Bad Luck

We sometimes joke about selling a car when a major problem starts to show symptoms, but I never considered concealing it and selling it. Unfortunately, I think someone did that to Cameron. He had saved up and just bought himself a car the day before this happened:

I could feel the anguish and tears in his voice when he called me. "Dad, can you come pick me up?" It pierced my heart. "Where are you?"

Before we get to that point, let me tell you what led up to that. Cameron needed a car and was borrowing my 1996 Thunderbird. He grew to like it and asked if he could just buy it from me. I said "Sure. $200 cash plus your $200 interest in the Contour we bought together." Done deal.

He drove that Thunderbird for several months until something happened to it while he was doing donuts in the snow. It felt like a driveline vibration, but still was there when you rev it up in park. The vibration didn't change as the revs came down. I think the flex plate got bent or something and made the torque converter off balance. It vibrates even on rev-down, so it's not a misfire. Pulling the transmission was going to be some work, so he thought it would be cool to put a Mark VIII engine in it.

We went to the dealership where they had a 1997 Mark VIII that was advertised for $1999. We asked for an out-the-door price and they said $3500. Yeah, right. During negotiations, we found out it was a repo. We finally got out the door for $2250 because we were nice and they enjoyed doing business with us.

Fast forward about six weeks or so. Cameron was doing donuts in the snow again. But this time the engine started making noise. When you rev it above 3000 or so, it made a horrible knocking noise. Low RPM throttle punches don't make noise. So we pulled off the valve cover to take a look. Compression was 155 on all cylinders except one at 135. As we were cranking the engine for the compression check, we noticed that the oil coming into the top of the cylinder head looked like it had metal flakes, kind of like metal flake paint - really fine particles. The cam bearing was scored too.

My best guess was that the engine was starved of oil at some point recently. It could have been when it was repossessed. So that engine needed to be rebuilt. I'm guessing a main crankshaft bearing went bad - not a rod bearing. He was so disappointed. He told me that his mind was insistent, saying "don't buy this car" during negotiations. But he did anyway. Hey, it has a 290 horsepower V8. Should have listened to the still small voice.

So the Lincoln got to sit next to the Thunderbird at the top of the driveway while he borrowed my Cougar to get to work and saved up more money to buy another car.

Classified ads can be really tempting. That's where he found the 2010 Lincoln MKS. Black. He went to take a look at the car and fell in love. He remembered me saying not to borrow money for a car. It might break down and then you'll be stuck with a broken car, a car payment, and a repair bill you can't afford. But this was less than $3000 above what he had saved. He could pay that off fairly quickly. So on his day off, he and his friend went to go get the car. He didn't ask me to come along because I think he was afraid I would say something about not borrowing money. He's probably right.

Wednesday evening, he brought it home. I drove it. It was nice. I didn't give it full throttle, but I could tell it was fast. The next day, he took it to the DMV and got plates for it. Then I got the phone call.

"Dad, can you come pick me up?" By the tone in his voice, I didn't know if he wrecked it or if it broke down. "Where are you?", I asked. He said "I just got on the freeway and it started shaking and went into neutral." I said I'll bring my truck and come get you.

I didn't even check to make sure my tow strap was in the truck. But luckily I had a super heavy ratcheting strap that worked. When I got there, the car wouldn't even start. So I towed it to the next exit and we got off the freeway. We had to stop because the steering wheel started shaking. Adding injury to injury, the front right tire was flat. The tire was destroyed, but the rim still looked ok.

It didn't take too long to get the tire changed. At least the spare tire had air. While we were changing the tire, I had the jumper cables connected and my engine, idling. That was enough to get the MKS to fire up for the drive home. Power brakes are nice, especially when being towed.

We checked the engine codes and didn't find any transmission codes that would explain it. So I scrolled through and found an entry for "input shaft RPM above expected". That'll do it. During a test drive around the block, he gave it a little gas and the transmission started slipping. I said "whoa, whoa" because I kind of cringe when I can feel the clutch slipping. Driving constant speed, the slip read about 0.5 RPM, essentially zero. But when he gave it a little gas the next time, it hit 336RPM. That's it. The transmission was slipping.

We got home and he parked it. Reality was starting to sink in. Mom asked "is it the transmission?" and that was too much for Cameron. He cried "yes" as he walked back into the hallway, leaned against the wall and slid down to the floor sobbing. All the frustration of having three cars break down in less than three months came to the surface. It broke my heart. I sat next to him and his sister sat on the other side giving him a hug. Mom tried, but she can't get down on the floor. Well, she could, but getting up would be another story.

Here's where parenting gets hard. Giving kids everything they want isn't good. You don't want to spoil them. But you want to be there for them when they need you. How much should you help them and how much do you let them struggle to make their achievements on their own?

I considered it thoroughly, weighing my options, relying on God for guidance. I found a transmission on Rockauto and it was about $2600 with a $1000 core. I said I could order it and he could pay me back over time. So with taxes and shipping, it was around $4200. I bought it. I was worrying if I had done the right thing. So in a thought, I wondered if God would approve of what I did. I felt a still small voice in my heart say "you did just what I wanted you to do."

Sister asked if there was any recourse from the seller. Private party sales are as-is, so unfortunately, no. But I was thinking that there's a special place in hell for people who knowingly sell a car with a major mechanical problem and don't disclose it. I'm not saying that's the case here. He may well not have known. I think he did. But for anyone that does know, this is the kind of impact it can have.

It kind of annoys me that the catalogs will list parts that don't fit your car. As you can see, there are two transmissions that are listed, but one is not for the EcoBoost version. There is absolutely no reason to list a part that doesn't fit the selected vehicle.

