How to Fix a Westinghouse LD-4680

Our friends were given a 46" LED LCD TV that didn't work. The previous owners were watching TV when it just turned off. It sounded like it was worth a shot to try and fix.

With the TV plugged in, there was no LED, no beep, no picture, no signs of life. 

When I unplugged the power supply from the TV, it measured 19V as it should. I grabbed an old 19V Dell laptop charger and plugged it in to the TV and the green light on the power supply turned off. I figured the TV was shorting out the power supply.

So I checked the internet and found that a common problem was the LED ribbon cables short out. I went straight for the common problem, hoping nothing else was wrong. This was one of those lucky cases. Here's how I did it.

Take the stand off the TV by removing the six screws. If you're following along, I hope you have enough sense to lay the TV flat before removing the stand.

Remove the back, by removing the screws around the perimeter and the two screws near the I/O ports. Slowly lift the back cover, being careful because the cable for the buttons is attached. You can peel off the tape and unplug the wire.

The five screws along the top row are machine thread screws. Also the two screws next to the inputs are machine threads.

Remove the small metal panel (centered between the two speakers) by removing four screws.

Remove the screw holding the remote sensor to the front bezel. Then remove the front bezel (the front frame around the entire TV).

Remove the 15 clips that secure the front glass in place.

Remove the screws that secure the plastic trim pieces on the sides and bottom.

After removing the bottom plastic strip, you can see the LED bars and the ribbon connectors on the edges, one on each side. The usual problem is a short between the ribbon cable and the aluminum light bar frame. 

I left the top plastic piece in there because I didn't want to deal with all the LCD panel connections. But I removed the side and bottom black plastic strips.

I lifted up the panel, including the plastic sheet at the bottom and unscrewed the LED light bars using a right angle screwdriver. I used the speakers as spacers to hold up the display panel.

You can disconnect the ribbon cable by flipping the socket's black lever up, then sliding the ribbon cable out of the slot. This style of connector is commonly used with this type of ribbon cable. I then cut and attached black electrical tape around the edge of the light bar.

Carefully re-insert the ribbon cable and flip the black lever closed to secure the ribbon cable in place. Then screw in the light bar and it should look like this. I had to peel the cable off the frame to get a little more slack to screw in the light bar.

Here's a quick power-on test before re-assembling the TV. It works, so it's going back together.

Here's the TV connected to a computer as a monitor. There are a few LEDs not working on the bottom left. It looks like a connection problem. I'm not very motivated to take it apart again. Allow yourself about two to three hours for this repair if you decide to try it.

Fixing My Car With a Little Help from Above

I've rebuild a couple power steering pumps because it's so much cheaper to buy the rebuild kit and it usually isn't hard. But this time, I probably should have bought the remanufactured pump instead. It would have been worth spending the extra $35.

My new-to-me 1999 Cougar had a leak, so I thought I'd fix it. It seemed like it had an oil leak coming from under the power steering pump. I took the belt off, and was having trouble getting the pulley off the pump because the engine mount was in the way. Time to get serious. I pulled out the coolant reservoir, jacked up the engine, removed the engine mount, power steering pulley, and the cover plate over the power steering pump.

Disconnecting the power steering hoses made a mess and I couldn't tell where the leak was anyway. So I put it back together. I made a bigger leak. This time it was running down the side of the engine and was obvious that the shorty pressure tube had a bad o-ring. No kudos to Ford engineers this time. Instead of being able to just put a new o-ring on, I had to buy a new $5 part for $25.

Teflon o-rings? Really, Ford? One-time use and that's it. Destroyed. They don't even fit right brand-new. Time for teflon tape instead. Apparently it works just as well.

After a few days, I was still smelling oil burning on the exhaust pipe. Since the power steering fluid level seemed a little lower than I remembered it, and the pump was wet with oil, I figured I'd rebuild it. It shouldn't be too hard.

This time I went straight for the coolant reservoir first, then the engine mount, and then the belt, pulley, and cover plate on the power steering pump. It was much easier this time. I figured I'd be done in an hour. My wife is used to my time estimates for working on cars. She doubles my estimate, and then adds another 50%. I figured that sounds better than saying she triples it.

