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New Owner Tips!


UltimateLurker
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Hood Release Cable,  I have always applied a mixture of silicon spray and white litheum grease on the cable around the latch area.  Of course, mine could break tomorrow.  

 

Power Steering.  Avoid power steering fluid. Use Dexron Type II.

 

Vacuum lines.  Replace colapsed lines that have been soaked in fuel around throttle body.  Use a razor blade.  Be very carefully around existing plastic vac ports.

 

Thermostat.  Previous owner probably installed a 195, instead of factory 190.  Replace with 180 degree.

 

Throttle Body.  Purchase a throttle body rebuild kit and replace gaskets and o-rings.  A wet throttle body with fuel residue can and will lead to a fire.  

 

A/C Drain Hose. If you hear gurgling sounds when running A/C, replace the a/c drain hose under your glove box. The water will short out the ECU in passenger's side kick panel. There is another drain hose between inside/floor rails of car. Check/Clean as needed. Better yet, extend this drain hose to prevent rust on passenger's side frame rail.  

 

Cluster Switches. If your headlight doors won't close, remove and clean the contacts on the push buttons. While you are at it, remove corrosion on all electrical relays on driver's side inner fendor next to battery.  

 

Check Strut Isolators. In the engine compartment, look for center cap poking thru strut towers. Rear strut isolators are usually fine.

 

Replace timing and balance shaft chains. When you start your engine to begin your day, listen for tin can rattling noise under the hood.   That sound is your chains hitting the guides.  

 

Radiator Fans. Rather than wiring both fans to respond to low-temp coolant sensor, replace the high-temp sensor with another low-temp coolant sensor. When a problem occurs with the low-temp fan, the high-temp fan (now using low-temp sensor) is your redundant backup.  

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We can let this thread go on this board for now, and I can either combine the posts into one alphabetically as far as problem, with notes to check the FAQ procedure for the fix to the problem, etc...

Or, let me know how you would want it to look? It can go into the FAQ page when we get it how we want it, or we could go there with it now? Let me know.

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Some of my favorite things to check immediately, on any vehicle purchase.

 

1. Brakes - Linings, rubber hoses, calipers-for leaks.  

 

2. Hoses and belts - Splitting, fraying, cracking, swelling, when in doubt, replace it.  Don't forget to have a look at the heater hoses.

 

3.  Engine oil condition - Unless you know it's new, change it.  You never know when it was changed last.

 

4.  Wheel bearing pre-load and condition - They usually need a repack anyway, and I've been adamant about this since I had a spindle snap off from a seized outer bearing.  

 

5.  Engine Coolant condition - Should be nice and green.  If it's rusty and orange looking, flush it immediately and replace the thermostat.  Depleted engine coolant turns acidic, and will eat up the radiator, the water pump, and most everything else it flows through.

 

6.  Water Pump - A dead or dying water pump will either leak out of the weep hole, or make a noise similar to marbles being rolled around.  When the weep hole is leaking, coolant will leak down the front center of the engine.  Either scenario is indicative of an expiring water pump.

 

These few tips should help you keep the car cool and safe while you run it determining the rest of the car's condition.  Happy Motoring!!

 

Tim

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maybe edit #4 to assist in diagnosis = usually bucks once hard at around 3K. (?)

 

#6 NOTE: my igniter caused a complete no start condition, period.

 

Check the accordian intake hose at the turbo end for splits.

 

Leaky injectors can't be fixed with JB Weld or Epoxy.

 

Rear calipers (ebrake mech) and/or ebrake cables sieze commonly.

 

After oil changes, disconnect your coil and crank engine to be sure fresh oil gets to the turbo before you fire it up.

 

Don't try to mod a poorly running quest and expect it to run better.

 

Boy, this list could really go on...

 

Edde

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Put a small fire extinguisher in the back seat.  I've seen a bunch of these cars go up in smoke and nothings worse than watching it burn and not being able to do anything.  Check often for fuel leaks so you hopefully won't have to use it.

Nate

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  I think that if first we had an open area where these hints and repair questions are aswered and discussed,  and then a group of moderators take the hints and repair info and post in the FAQ forum but have it indexed and not a discussion site.  

 

What do  you think?

Have fun

Mark T

 

I think that makes much sense, Mark.  Hopefully it can be accomplished without requiring too much time/effort for the mods, and certainly might help reduce the redundancy factor in VM.

 

Edde

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I tried to set up my website in sections like the service manual, like Mark T suggested.  I never finished.  It is a lot of work for one person.

http://home.earthlink.net/~rbrown23/indyswebsites/g000.html

 

The "index" groupings that I decided to use:

Front Suspension

 

Rear Suspension

Rear Axle

 

Brakes

 

Clutch

 

Cooling

 

Electrical

 

Engine - Air Can & I/C

Engine - Intake

Engine - Turbo

Engine - Exhaust

Engine - Internals

 

Fuel - System

Fuel - Management

 

Propeller Shaft

 

Steering - Power

 

Transmission - 5 Speed

Transmission - Automatic

 

Wheels and Tires

 

Body - Frame

Body - Sheet Metal

Body - Interior

 

Heaters

Air Conditioning

 

Emission Control Systems

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one more thing  i don't think was mention'd

never take a  car out to see just what she'd made of  untill you've done your home work,   there is no point in blowing an engine or head  , just for the kicks of  trying to see if the speedo will top out

do the  complete check  list befor   trying any thing like that , you'l be  money ahead  by doing it ,  and  may live longer

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  • 2 weeks later...