I ordered the one that was in stock. It's not like me to order the wrong part when there is more than one part number listed. I'm pretty sure that when I ordered it, the other part number wasn't there. They even have you enter your VIN to "make sure" you get the right transmission. That didn't work.

From checking things since then, it looks like the AA5Z7000GRM is the 6F50 for non-EcoBoost, and the AA5Z7000BRM is the 6F55 for the EcoBoost. Why couldn't they just include that crucial bit of information?

I ordered the AA5Z7000GRM (6F50) and it came with a three-bolt-hole torque converter. But this MKS EcoBoost had a four-bolt-hole torque converter. So he installed the 6F50 anyway, not noticing that the flywheel had a four-bolt pattern and the new torque converter had a three-bolt pattern. So he had to take the transmission out again.

To make it fit, he was going to swap out the torque converter, so he turned in the old one as a core when he ordered it. But then he cancelled it and bought the three-bolt flywheel instead because it was cheaper that way. Unfortunately, the torque converter core already left for the remanufacturer, so that'll ding the core credit on the transmission. I'm not sure what would happen if I turned in a 6F55 as a core for the 6F50. I might pay for shipping and get no credit. That's a big risk.

After he got it all back together, and maybe not too surprisingly, it runs and drives.

It had a bunch of transmission error codes before the swap, and there was a tuner program loaded. Going back to stock with the tuner produces a bunch of errors and the engine doesn't idle right. I'm not sure what the tuner did to the PCM, but it doesn't seem like it re-installed the stock program correctly. Or it was covering up problems. We'll find out more on this later.

The air conditioning didn't work well because the radiator fans wouldn't come on until the engine warmed up. The PCM controls the fans and the AC clutch, so it must have been the tuner messing with the wrong things. The fans are supposed to come on with the compressor, but the tuner made it so the fans only come on due to coolant temperature.

Transmission Failed Again

Fast forward a few months and 5000 miles later. We learned an expensive lesson. The transmission needs to be programmed to the computer. That's a new one for me. The new transmission never shifted right. Then it started slipping and making a whirring noise when idling.

So I decided to check if I could return it under warranty. Going through the online questions, it asked if I discovered the problem before or after installation. After. Was it the correct part for the car? No. Their response: Sorry, you can't return the part.

Ok that was a little disappointing. So I returned the 6F50 as the core. Yup, the exact same transmission they sent me only a few months ago went back as the core.

I took the original 6F55 down to Action Transmissions and had it rebuilt. While there, I was informed of the programming procedure. There's a number for the solenoid pack that needs to be programmed into the PCM so it will shift correctly. If I had read the instructions that came with the transmission, I would have known that. That's probably why it only lasted about 5000 miles. I took my piece of humble pie and waited not quite two weeks for them to rebuild it.

Hard Work

I was really tired, but spent several evenings and afternoons helping him fix his car. We have a neighbor who was very generous and let us use his shop with a lift for a few weeks. That's how Lincoln helped us fix the Lincoln.

While the engine was out, we replaced the water pump. Was there really no better option than making it a timing chain-driven water pump? Seriously. Who does this? Oh yeah, Ford. You can see the water pump sprocket about ten inches above the crankshaft sprocket.

We also changed the oil on the PTU (aka transfer case) while it was off the vehicle. Who makes a PTU with no drain plug? Again, Ford. The PTU fluid was definitely due for a fluid change. After draining it out the fill hole, I put another cup of 75W140 in there to flush it by turning the shaft and turning it different directions. The new fluid came out looking as bad as the old fluid.

Just in case we ever have to do the crankshaft position sensor, here it is, located behind the flywheel. It's actually accessible from the outside of the engine.

Here's the sub-frame. The engine is on the floor to the right.

Here's the new transmission connected to the engine, ready to go back in the car.

There are two ways to mount the rear transmission mount. Once you figure out the right way, it'll fit.

Oh No!

We got the car re-assembled and fired it up. The engine was sounding like it wasn't getting oil pressure. Then I heard a pop and looked under the car and saw a bolt had fallen to the ground along with a large puddle of oil. Shut it off!

After a close inspection, we determined that the oil supply line to the front turbo had the banjo bolt loosened, which we forgot about. There wasn't enough kitty litter in that small bag to clean this mess up. About four quarts were pumped out onto the brand-new garage floor. I was wondering if we'd ever be allowed back into that garage with the mess we made on his new concrete.

More Lessons Learned

We got it all back together and were ready for the transmission to be programmed. Before I had the guy come over, I used the tuner to re-program the PCM back to stock. It only took him about 20 minutes to program the transmission. When we fired it up, both the check engine light and the wrench light were on. I was concerned. The wrench light in our Freestyle meant that the transmission fluid pressure was too low and it was in limp mode.

After scanning for codes and looking at the sensors, I found that we forgot to plug in the camshaft position sensor on bank 1. Also, the MAP sensor was reading 15 inches Hg with the engine off, when it should have been 25 at this altitude. We plugged the cam position sensor back in, but the permanent code didn't go away when we reset the check engine light.

Here's where my ignorance cost Cameron another $75. He bought a new cam sensor and installed it and the permanent code still was there. I did some research on the internet and found that permanent codes don't go away with a reset or by disconnecting the battery. They only go away when you fix the problem and drive it enough so that the computer is satisfied that the problem is fixed.

The MAP sensor is probably why the car went into limp mode when the tuner programmed it back to stock. Like drugs minimizing pain, the tuner probably ignored the bad readings from the MAP sensor.

With a new MAP sensor, a new camshaft position sensor (now plugged in), new radiator hose, and the transmission successfully programmed ($150), it seems like it's all repaired. Hopefully it lasts.