After a quick look-over on the pump, it was obvious I had to remove the circular clip on the back of the pump. After a half-hour of trying to pick at it, I managed to rotate it and see the hole in the side. If I'd only read the instructions . . .

Poke the pick through the hole and voila! I popped the back cover off and proceeded to take it apart. Then I got to the little clip that holds the shaft on. I figured a pair of 45 degree needle nose pliers should do the trick. I heard the clip go bing! ting ting ting. [Don't ask me to do the sound again.] Okay, it must have landed somewhere on the other side of my table.

After looking around on the floor for a minute, I figured this was going to be a lost cause. I'd have to take a trip into town and waste two hours to buy a 25 cent clip, if they even had the right size. It was time to ask for help. Please, God, if it's your will, please help me find that clip. I opened my eyes and saw it sitting down inside a bracket on the lawn mower deck. Wow. I don't think I've ever seen such a speedy answer to prayer. 

I replaced the two o-rings inside the pump, the one on the back cover, the front seal, and aligned all the parts back together. It was kind of a pain getting the insides lined up and back together. I must have taken the back off at least four times trying to get it back together. The kit didn't have a replacement teflon ring for one of the plugs, so I used an o-ring. I think it's holding, but I'm not sure. I could have left it alone and been fine.

On the pressure hose, I didn't want to totally squash the new teflon o-ring, so I didn't tighten it all the way down. That was a mistake. Although it wasn't leaking when I put it back together, it was by the next day. I made another oil mess on my driveway. I tightened the pressure hose fitting until it stopped. Apparently the teflon ring isn't what holds the pressure in. Maybe it's just to keep dirt out.

Right now, electric power steering sounds really nice. There's no fluid to leak out. I still don't know if I fixed all the leaks.

How to Build a GPS Navigation PC in Linux

For this project, I used my old Acer Aspire One D257 netbook PC and a
GlobalSat BU-353-S4 USB GPS receiver (or see the GlobalSat web site)

The total cost was only about $35, just the cost of the GPS receiver.

Brief Overview

1. Install a Linux operating system.
2. Install gpsd, xgps, and Navit.
3. Copy /etc/navit.xml to ~/.navit/navit.xml
4. Download a map from openstreetmap. Copy to ~/.navit/maps/yourmap.bin
5. Edit ~/.navit/navit.xml 

Software Installation Details

Operating System
For the operating system, I installed the 64 bit version of Lubuntu by writing the .iso image onto a 2GB micro SD card using the USB image writer program that came with Linux Mint 17. Then I inserted the card into a USB card reader and booted the netbook PC from the USB port.

After I installed the Lubuntu version of Linux, I had to play around with the settings in the Lubuntu Software Center so that it would update the available package list. Even then, searches were still agonizingly slow.

GPS Software
Once the software center started working, I installed Navit navigation software.

Then I installed gpsd. It makes it easy to get the GPS receiver working. And it works well with Navit.

I also installed xgps to test the GPS receiver. If you type xgps in a terminal, it will give you the link to install it if you don't already have it.

To test the GPS receiver, the instructions that came with it said to use the following commands:

su root
 
stty -F /dev/ttyUSB0 ispeed 4800 && cat < /dev/ttyUSB0

This didn't work out so well, or at all. It works if you split up the second command into two parts. Then you get to see gibberish. That's not a verification test in my opinion.

Here's how you test to see if the USB GPS receiver is working.

1. Install gpsd. If you don't already have it, type gpsd in a terminal, and it will tell you the command to install it. Then you can highlight it and middle-click it onto the command line.

2. Plug in the USB GPS receiver.

3. Run gpsd. But you need to specify where your GPS device is. If you just try the command gpsd without any command line arguments, you'll get this error:

gpsd:ERROR: can't run with neither control socket nor devices

So I used the following command to tell gpsd to look at USB port 0:

gpsd /dev/ttyUSB0

4. Run xgps. Once the red LED starts flashing on the BU-353-S4, it's locked onto your GPS location. You should see a list of satellites and a picture of the sky view. (I had to re-boot my desktop PC after installing the software before xgps showed satellites.) Since I don't want to publicly share my GPS location, here's a screenshot of the program without any satellite data, before I re-booted my computer:

Setup Navit

Download a map from the navit planet extractor. It uses maps from openstreetmap.org
Zoom in on the map area you want to download, then under map controls, click select. Then click on Get map! It will download the file to your Downloads folder.