Remember: Many running/driveability questions can be answered with a simple compression test on these cars. It is good to do that first, before asking a bunch of questions that need that information first, so people can better know what we are starting with.

White smoke at start up for about 30-45 seconds = coolant in the combustion chamber. Either a cracked head, or blown headgasket.

Continuous blueish white smoke = oil in the chamber, or a very bad turbo oil seal. Could be rings, valve stem seals (they usually only smoke blue at start-up), loose valve guides.

Bad turbo oil seal = the continous large amounts of blueish smoke. Way to tell is to remove the accordian boot to the air can, and reach in and move/wiggle the shaft up and down. Any play over a 1/4", and it is bad. 1/8" or so is normal. There will be a puddle of oil in the boot when you take it off. The whole Intercooler & plumbing system needs cleaned for sure then, if it doesn't already.

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  • 2 weeks later...

Thanks for the tips. I'm looking to purchase my 2nd Conquest this spring.

I do have a question?? I want to buy a daily driver and auto crosser for the weekends. Is there a better year or model for this application?

Can anyone help?

Thanks in advance

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  • 1 month later...
to everyone who throw out some tips i appericate it. i am hoepfully buying my 2nd quest and would love for this one to be with me for awhile. i am def gonna check into these thing everyone had mentioned and once again thank everybody, Rich
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  • 2 months later...
  • 5 months later...

Sup,

  I just bought an '87 Conquest last march (2002) with a blown head.  I thought I bought a lemon because I didn't know what kind of car this was. It sat broke for a year with ultimatums from the wife to get rid of it before I came back from Iraq. I remembered it as a kid. I just bought the new non-jet head for it and a few free do it yourself mods.  My questions as a virg-in-quest are:

1.  Modification to the Air Can. Can I simply cut out the slot and how big? There is a K&N filter installed already.

2.  The vacuum filter on top of the distributor may have failed. Can I fix it or replace it?  

3.  What is the 1g mas that everyone is talking about.  Does any other company beside Top-end Performance sell the ovcp/bov or the hardpipe package for the turbo/intercooler assembly.

4.  Can I fit the wheels of an 88 or 89 (9" wheels) on my 87 which has 8" wheels.

5.  Does anyone know why the 88 and 89 came out with more HP than the 87?  Why.

If you can help, hit me up jabattle@yahoo.com

"I'm a late bloomer, but I'm catching up fast. ;)

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  • 3 months later...

blxxdy ell,so is that a common problem over in the US then,starions on fire?after reading this forum link ill be spending the next few hrs goin over my starion fuel pipes with a fine tooth comb!!!

i know wot u mean about the calipers tho,every years mot means at least one caliper needing replacement!

also our cars seem to suffer big time from rust,mind you judging by the lack of paint on the inside of any of the  panels its hardly surprising really!

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Mine's an 86, and I hate to come across as a pin-head, but what exactly is an "igniter"?  I've got a few ideas, I guess, but please tell me for sure!  My rustless baby does exactly what you said about taking practically a full battery to get started, but if I restart within about 3 to 5 minutes, it'll fire just fine.  Also, I do get that nasty "hiccup" at or around 3000 r's.  I am SO grateful for this wonderful site.  Thank you!
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Mine's an 86, and I hate to come across as a pin-head, but what exactly is an "igniter"?  I've got a few ideas, I guess, but please tell me for sure!  My rustless baby does exactly what you said about taking practically a full battery to get started, but if I restart within about 3 to 5 minutes, it'll fire just fine.  Also, I do get that nasty "hiccup" at or around 3000 r's.  I am SO grateful for this wonderful site.  Thank you!

 

This really belongs in the Virtual Mechanic forum.  However...

"Ignitor" is the electronic ignition module.  Look for a small black plastic box (about the size of a deck of cards) bolted to the fender near the ignition coil on the 84-87 cars, or for a larger rectangular gold metal box on the 83 & 88-later cars.  That's the ignitor.  The black plastic ones are notorious for cutting out when the engine is warm, getting worse and worse until the car eventually won't start at all.  Sometimes wedging a rolled-up napkin between the fender and connector body is enough to "fix" the internal connection that fails.  It'll get you home at least.

 

Test the distributor vacuum advancer for leaks - that's the round UFO thing hanging off the distributor.  Undo the one vac hose feeding it and use a vacuum pump to apply vacuum to the advancer.  See if it holds vacuum - it should not leak at all.  If it does, it's bad.  The "Part # Database" on the left has a few aftermarket ones that work fine.  It's easy to replace too.  You don't have a vacuum pump?  Then use a short vac hose and suck on the hose, capping it with your tongue.  Stand there for a minute and make sure you can still feel the vacuum holding the hose to your tongue.  If it lets go, the advancer is bad.  Very common failure.

 

mike c.

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