Two things that might indicate defects

Alphaelectric

Registered User
So after I got my SC back on the road I observed two things that didn't seem right, so I thought I check with you if that is indeed a defect I'm looking at.

1) Engine temp gauge barely moves.
After starting the engine, the temp gauge hangs almost upright in the middle. Once the engine warms up, it moves a little bit to the right. When the engine gets hot, I can hear the fan turning on, but the temp gauge has moved maybe a quarter of an inch and I can't really tell if it is really in a healthy area again.

Shouldn't it make more use of the available space ?
On my old Benz I can tell when the fan cools the engine down to normal because the pointer moves visibly down to the middle.


2) The wiper motors seem excessively slow.
Is it possible that the wiper motors on 1990 Thunderbirds are slow fellas? The blades creep across the windshield. I wouldn't even put them slow so I run them on fast all the time when its raining. Still, the window gets all smudgy again while they're still moving.


Now for the parts. I can get hold of parts from a parts car with this VIN: 1FAPP604TLH10171

It's supposed to be a standard 3,8L model from 1990. Can I reuse the temp gauge from the standard instrument cluster and also the wiper motor if needed?

Thanks a bunch
 
I don't think the TEMP gauge from the 3.8L N/A motor can be installed on your SC. The siza of the two is completely different.
 
Hmm, I wanted to check, but the cluster got apparently sold already. So anyway, I'll check the sending unit when I get a chance.
 
Depending on which cluster the donor car has, if it's the same physical size, it'll swap in.

There's a TSB on the sending unit for these gauges, that fails and typically causes extremely low readings. I'd swap the sending unit first (it's the one-terminal temp unit - Motorcraft SW2328 is only $14.65 at RockAuto, and most of the other brands are less.

The wiper motor on these cars wasn't sealed at the back, so several will be failing due to water incursion. Also, the age is such that I'll bet the pivots are bone dry. I have a write up on TCCoA where I rebuilt my wiper transmission using parts from the HELP! line - http://forums.tccoa.com/showthread.php?t=134166

RwP
 
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