Create a folder called maps in ~/.navit/
(The folder will be created after you run Navit for the first time.)
Rename your map file to something like UT.bin
Move your map file to ~/.navit/maps/

Edit navit.xml
Copy /etc/navit/navit.xml to ~/.navit/navit.xml
You can use this command:

cp /etc/navit/navit.xml ~/.navit/

Use gedit to edit ~/.navit/navit.xml

Search for openstreetmaps and it will find this section:

<!-- If you dont want to use the sample map, either set enabled="no" in the next line or remove the xml file from the maps directory -->
        <mapset enabled="yes">
            <xi:include href="$NAVIT_SHAREDIR/maps/*.xml"/>
        </mapset>

        <!-- Mapset template for openstreetmaps -->
        <mapset enabled="no">
            <map type="binfile" enabled="yes" data="/media/mmc2/MapsNavit/osm_europe.bin"/>
        </mapset>

Change it to this (changed text is in bold).

<!-- If you dont want to use the sample map, either set enabled="no" in the next line or remove the xml file from the maps directory -->
        <mapset enabled="no">
            <xi:include href="$NAVIT_SHAREDIR/maps/*.xml"/>
        </mapset>

        <!-- Mapset template for openstreetmaps -->
        <mapset enabled="yes">
            <map type="binfile" enabled="yes" data="~/.navit/maps/UT.bin"/>
        </mapset>

Save your changes to navit.xml.

Run Navit
You should be ready to run Navit now. If you have your GPS unit plugged in and xgps shows satellites and your location, Navit should start with your map loaded and your GPS location circled.

Click on the map and it will disappear and show you a menu.
To navigate, click on actions, then click on town.
Type in the town you want to navigate to. Click on the suggestion.
Then click on Streets. Type in the street name. Click on the suggestion.
Then click on House numbers and type in the house number. This step never works for me. So hit escape or click the green check mark to go back.

You can add it as a bookmark or set it as a destination. Adding it as a bookmark is good if you don't want to enter it every time. Since the house numbers feature isn't working for me, after I click "set as destination", it plots the route on the map, but ends up at the wrong place on the right street.

I haven't yet actually used it to navigate, so I'll probably update this post soon.

Moonlight Savings Time

Today, we set our clocks back one hour to normal time. What if daylight savings time was reversed? Shall we have moonlight savings time? What if it was spring back, fall forward?

If the whole reason to have daylight savings time in the first place was to get more evening daylight hours, then why not have daylight savings time go the whole year? That way we'd never have to adjust our clocks. And on December 21st, instead of sunset being at 5:04 PM in Provo, UT, it would be at 6:04 PM. That sounds great until you realize that dawn would be at 8:46 AM.

Now, if we actually had DST last all year, people would adjust their schedules accordingly. But DST forces people to get up to go to work earlier, and entices them to stay up later. In the winter, we don't have kids playing outside at 9:00 pm because by then it has been dark for hours (and cold). Yet in the summer, kids are playing outside until well past 9:00 pm.

What if we changed our work schedules along with daylight savings time? On March 20, we set our clocks forward an hour, and went to work an hour later. Then on November 2, we set our clocks back an hour, and went to work an hour earlier. Work would start at 8:00 am in the winter, and 9:00 am in the summer.

Setting clocks forward an hour benefits people who like to stay up late and can still get up early. But if we instead set the clocks back an hour, it could benefit everyone. We could alternate years, and could switch our clocks back an hour for the summer, and the next year, set our clocks forward for the summer.

That way sunrise would be at 3:57 AM on June 21st, and sunset would be at 7:00 PM. Since it would be dark in the evening, we could get to bed on time, and we could be able to get up on time in the morning for work.

