markelemon

but here goes...

1999 Police Interceptor:
--check engine light on and steady
--check engine light blinks while driving then goes back to steady
--car idles rough when at stoplights. At night dash lights appear to dim and brighten with idle (not MAJOR dimming but i notice it)
--coolant in resevoir is brownish (oil?)
--oil in spark plug well
--radiator fluid settling in little pockets on top of engine block (not worded right-hope you understand what I mean)
--belt squeaking sound (possibly bearings?) Sound sometimes gets louder when I accelorate and sometimes gets quieter. (?) Seems to be more prevelant when "moist" outside...rainy, dewwy, etc.

Those are the symptoms; I have prepared myself and am ready to hear what could be the problem(s) and an approximate cost.
Thank you in advance.
Mark

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1999 Ford Crown Vic Police Interceptor 4.6 Liter V8

Bert

Many auto parts stores will pull codes for free. Driving it when the light flashes can cause further damage to the system. Check for leaks and run it for just one minute with the belt off to see if the noise goes away. Check all of the items run by the belt to see if any have bad bearings.

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Bert

markelemon

Bert--that's a good start. I have taken it to Autozone and O'Reillys for the code pull. Same answer. "Cylinder 1 misfiring" (or whichever cylinder it is.) THAT's what led me to discover oil in the spark plug wells.
--Thinking there's a connection between the oil in the wells and the misfiring, taking me back to "why is there oil in the wells".
--Checking for leaks: there are leaks, thus the pools of antifreeze in the little puddles and oil in my coolant. I've already established that there are leaks.
--Taking the belt off is an excellent idea. Nice troubleshooting tip. However; It will inform me that a)the belt itself is squeaking or b)a part that the belt turns is squeaking. I can't determine what that part is because it won't be turning, right?
--wouldn't begin to know how to "check items run by belt to see if any have bad bearings."
And let me say this. I really, really, really don't mean to come off sounding rude or unappreciative. I really don't. And I apologize if it sounds that way. I'm just very frustrated with this car but this is my family's only means of transportation and a different car is out of the question. Payments are out of the question. So I'm sorry if I sound rude.
I'm a "weekend warrior" mechanic. Some things are beyond my talent or means to repair. Don't want to get ****ed over by a real mechanic.
Thank you in advance.

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1999 Ford Crown Vic Police Interceptor 4.6 Liter V8

Bert

Cyl #1 is the front passengers side. You could switch it with another one and see if the misfire follows. I'd clean all of the oil and coolant and see where it returns. With the belt off, turn each item by hand to see if any have a bad bearing sound.

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Bert

R.S.LOGAN

^ x2. Oil / coolant could be allowing tracking / shorting of spark . Oil leak could just be a gasket , but as suggested by Bert you need to clean it up first to locate exactly where oil coming from .

chipset

No offense and i'm sorry if i sound rude but you don't want to get ****ed over by a
real mechanic so your going to throw all kinds of parts at it and hope that fixes it ? If you have a real police car and it was used as a police car it has already had the snot run out of it. fix your anti freeze leak and the belt squeek will go away. You have many small problems. Oil leaks are a lack of maintainance speicially if the oil is only changed once a year on an already internally fillthy engine. Some nut bars actually believe you can get away with this. No offense to anyone that actually knows how to do this properly. Your anti freeze is brown and full of acid because it was never changed. That engine has over heated at one time shrinking some gaskets causing oil leaks. This is just some problems i read from your post. Again no offense and hope you get it sorted.

Bajarider

Start with a compression check. You need to determine why your coolant and oil are being mixed before spending a lot (any)of money on guesses.

00Silver

Take a good look around the intake manifold(can't believe nobody's suggested this yet). As I unfortunately found out the hard way, the plastic intake manifold's are known to crack. In my case, this produced oil in the coolant. Not saying this is your problem, but its worth taking a look at.

**On a side note, I'm just curious how fixing the coolant leak will stop the squealing?? Who's to say its not the bearings in the alternator going bad, which by the way could very possibly be the reason for the lights dimming with change in idle...And how can you be certain enough to tell him that his engine has overheated in the past? Not trying to be rude,(wow that phrase is becoming very popular :)), I'm just wondering how you can be sure of that...Again, not trying to be rude

markelemon

Thanks for all the great advice! That's why I come here! :)
No offense to all of you mechanics. When I said "real", I meant live, in-person type mechanics.
Bert--thanks for the clarification.
chipset--no offense taken. It was a detective's car down in Missouri so I'm sure its done some running...not as bad as a black and white but...
R.S. Logan--good point
Baja--compression check...check! Gotta have someone do that.
OOSilver--I JUST replaced the altenator (twice--1st replacement was bad from factory) before all this happened. Therein lies the frustration. Again, thanks a lot!

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1999 Ford Crown Vic Police Interceptor 4.6 Liter V8

87_Crown_Vic

I am wondering if it has had the intake changed when it had recall that no longer is available . Front part was aluminum on the intake instead of the plastic . Intake issues will cause many leaks & issues

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my 1986 Grand Marquis LS... Rose...