Hey. just bought myself a 1987 Merc. cougar. 5.0L automatic. runs like a raped ape. can't stop on a dime yet more like an airport runway lol.
List of things that need fixin:
turn signals don't work.. fronts come on and stay on rears nothing
brakes as stated go almost to floor.. will be doing complete brake overhaul. no sense going fast if you can't stop know what i mean.
minor surface rust outside... i'm sure there alot in trunk.
head liner
gauges don't light up. i can see the gauges work.. just real dim....
door locks lock but don't unlock.
windows go up but come off track when going down. need doudble sided sticky tape to hold onto plastic track pieces.
ohh and a short somewhere that drains battery after a day or two.
other than that. not a bad find for $550. the drive train alone is worth that.:burnout:
Welcome aboard!
Sounds like a great running car you got. I just wish mine was laready in good enough shape to run that good.
Yours will be easy to restore. Don't sweat the little stuff! All of it can be fixed and we can all try to help you trouble shoot if needed. I tend to be good with the electrical stuff.
Welcome..... Sounds like you're having fun already. Any questions on the above repairs... Just ask
I am on my phone so bear with briefness. Welcome! For the gauges check that the dimme switch is turned all the way up until it clicks then just enough back down to turn off th interior lighting that came on when it clicked when you turned it up. If that doesn't make the gauges brighter then that switch may be bad. Rock auto has the part or at least that is where I got mine when it went bad. That going bad can also cause other funky things to happen with the cars lighting. I hope that is at least an idea to help you.
Enjoy your cougar :)
Welcome!
As already stated...WELCOME !! Of course,you'll need to know one of the more important rules....we need pics.It doesn't matter if the car is shiny,ugly,whatever....pics are needed of the car,and any progress done to the car.
Again,welcome,and good luck with the Cougar.
thanks for the welcomes. I just got it yesterday so I don't have pics yet. trying to get my garden in..lol... alot at once. As for the switch. i did turn it all the way up and the interior light came on then backed it off and still nothing.. i even rolled it back and forth and got no change. I did notice some of the bulb holders in the ash tray so maybe the previous owner did somehting behind there. I will be getting a chiltons book soon and start from there. I used to be a mechanic for 8 1/2 years. Love working on cars hated working on cheap broke peoples cars. lol
I am now a fabricator/ pipefitter for a living. I have access to mills and lathes and welders so if I nee a custom part I may be able to make it. and if you guys and gals like it maybe I can make 2 or 3. lol...
I will get pics up as soon as I can. thanks again
heya, welcome to the flock!
Could be the dimmer control...sometimes the contacts can get dirty or corroded, or could be something a little more involved.
Good luck, and pics ASAP lol ;)
ok went out tonight to play with lights. dimmer is working fine. lights in back of diplay go bright then go dim with rolling of switch. Maybe circuit ribbon? i can see display is working when I shine a light on it. I can see that when i push the buttons for the display to change gauges it is working, although just filled up with gas and it's not reading right i think. also i have one just one light bulb that is missing withthe connector. Also turn signals are not working in rear. they light up with lights on but turn signals in front will come on and stay on but not flicker.. rears don't come on at all.
thunder... man i almost smacked my puter screen... darn bug...lol
You may have some burned out bulbs behind the cluster, and on certain circuits if one or a few bulbs go out, they will all go out. I messed with the same issue you were having a while back, (it wasn't with the fully digital cluster, just the digital speedo cluster) and it took a while for me (with tons of help from here) to figure it out. Check this thread out.... http://www.foxtbirdcougarforums.com/showthread.php?t=26898 (http://"http://www.foxtbirdcougarforums.com/showthread.php?t=26898")
Hope it helps, and welcome to the site!
HAHAHAHA Yeah ive done that before.
sorry, lol ;):rollin:
Welcome!
Welcome aboard , We need pics !!
ok her eis my 5th post so I can post url i hope this works.
http://www.cardomain.com/ride/3862786/1
There she is just the way I found her and where she is in my driveway:hick:
Welcome, it looks like a solid car to start with.
she is so far.
WOW!! You found that for $550?? SCORE!!!!!
Keep us posted on the progress!!!
Later, RAY
well went out tonight and found I don't have any juice to the wire needed to get power to the bulbs. then looking under dash there is 5 junction blocks attached to the fuse block panel under dash. one in middle has a fried wire. when I say fried i mean melted the casing, wire exposed and melted to another wire fried!!.. not sure what it goes to but I'll have to find out, and run a new wire. probably why the battery kept going dead on previous owner. it would definitally be a short...lol
Thanks everyone I will keep you posted. dash is first thing though.. then brakes. Then i'll get her registered and go from there.
Ooo an XR7 no less. I thought it was an LS from your first post. Nice catch.
Out of the cars that I have owned, 3 of these have had a bad master cylinder. They keep going up in price for some reason.
ok well went on a goose chase tonight... tracing the wires down. one end of two wire went into the fuse panel. anyone have list of the fuses the way they are laid out? it says see owners manual... yeah right.. don't have one. Any ways the nuckle heads before me or before the previous owner who sold it to me, stuck a 40 amp fuse in. I have never seen a 40 amp fuse on any car. so it fried the wire from the fuse box under the dash, all the way out to two plugs. melting into the wires laying next to them as well. so I got them out and now I have to figure out how to get the pr0ngs out so I can re install them. one will be easy, the others??? not so easy, one is in fuse block under dash. May end up having to pull dash out so I can make sure other wires are fine. How hard is it to get dash out? It needs a new top anyways. Any who.. wires that were fried were shorting out on E-brake assembly and draining battery. So far so good.
Thanks all. Take care,
GB