Here's a table of sunrise and sunset times for Provo, UT. The times in bold are standard times. The columns under dawn and dusk are times without adjusting for daylight savings time. 

	1 hr advance	Dawn	1 hr delay	1 hr advance	Dusk	1 hr delay	1 hr advance	Solar Noon	1 hr delay
August 10	04:33 AM	05:33 AM	06:33 AM	06:30 PM	07:30 PM	08:30 PM	11:32 AM	12:32 PM	01:32 PM
Fall equinox Sep 22	05:14 AM	06:14 AM	07:14 AM	05:24 PM	06:24 PM	07:24 PM	11:19 AM	12:19 PM	01:19 PM
DST end November 2	05:57 AM	06:57 AM	07:57 AM	04:23 PM	05:23 PM	06:23 PM	11:10 AM	12:10 PM	01:10 PM
Winter solstice Dec 21	06:46 AM	07:46 AM	08:46 AM	04:04 PM	05:04 PM	06:04 PM	11:25 AM	12:25 PM	01:25 PM
DST start March 9	05:48 AM	06:48 AM	07:48 AM	05:27 PM	06:27 PM	07:27 PM	11:37 AM	12:37 PM	01:37 PM
Spring equinox March 20	05:30 AM	06:30 AM	07:30 AM	05:39 PM	06:39 PM	07:39 PM	11:34 AM	12:34 PM	01:34 PM
Summer solstice June 21	03:57 AM	04:57 AM	05:57 AM	07:00 PM	08:00 PM	09:00 PM	11:28 AM	12:28 PM	01:28 PM

Sounds crazy? I thought so. Here's a suggestion. How about we abolish daylight savings time? That way, we wouldn't have to worry about changing clocks. For the clocks that adjust for DST, you can also set them to not adjust for DST. So if your area doesn't observe DST, your clocks still work. It's already implemented in the hardware.

Replacing Rear Sway Bar Links on a 1999-2002 Mercury Cougar

There was a clunking sound coming from the back when the car would hit a bump, especially when one side ran over the bump. Looking at the suspension, I found that one of the rubber bushings on the sway bar link had come apart. So I decided to replace the entire link on both sides.

To take the link off, all you need to do is remove the nut on the bottom side, then remove the nut and bolt on the top side. Pull the link upwards out of the lower control arm. Then remove the bushing (or what's left of it). If the bushing is still intact, you can tear it out with pliers.

Installation isn't too difficult if you spray WD40 on the bushing before installing it on the lower control arm. Without some kind of lubrication, it won't go in. Push the bushing in until it's in the middle slot, as shown here. It will take some strength, but can be done by hand.

Lower control arm with stabilizer bushing installed

Then when you install the sway bar link, the bushing is locked in place and won't move. Tighten the top nut and bolt first, then tighten the bottom nut until it's tight. The nut will stop on the metal. The bushing will be squeezed while you're tightening it. Here's what it looks like with the new link.

New Mevotech MK80458 rear stabilizer link installed

Now it rides so much nicer without clunking over bumps.

Update 
15 August 2015 (ten months later)

The Mevotech sway bar bushings are already worn out. The rubber was too soft. The replacement bushings were less than six dollars, so I'm not going to bother to warranty these.

Mevotech sway bar bushings after 10 months of use

I replaced them with AC Delco part number 45G0103. These have much harder rubber, and were more difficult to install. So I used a long 8 mm bolt to compress it while poking it from the side with a screwdriver.

Here's a picture of the setup. I used large fender washers on the top and bottom of the bolt.

Installing stiffer bushings

Being basic black, the new bushings aren't as pretty as the blue ones, but they will work better being harder.

Diagnosing a speedometer failure on a 1999 Mercury Cougar

(Update) Bottom line: the VSS signal is too low for the instrument cluster. It needs at least 7.2V on the VSS signal wire at the instrument cluster for the speedometer to function. When the instrument panel is unplugged, the VSS puts out enough voltage. But when instrument panel is plugged in, it loads down the VSS signal voltage. Read on for the whole story. 


