's ever said anything about it, except for discussing financing at the time of purchase.
As to where we've all been, I'm busy settling in for a long winter's nap (at home), and clearing out my office preparatory to a corporate move in Dec. What a pain, having to toss most of a 15yr existance into the trash, and then packing up the rest. Then, having to re-establish in a new space (smaller, of course).
Skip G.
krnch
Skip G.
Our corp HQ and R&D are moving from Glenview Il. to a new (smaller) place in Lincolnshire Il. It's about 8-10 miles up the road from our present location.
My biggest problem is having to give up some living space, and file storage of stuff acquired over the last 16yr. My engineering workspace will also get smaller, but I'll cope somehow.
Warm in sunny So. Cal., huh? But think of the nice autumn color show that you're missing back here. During my times out there, I don't remember the sand changing much from season to season.
Skip G
well in the three weeks i've owned it it has been in the shop one full week and went in the shop again on monday for two seperate unrelated things... (not expecting to have the car back untill tuesday)
allthough my work was nice enough to loan me an 89 dodge spirit while my car is in the shop, i can't get over the feeling that i bought a $14,200 Dodge Spirit....
First problem was a front end problem diagnosed as "loose tie rod ends" and bad wheel bearings (both)...well they fixed the tie rod ends, but refused to cover the wheel bearings because both front wheels were "bent". They showed me the "bend" and it is in the exact same spot on both wheels where the balance weight is put on the rim, a very MINOR bend (i've seen worse on chrysler sebrings(and they are covered under warranty) almost looks like they dinged the rims while installing the balance weight. Needless to say i lost the fight and still need wheel bearings...
Second problem..i got the car back on friday...the following sunday i get in to go out at night and the "bulb out" idiot light comes on... NO BRAKE LIGHTS NOT a single one and no cruise control... i figure ok a fuse blew checked the correstponding fuse (#24) it's good.... so she's back in the shop!! I took it to a different dealer in the hopes that they may also get the wheel bearings covered under warranty...
All in all i am VERY stressed and am pondering getting rid of the car....:-(
Jimbo_G
I truly feel your pain, and I know what pain in the [non-permissible content removed] all those car problems can be. I had plenty of car problems with my previous Cougar, but luckily I was able to workout something with my dealer where I could take out another Cougar and return the one that was giving me so many problems. So the dealer allowed me to pretty much start a new contract with the new Cougar I got from them, but I also had to call Ford over and over again to make sure that they were aware of the matter and so that they would also help me out financially. Don't lose all hope with the car just yet, hopefully the cougar will come through for ya and no more problems will occur, if not, then you might have to take different actions to get rid of it. My current cougar is behaving just fine and so far I have 8K miles and no problems at all, thank God. = )
Gustafsc - Good luck with your office move. I understand how it is to be uprooted, although not after as long of time as you. Take care and don't get too stressed.
Jimbo - Dang man! After all the time you spent obsessing on this car, and all the time you waited until you were healty, and wealthy enough to get one and this is how it's treating you? I think it just needs to be reminded who the Master is! LOL! Seriously, though, I know it's not a laughing matter, and I really hope you get the dealership to straighten things out. If the place that blamed you for the bearings put a note in your service record though, it will probably show up no matter what dealer you take it to. I would argue until you couldn't argue anymore because something like that is not cheap, and you should not be blamed for someone else's mistake (the previous owners/loaners or the factory's).
Take care all, and of course: Happy Cougaring!
Would someone mind posting the complete TSB (problem/resolution) for the insuffiecient refrigerant charge. (a/c system). I dropped off my cougar at the dealership, and i believe they are going to look at this problem. Just in case, I wanted to take the tsb along so that they don't charge me for recharging the system.
thanks a bunch.
Pritesh.
PS.. The dealership is looking at my brake problem. Turns out it is the rear drums causing the vibrations, and hopefully this is also covered under warrenty. I'm pretty sure it is, since they did machine my front rotors under warrenty.
But for some reason they do not have this TSB listed. I looked at the National Highway Transport website and found the following.. I was looking for more of the summary as it gets cut off.. I remember someone did post it a long time ago..
Service Bulletin Number: 12612
Bulletin Sequence Number: 534
Date of Bulletin: 9903
NHTSA Item Number: SB605335
Make: MERCURY
Model: COUGAR
Year: 1999
Component: AIR CONDITIONERTHER PART
Summary: CONCERNS WITH TEMPERATURE VARIATION BETWEEN THE INSTRUMENT PANEL AIR REGISTERS DUE TO INSUFFICIENT REFRIGERANT CHARGE. *TT
cheers
PRitesh
How many times can you machine a rotor before it has to replace. The dealership machined my rotors again today. This is the second time in two weeks that they claim it has gone warped. This is some of the data they gave me:
Check frt rotors out of round. Check rotor thickness: .920
Disc runout with dial indicator left .005 right .003.
