Ford Crown Victoria | Mercury Marauder | Grand Marquis | P71Forum for discussion of the Ford Crown Victoria, Mercury Marauder, Mercury Grand Marquis and P71.
Three of the lugnuts on the left front of my '00 CV were stripped (dang impact wrench bozos!). So I get replacement studs and nuts at a chain parts store. After cutting the old nuts off, I put the new studs in and find that they are too short! About 1/2" too short because they gave me ones for the REAR which are shorter than the fronts. Great. It was getting dark and I had to drive it home about 3 miles, so I tightened them and was able to get several threads on so they would hold good enough to get home. I get 3 correct ones at the store so I can try again tomorrow.
I drive home no faster than 30 MPH but now notice my "ABS" and "TRACTION CONTROL" lights are on. What gives? Could the slight unbalance cause a sensor to react?
The sensor might have gottn damaged when the studs were replaced.
Yep. I was in a hurry before it got dark and must have turned the rotor while one of the studs was half-way out. The sensor was bent and I guess I'm lucky since I was able to bend it back without breaking it. The ABS and Traction lights are off now.
I'm glad I never had a flat on that wheel in the past 2-1/2 years out on the road!
P.S. Bert: A parts guy told me that I shouldn't use anti-sieze on wheel lugs because it will cause them to unloosen after a while. Make sense?
P.S. Bert: A parts guy told me that I shouldn't use anti-sieze on wheel lugs because it will cause them to unloosen after a while. Make sense?
That's correct. On the stud only, (and a VERY small amount) would be okay but it's to easy to get some on the wheel surface area. I'd suggest not using any.
Read the instructions on the bottle. I've used anti-seize (usually Nickel) on MANY vehicles' lug studs, with no problems. But I also follow Ford's recommendations for torque & RECHECKING lug nuts, as described in this caption:
The info in the link seems a bit dubious. 10-ft.lbs. of extra torque is going to cause failure? The tightening specs for wheel nut torque is from 85-105 and that's a lot of leeway. The writer of that article mentions an "even greater problem" from using anti-sieze but then doesn't say what he means by that...?
Just think how many cars there are on the roads with over-torqued lugs from out-of-calibration or wrongly set impact wrenches! Five of the lug nuts on my ex-state car were stripped and I'm sure it's from over-torquing by careless wheel jockeys. There are no warped rotors though, so that's a relief.
Actually, I thought the caution about anti-sieze was that the threads would be 'slicker' and maybe that would cause them to work themselves loose. The TSB says to make sure there is good metal-to-metal contact, so I'm going to clean most of the AS off. I guess I will check them in 6 months or so, just to be sure.
If the specs are 85-105 and they're tightened to 115, it may not give a problem but I always use the proper torque for even non safety fasteners. To much of a chance in my opinion.
Proper installation requires that the wheel lug torque be set to the recommended specification for your vehicle. Sometimes these torque specifications can be found in your vehicle's owner's manual, however more often than not you will need to refer to your vehicle's shop manual or obtain them from your vehicle dealer/service provider.
Unless specifically stated otherwise, wheel lug torque specifications are for clean and dry threads (no lubricant) that are free of dirt, grit, etc. Applying oil, grease or anti-seize lubricants to the threads will result in inaccurate torque values that over tighten the wheels.
A thread chaser or tap should be used to remove any burrs or obstructions of the threads allowing the lug hardware to be turned by hand until it meets the wheel's lug seat. Once lugs are snugged down, finish tightening them with an accurate torque wrench. Use the appropriate crisscross sequence (shown below) for the number of wheel lugs on your vehicle until all have reached their proper torque value. Be careful because if you over torque a wheel, you can strip a lug nut or hub, stretch or break a stud or bolt, and cause the wheel, brake rotor and/or brake drum to distort.
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