Original post
I just bought (Sept 2014) a 1999 Mercury Cougar that had a non-functioning speedometer. From what the previous owner told me, the speedometer stopped working maybe 6-8 months ago. It turns out that the last oil change sticker on the window was within about a thousand miles of the current odometer reading. The sticker was dated January 2011. Somebody has a poor estimation of time. The digital readout on the left side of the instrument cluster would sometimes read 1 or 2 MPH when set to average speed. But the speedometer needle was stuck at 0 MPH.

The first thing I did was check the OBD-II reading on the vehicle speed sensor. There was no code for a VSS problem. I can plug-in my bluetooth OBD-II and have the speed read out on my phone's Dash Command app. So this tells me the problem was not with my VSS.

Next, I checked the connections to the instrument cluster. When I unplugged the instrument cluster and plugged it back in and turned the key to on, the needles went to full and back to zero. The speedometer gauge itself seemed to be fine. So the problem was between the VSS and the gauge. The VSS to PCM was good because I could get data out of the OBD-II port.

The VSS signal goes to pin 9 on the white connector. It's a white/blue wire on my car. To test for signal there, I jacked up one front wheel, put it in neutral, and connected my volt meter between pin 9 and ground (frame). I rotated the tire by hand and saw the wire getting 12 volt pulses. That told me that the signal was getting to the instrument cluster.

The problem appears to be between the plug and the gauge. It sounds like I need a new instrument cluster. Ford part number 10849 for $338.46. For now, I'll just use my phone's app to tell me my speed.

While I was in there I decided to replace a mini instrument panel bulb that failed. The tiny bulbs are number 2721. For some reason, they aren't listed in the parts catalogues at auto parts stores.

I found an instrument cluster on ebay from a junkyard for $28 and ordered it. Unfortunately, its speedometer doesn't work either. It's not the gauge itself. It's somewhere in the electronics on the board. Does every 1999 Cougar speedometer fail?

Update 28 August 2015
I decided to try one more instrument panel, so I ordered one online from a junkyard. I was hoping, but getting ready for disappointment. The speedometer didn't work on it either. Sigh. I figured it was somewhat unlikely that all three had failed. So I did some more looking online and found a helpful post about the instrument panel loading down the VSS signal. Now I can't find that post to link to it.

From my calculations, my VSS signal at pin 9 on the white plug has an output impedance of 8.7 k ohms. That's too high to drive the speedometer. In case you're curious and want to check my methods and math, I rotated the tire until the VSS had a high signal of 11.34V without the instrument panel attached. I then connected a 3.95 k ohm resistor from the white plug's pin 9 to ground. That loaded the VSS signal down to 3.53 V.

I was getting about 4.9 V when the instrument panel was connected. Apparently the PCM is happy with a lower VSS signal voltage. That's why the OBD-II app would show the speed, but the speedometer wouldn't.

So I took a variable resistor and connected it in series between 12 V and the instrument panel pin 9. I'd scratch it across the 12 V terminal to get a bad square wave signal and see if the speedometer moved. I turned the knob until I found where the cutoff was. The voltage on pin 9 had to be above 7.1 V on my panel or it wouldn't move the speedometer. I then measured the variable resistor and it was 3.9 k ohms.

The speedometer operates by frequency, and the voltage of that signal needs to be above about 7.2 V for it to work. 

Now I need to figure out if a new VSS will have a low enough output impedance to drive the circuit. If not, then I need to install a signal amplifier. But first, I need to use my 3.95 k ohm resistor directly on the output of the VSS to measure the output impedance and make sure the problem is not somewhere else in the circuit.

I'll update this blog on the results. Feel free to leave a comment if you found this helpful.

Update 5 September 2015

I put a new vehicle speed sensor on it. Done. The speedometer works now.

Rebuilding a W5M33 AWD Manual Transmission, Part 1

Finding a Project Car

When I was looking in the classifieds for a car with AWD and a manual transmission, I saw a 1997 Eagle Talon TSi AWD available for $2000. The reason for the $2000 price tag was the transmission. He was driving on the freeway and the car started vibrating. He took it to a shop and they said there were metal fragments in the gear oil.

