So.....Stangnet has permanently ruined me. Other auto forums just suck. 
Even ones specifically for said vehicle. So I am going to post this here and the powers that be can decide if it's ok or not. I hope I'm not causing a problem doing this but I take full responsibility if so....just let me know.
I bought a Honda CRV several years back after being talked out of buying what I wanted. The Honda bit the dust a couple months ago. Total transmission failure. Luckily I knew a guy that wanted it to fix. I got $3k for it and counted this as fortunate. Drove it for 4 years without any trouble. Paid $3400 when i got it. No worries.
Now I have a 1998 Grand Marquis. A friend of mine passed away and his family knew I needed a vehicle so they called me and sold it to me at a very good price. The car needed some clean-up and basic maintenance items. Had to be jumped off from dead battery. Car sat for a few months but luckily had almost no fuel in it. So here is my post pasted from the other site. This is all the info at the moment.
Note these few things before reading:
-The car run perfectly smooth at IDLE.
-The car run perfectly smooth on the interstate until you turn the AC on.
-No check engine light at the moment.
Post 1
Car history:
-Purchased from the family of a friend that passed away. He bought it with 71k.
-current mileage 139k
-I've had it a month and a half
-car sat for 4 or 5 months and was filthy but cleaned up perfectly
-cloth interior that's almost perfect
Initial repairs-tune up....(car had a miss when I got it and didn't really want to go even 65mph on the interstate.)
-new coil packs, spark plugs, pcv valve and hose, air filter, fuel filter, cleaned MAF & IAT sensor.
-wipers
-oil & filter
-battery & battery terminals
-hood lift struts
-sway bar end links (not installed yet)
Problems
The car has a miss. That's why I did the plugs and coils. Didn't fix it. Code shows cylinder 2 misfire. Like most, it's when going up a hill and in overdrive the most. It's still there at other times but under load it's a bad shake. You can feel that it's ignition. Leaving the driveway and easing around toward the interstate you can't feel the miss.
After getting the code, I took one of the old coils and put it on #2 to see. Seemed to smooth out and I thought I fixed it. But once on the interstate at 55 or 60 it came back. I'm beyond frustrated. The entire reason I got this car was as primary transportation and not a project car. I still have the 88 Mustang GT that I bought new. That's my project car if need be. Not this one. I need this car to be dependable like these cars are known to be. The whole reason I picked one of these was to get away from the expense I had with the Honda. It was great until the trans died then it was terminal.
I really want to keep this car. I know the history. My friend sold me his 2017 Mustang GT wheels and tires that he recently took off and that saved me from having to buy the tires that the car needed. They look great and were cheap. Unfortunately, I don't have money to keep throwing at it. It's either going to be fixed or sold. I've been looking at these cars for several years and wanted one instead of the Honda but I was talked out of it. Now that I have one, I've worked on it every single day since I got it. That was not the goal. I saw plenty of these cars for sale that needed zero work. Ready to roll. I'm not ready to give up yet but I'm close.
The Honda forums were useless. They weren't car guys. Their favorite advice was "stop trying to fix it and take it to the dealer like you should." That was between their rude responses. Not for me. I like Stangnet because we don't treat people like that. You get one warning then booted.
Many thanks!
Wayne
Ps... If y'all can help me get this fixed we will figure out the front suspension next. But I'm not putting another dollar into other things until the miss is fixed.
Post 2
I've done some more troubleshooting. I decided to drive the car to the next town over and see if I could isolate some of the roughness I'm feeling. 25 miles one way. I left the house and went a couple miles to the interstate. No radio or AC and windows up so I could hear everything. Got on the interstate and set the cruise to 70. Zero issues so far. Car shifts good and maintains speed. No missing at all. So with about 5 miles left I was getting hot in the car with no AC on so I turned that on. Instant missing, bucking, stumbling...whatever you want to call it. So I turned it off. Back to totally smooth. On the way home I decided to do the same. Drove half way home with AC off and car was perfect. The second I turn the AC on it starts running rough again.
So I got a buddy of mine that made his living as a mechanic (then went into the Army and retired from there as a mechanic) to stop by. He focused on the AC. Said it was perfectly smooth at idle and the clutch engaged exactly as it should....which was my observation as well. No unusual noises around or near the compressor. Engine runs smooth at idle with or without AC on. That lead us both to think the idle air control valve was working as it should. If not, the idle would have shown it. Again, I'm having zero problems at idle.
He suggested to turn everything off and go take off aggressively (not to the floor though) and see 2 things: How the transmission shifts and if the fuel pump is weak under load. Reasonable acceleration should show this I think. He thought maybe the fuel pump was weak and was just not firing the injector and causing the stumbling. I don't think this is it because the acceleration test was perfect. Shifted great and no missing at all. Not sure what else to look at. Hoping you guys will help.
He has a set of noid lights I'm going to borrow later but I think I've eliminated that. The car runs perfect until I turn the AC on. Oh, and the AC itself works just fine.