Is .005 and .003 considered an amount that would require machining?
thnx
Pritesh
There is no cuurnt website where you can access the complete wording of TSBs. Your best bet is to take the NHTSA info, that you already have, to your dealer's Service Manager and ask him to print out the full document from Ford's online system.
I've been attempting to save some money and perform some of my own regularly scheduled maintenance. I've come across some questions that need to be answered. Can anyone help?
Oil pan lug nut size - Does anyone know what size wrench I should use on the oil pan lug nut? The one that I remove to drain the oil from my car?
How to remove oil filter - Anyone have any suggestions for getting at and removing the oil filter on the '99 Cougar? I looked when I found out I didn't have the right wrench for the oil pan lug nut. It looked a little hard to get to with an oil filter wrench.
Cabin air filter - I changed the cabin air filter on Saturday. That was a pain in the [non-permissible content removed]! First of all, how in the heck do you remove the windshield wipers from the car by just pulling on them? NOT! I just removed the passenger side windshield grill and left the driver's side grill alone. I was still able to get to the cabin air filter without too much trouble. It was nasty.
My dealership told me that they didn't want to charge customers for what was listed as routine 15,000 mile maintenance on my vehicle. That's why I still had the original cabin air filter at 21,000+ miles. I changed it myself using the Purolator replacement part -- $16 at Advance Auto Parts.
Look forward to hearing about any answers to these questions. Hope everyone is having a nice (if not warm) Fall 2000.
Sincerely,
burnsmr4
I'm not sure what they did, but the a/c works alot better now. They did do a leak test with a/c dye, and found no leaks. But in the process of this, they must have added more refrigerant because the a/c blows really cold now. The compressor also doesn't put such a drain on the engine now.
(But still they did not fix my vibrating brake problem.)
...Pritesh
You're right -- it was a pain in the butt, for for $16 and about a half-hour of learning, I'd much rather have done it myself than leave it to the dealership. Just think of what they might have left out when reassembling the pieces. They've done it during an oil change -- why not with a cabin air filter?
Well i'm back from my 2 week hiatus. I had to take some time away to focus on a few other things going on in my life right now.
StageLeft has been working hard on the web page and we have some new content to add sometime this week. We will let you know when it is posted.
Jimbo:
Sorry to hear about your problems. Have you contacted FMC or MWS about them? I would really hate to lose you to the Honda Club. Hopefully they can get those problems fixed for you ASAP!.
Skip:
Sorry to hear you have to move to a smaller space. Nothing worse than going from a nice office to a stupid little cube. I know how that is.
I'm in need of new tires and I am thinking about getting Dunlop SP 5000's. I wanted to get the SP8000s, but they are not all season tires, but the 5000s are. Anyone have any thoughts on these tires?
I'm glad everyone here is doing well, and it's good to be back!
Hopefully it's truly a free offer. I tend to believe that nothing is for free.
I will check the Cougar manual for you when I get home (it's a Chilton's - Thanks Fastback!!) to get you the answers you're looking for. I hope you can wait until tomorrow evening, as I won't be home tonight.
Everyone else:
Just checking in. Wanted to see how everyone is doing. Happy Cougaring, and be safe (there are an awful lot of cops lurking lately on the roads around where I live. I hate the speed limit -- just kidding officer!) ;^)
BTW, did you ever get your stalling problem fixed before heading off to Cougarfest?
I'll be interested in hearing how you like the Dunlop's, if you end up getting them.
A.
Who was it that had the alternator light come on at high RPM? Turned out to be a defective alternator? Stageleft?
My dealership just called and said that they couldn't get any bad amperage from the alternator at the RPM I specified as causing the light to come on. I told them to check at 6000rpm instead of 5000rpm. Maybe the light will come on then.
Jeepers...dealerships.
It's not a problem for my office space, as I'll get an engineers cube, which has space for a workbench, etc..
Where it'll really hurt is my actual working area which is a screen room (it's an electronic thing) which will shrink from 20x17' to 9x12', and the loss of storage space for product samples and test equipment. Also, going from 5 file cabinets to 5 file drawers is a bit of a shock. Lots of history and reference goes into big trash containers.
But, ya gotta do what ya gotta do, so, I'll survive somehow.
Skip G.
LOL!!! It's great to be back!!
Skip:
I know this may sound kinda crazy, but have you considered scanning a lot of old documents and saving them electronically? This would save you space and would allow you to save all of your research. Just a thought.
It was me who had the alternator problem. Basically, in my case, the light would flash or come on over 5500 rpm (if I remember correctly), so you may get better results after they check the 6k level. Good luck, let us know.
Hey everybody!