My daughter was looking for a car at the same time, so I thought if she bought it, I could rebuild the transmission for her. I paid a mechanic friend to trailer it home. The transmission worked in every gear, so we drove it onto the trailer and parked it in my garage.

I looked for months for a transmission to come up on ebay, or the local classifieds. This was taking too long, so we just traded cars. Don't worry. She came out on the better end of the deal with a nice 2001 Outback with a manual transmission and AWD.

Rant about jack placement on unibody cars

Ok, can we please learn that we don't put the jack on what looks like a frame rail on unibody cars? That's not a frame rail, and if you try to lift up the car with the jack on that part, it will bend the body. Here are some pictures of the damage.

Initial Assessment

I found that when I jacked the car up, if I raised the passenger side, gear oil would drain out the driver's side. The driver's side seal was dislodged. The gear oil was black like it was burnt. There were fine aluminum fragments in the oil that made it look like metal flake paint. Removing the transmission was more difficult than average, but not as bad as a Taurus. Once I figured out how to get the transfer case off, the transmission could separate from the engine.

After I got the transmission out, I saw the reason the seal was dislodged. The output bearing on the front differential was destroyed. The front differential was also broken. The cost for the front differential case alone is about $290. The rebuild kit is $350.

I'm into this transmission about $950 in parts alone. A new transmission is about $2500 from the dealer.

As a core, this transmission would have very little value. If I was a professional rebuilder, I probably wouldn't re-use this case. But it looks like I'll be able to re-use this one. 

Disassembly

Disassembling the transmission

The gear oil was blackened and had fine aluminum flakes and steel fragments.

Transmission with cover removed

Transmission numbers. This one is a W5M33 late model AWD with a 57 tooth differential gear.

Is this a junk yard transmission? Nope. The VIN matches the car.

Removed viscous coupling

At this point, I was stuck. I couldn't figure out why the transmission wouldn't separate until I read about a bolt in the side holding a gear. Once I removed that bolt, I was able to separate the transmission and inspect for damage.

Here's what I found.

• The front differential case was broken.
• Both output bearings on the front differential were bad.
• The speedometer gear was shredded. 
• The case had damage because the differential wasn't being held in place by the bearings.
• The magnet and magnet holder were missing. 

It appears that this was a hastily rebuilt transmission. 

Case damage and damaged speedometer gear. Bearing race still there. To remove the race, I got the center race from the other output bearing and put six ball bearings in, and spread them out. Then I was able to put it on my press and easily press out the race.

Showing more case damage under the 1-2 gear assembly. The magnet and magnet holder were missing.

First-Second Gear Assembly, Disassembled. Note the three-piece synchronizer for second gear.

To disassemble the gear assembly, I couldn't have done it without my press and large bearing separator from Harbor Freight.

To disassemble the differential, I had to drill out the back side of the pin holding the shaft because it wouldn't budge. Once I did that, I could press the pin out. Since the differential case wasn't going to be re-used, it didn't matter if I damaged the case further.

Front differential internal parts. Notice the pin next to the shaft has been drilled. I still need to smooth and polish the concave washers on the bottom left, or get new ones.

Rebuilding

I used a press and a bearing remover to disassemble the first-second gear assembly (after removing the lock ring). I cleaned off all the parts in solvent.

By the way, coconut oil is wonderful on solvent burns. I double-gloved, but got a hole through both and didn't realize it. My pinky finger got a little red. It was fine the next day. Hey, don't underestimate the power of prayer in gaining inspiration on what to do.

I polished the journal surface with 2000 grit sandpaper. I put new synchronizers in and new bearings on. The new races will be installed in the case.

When I tried to put the parts in the front differential, the gears wouldn't fit. At this point, I thought I had the wrong case. The part is non-returnable. Here I am, stuck with a $290 wrong part, I thought. At this point, I got frustrated and discouraged more than usual. But read on.

Here are some pictures comparing the two differential cases:

Broken front differential case, left. Right: MD770937

I used a die grinder to try to help get the pin out. I ended up drilling the pin from this side.