The day I got it.....
After a month of work
Even ones specifically for said vehicle. So I am going to post this here and the powers that be can decide if it's ok or not. I hope I'm not causing a problem doing this but I take full responsibility if so....just let me know.I bought a Honda CRV several years back after being talked out of buying what I wanted. The Honda bit the dust a couple months ago. Total transmission failure. Luckily I knew a guy that wanted it to fix. I got $3k for it and counted this as fortunate. Drove it for 4 years without any trouble. Paid $3400 when i got it. No worries.
Now I have a 1998 Grand Marquis. A friend of mine passed away and his family knew I needed a vehicle so they called me and sold it to me at a very good price. The car needed some clean-up and basic maintenance items. Had to be jumped off from dead battery. Car sat for a few months but luckily had almost no fuel in it. So here is my post pasted from the other site. This is all the info at the moment.
Note these few things before reading:
-The car run perfectly smooth at IDLE.
-The car run perfectly smooth on the interstate until you turn the AC on.
-No check engine light at the moment.
Post 1
Car history:
-Purchased from the family of a friend that passed away. He bought it with 71k.
-current mileage 139k
-I've had it a month and a half
-car sat for 4 or 5 months and was filthy but cleaned up perfectly
-cloth interior that's almost perfect
Initial repairs-tune up....(car had a miss when I got it and didn't really want to go even 65mph on the interstate.)
-new coil packs, spark plugs, pcv valve and hose, air filter, fuel filter, cleaned MAF & IAT sensor.
-wipers
-oil & filter
-battery & battery terminals
-hood lift struts
-sway bar end links (not installed yet)
Problems
The car has a miss. That's why I did the plugs and coils. Didn't fix it. Code shows cylinder 2 misfire. Like most, it's when going up a hill and in overdrive the most. It's still there at other times but under load it's a bad shake. You can feel that it's ignition. Leaving the driveway and easing around toward the interstate you can't feel the miss.
After getting the code, I took one of the old coils and put it on #2 to see. Seemed to smooth out and I thought I fixed it. But once on the interstate at 55 or 60 it came back. I'm beyond frustrated. The entire reason I got this car was as primary transportation and not a project car. I still have the 88 Mustang GT that I bought new. That's my project car if need be. Not this one. I need this car to be dependable like these cars are known to be. The whole reason I picked one of these was to get away from the expense I had with the Honda. It was great until the trans died then it was terminal.
I really want to keep this car. I know the history. My friend sold me his 2017 Mustang GT wheels and tires that he recently took off and that saved me from having to buy the tires that the car needed. They look great and were cheap. Unfortunately, I don't have money to keep throwing at it. It's either going to be fixed or sold. I've been looking at these cars for several years and wanted one instead of the Honda but I was talked out of it. Now that I have one, I've worked on it every single day since I got it. That was not the goal. I saw plenty of these cars for sale that needed zero work. Ready to roll. I'm not ready to give up yet but I'm close.
The Honda forums were useless. They weren't car guys. Their favorite advice was "stop trying to fix it and take it to the dealer like you should." That was between their rude responses. Not for me. I like Stangnet because we don't treat people like that. You get one warning then booted.
Many thanks!
Wayne
Ps... If y'all can help me get this fixed we will figure out the front suspension next. But I'm not putting another dollar into other things until the miss is fixed.
Post 2
I've done some more troubleshooting. I decided to drive the car to the next town over and see if I could isolate some of the roughness I'm feeling. 25 miles one way. I left the house and went a couple miles to the interstate. No radio or AC and windows up so I could hear everything. Got on the interstate and set the cruise to 70. Zero issues so far. Car shifts good and maintains speed. No missing at all. So with about 5 miles left I was getting hot in the car with no AC on so I turned that on. Instant missing, bucking, stumbling...whatever you want to call it. So I turned it off. Back to totally smooth. On the way home I decided to do the same. Drove half way home with AC off and car was perfect. The second I turn the AC on it starts running rough again.
So I got a buddy of mine that made his living as a mechanic (then went into the Army and retired from there as a mechanic) to stop by. He focused on the AC. Said it was perfectly smooth at idle and the clutch engaged exactly as it should....which was my observation as well. No unusual noises around or near the compressor. Engine runs smooth at idle with or without AC on. That lead us both to think the idle air control valve was working as it should. If not, the idle would have shown it. Again, I'm having zero problems at idle.
He suggested to turn everything off and go take off aggressively (not to the floor though) and see 2 things: How the transmission shifts and if the fuel pump is weak under load. Reasonable acceleration should show this I think. He thought maybe the fuel pump was weak and was just not firing the injector and causing the stumbling. I don't think this is it because the acceleration test was perfect. Shifted great and no missing at all. Not sure what else to look at. Hoping you guys will help.
He has a set of noid lights I'm going to borrow later but I think I've eliminated that. The car runs perfect until I turn the AC on. Oh, and the AC itself works just fine.
The day I got it.....
After a month of work
