New Beater

[Wires]

My latest acquisition - a 1992 Crown Vic P72, former police car. I don't think it's ever been in service as a patrol car, however.

(sorry about the size, and the poor lighting, and the clutter, etc. etc.)

http://i185.photobucket.com/albums/x5/excavatoree/DSC_0002-1.jpg

It's suffered some neglect. My father bought it for my brother and his family to drive. Back when he got it, the paint was good and it had no problems. It was a great car.

Well, you know what they say happens when folks are just given things - my brother had no investment in it and treated it poorly. He ruined the paint and my sister in law dented the fender. My dad had it painted at one of those crappy "paint it cheap" places.

Right now, it needs a new instrument cluster, drivers side wiper arm, and I need to figure out what's wrong with the front end - the steering is a bit loose.

Some idiot - probably my brother - tried about 10 wiper blades on the thing without realizing the problem is the wiper arm itself. The problem may be the shaft, but I hope not. Anyway, the result is no pressure at all on the wiper blade, and thus, the blade "bows up" off the windshield right where you need to look. It was a fun drive, in the rain last night.

I guess I'll have to spend some time at Crownvic.net. I hope it's not too far gone.

[offroadkarter]

that car is in no way "to far gone"

[Black_Noise]

Try bending the wiper arm so there is more pressure on the windshield... If downforce on the windshield is your problem, this will fix it.

[a_d_a_m]

Rain-X FTW.

[bob6364]

Looks like a good car to me,,,,

[babbage]

Seafoam, plugs, filters, oil, get the Bosch icon blades (winged for downforce) and tighten the arms. Prolly needs new ball joints and some poly bushings on the front.

then-- it's off to the races!

[CoreyM75]

Try bending the wiper arm so there is more pressure on the windshield... If downforce on the windshield is your problem, this will fix it.
I agree with the above advice. That will more than likely fix the issue. The car looks good, a lot like my old 1993 CVPI. I would check the fluids, plugs, etc and it should be fine. The only other thing that could need to be done is replacing the valve seals, they cause the car to smoke.

[Wires]

Try bending the wiper arm so there is more pressure on the windshield... If downforce on the windshield is your problem, this will fix it.


I agree with the above advice. That will more than likely fix the issue. The car looks good, a lot like my old 1993 CVPI. I would check the fluids, plugs, etc and it should be fine. The only other thing that could need to be done is replacing the valve seals, they cause the car to smoke.

Someone (my dad, I think) already tried to bend the arm - it's now bent up in several places. I tried some brand new, good wiper blades on it, but the arm doesn't provide enough pressure to flatten the blade just sitting there with the car not moving.

It looks like the arm isn't mounted properly to the shaft. It's difficult to describe, but its sort of "popping off" of the shaft such that the angle is lessened and thus the spring doesn't provide enough pressure.

If it ever stops raining, I'll try to remove the arm and see if I can tell what's going on.

It does need valve seals, but it runs well.

It's had 92400 something miles on it for about 5 years now. I do need to change the oil and get a new cluster.

Thanks, everyone, for the advice.

[RoyLPita]

I know someone who has an owner's manual for that year and model. Interested?