After looking around, I found that I got ripped off on the case (sorry Mitsubishi). It was $286.90 from the Mitsubishi dealer, but the exact same part number was $156.80 at tascaparts.com.
Or $161 at dodgepart. 
Or $168 from ordermopar.com.
Or $170.80 from moparpartsstore.
Or  from $229.52 from discountmitsubishiparts.

Without a VIN (I didn't want to go home to get it), the Mitsubishi dealer wasn't sure he was looking up the right part. So I checked the classifieds and found two 1997 Mitsubishi Eclipse GSX Turbo AWD cars, both with manual transmissions. Those cars have VINs like 4A3AL54F8VE011111, (where only the last five digits were different between the two cars.).

So I had the dealer look up the VIN from the Turbo AWD 5-speed Eclipse and indeed, the MD770937 was the correct part for the turbo AWD. My transmission was definitely an AWD model, so it looks like somebody put the wrong differential in.

For front wheel drive models, it looks like the differential case number is MD746800, and is available at discountmitsubishiparts for $247.58.

Could the wrong differential case have contributed to the failure? Maybe.
Could the lack of a magnet have caused the failure? Probably.
Could the failure have been caused by abuse like dumping the clutch at 5000 RPMS to try and spin the wheels? It has happened before on these cars.
Could the failure have been caused by lack of oil? Possibly, but only if the garage the previous owner took it to had added oil. It was full of nasty black oil with aluminum and other metal in it when I got it.

Now that I think I have all the correct parts, I'll continue this adventure in a future post.

Here's the parts list so far:

MR954819 spacer set for the differential - $37.28
MN178199 pin for diff  - $4.15
MD748538 differential gear kit - $170.42
MN178197 differential washers - $4.71
MD731948 nut - two @ $8.92 each
MD770937 differential case - $286.90
MD741725 oil guide - $6.60
MD955485 magnet - $2.60
MD727258 magnet holder - $2.55
MD749150 speedometer gear - $16.00
MR983368 transfer case output seal - $8.60
MD731793 transfer case input seal - $8.39
BK361BWS rebuild kit - about $350

Update Jan 10, 2022

I'm back on it. I took a long break on this project. I cleaned up the transmission in my parts washer and found that it was put it together with clear household silicon. 

Part 2

Check out my video for part 2 on YouTube: 

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Zj8xCEH4r6g

Oil Filter Manufacturing Defect

I bought my 1996 Thunderbird in 2003 with about 54,000 miles on it. Since then, I've been running full synthetic 5W30 engine oil in it, and changing the oil about every 4,000 - 6,000 miles. Now the car has 228,000 miles on it. It doesn't lose any oil between oil changes. I checked the dipstick before I changed the oil yesterday, and the oil level was at the full mark. I hadn't added any since I last changed the oil 6229 miles ago. I also like to pour new oil inside the new filter so that the oil pressure builds up much faster.

I like to use high quality oil filters because if a filter fails, it can kill the engine. So yesterday, I took my new Mobil 1 M1-209 oil filter out of the box and saw a potential engine-killing defect.

The clean oil is returned in the tube that threads onto the center of the baseplate. If I just screwed this filter on and that metal fragment came loose inside the filter, it could have gone into the engine and destroyed a bearing.

This defect was from machining the threads. I pulled on it and more came off. But I dropped the filter as I was taking the picture, and you can see I dented the side of the baseplate on the left. I'll have to watch for leaks.

Lot number and "country of origin"
You can see my reflection as I'm taking the picture.

The baseplate is machined before being assembled with the filter. Since nobody noticed, the assembly process appears to be highly automated. But I don't know if they have any kind of automated visual inspection on the threads since they missed this defect.

To prevent this kind of defect, they need to either improve their thread cutting process, or add a de-burring step after cutting the threads. That leaves me to wonder why a premium oil filter would be manufactured with such cost-cutting measures as skipping a de-burring process that is vital to product quality.

How to make your engine last longer:

1. Don't lose oil pressure by running too low on oil. 
2. Don't overheat the engine.
3. Don't run low on oil. This accelerates oil breakdown.
4. Fill the new oil filter with oil before installing it.
5. Use a high quality oil filter. 
6. Use synthetic engine oil of the correct weight.
7. Change the oil frequently enough.