Wifes Cougar

[bunter]

have a look at the coolant leval see if the fans are running.

she toped the coolant up 20 mins later she rang back with the cougar has over heated.

so i rang a mate to pick me up and off to find them on Cumberland hwy livo. i get there no coolant and its all over the ground behind and under the car, so lucky i took 12l of water and re filled it ran the car seemed to cool down and looked stable enough to drive, she drove off go 10meters down the road and it spat out all the water all over the place.

Ended up getting a tow truck and had it towed home,
Next day ii drove it just up the road to my mech and said FIX it and then call me.


next day he rings me and said that the coolant bottle had a big split in it and that the water pump had a big crack in it and that the thumastat O righ had to be replaces and 1 hose and a few hose clamps, and told me it also needs a fan belt and the tension pulley was seized.

Rang ford for a coolant bottle and got told 238.80 + GST, bugger that, my mech gave me a number to ring for a coolant Bootle maz bits in Grandville, 2nd hand near new for $125, car is all back and running found out what started all the trouble i9t all started because of the tension pulley had seized and stuffed the belt and that stoped the pump from working and it built up so much pressure it split the pump and the coolant bottle.

now have to do the struts in the front and the strut bearings 350 a pair of boges from Penrith.

here i was thinking that it would be hard to find parts so far so good and not from ford.

lucky we didnt blow any of the head gascuts.

[GotheProbe]

Another option for parts is always the U.S. or Canada. It can be a little hit & miss though. I bought a distributor some time back from Canada and while it looked the goods and was a fraction of the price buying local it didn't last long (couple of years max). My mechanic opened it up and said the internals didn't look so well made. So after a couple of years forked out for a locally made new one anyway. Maybe I just had bad luck & depending on the part sometimes it's worth punt trying O/S. I've read other posts where people have paid a couple of hundred dollars compared to $3,000 odd dollars locally for the same part.
Cheers.

[thearrow]

Bunter don't use bogie struts when you can get genuine parts from the USA quite cheap. Sorry to hear about your coolant problems at the moment I have a faulty coolant level sensor that sets off the check engine light every now and again first time it happened I was really worried but had it checked and am now on the hunt for a replacement.

[bunter]

ok getting kyb front shocks from the usa will have upto 3 weeks to get shiped here for 350 AU

here in australia for the same kybs want almost $800

[thearrow]

Bunter I can assure you that if you order from here you will have your front struts within 7 days delivered to your door by courier (I get my parts delivered to my office).

http://www.rockauto.com/

I think you will be surprised by their price & service just make sure you get the right part.

[thearrow]

I should have said when you log on to their site you are looking for Mercury Cougar parts.

[bunter]

well i have the kyb front struts coming in from the usa @ $348 AU i looked around here in au and found that the same kyb struts they ask well over 700 a pair, also kyb here in sydney dont even stock them.

so lat next week getting the front struts and strut pbearings done as well as the service and new plugs and filters as well as one of the rocker cover gaskuts replaced and it will be back on the road.

[thearrow]

Bunter it's good she will be back on the road it will be well worth it and she will really notice the difference I am sure.

[thearrow]

Bunter, how did you go with the front struts???

[bunter]

good news this afternoon the KYB front struts came in from the USA yesterday, so all the parts should be at my front door monday morning.

this is the parts list

Strut Mount Cougar 99-02 x2 thats the bearings and caps.
Filter kit V6 air/fuel/Oil
Spark Plugs Platunum x6
Valve cover gasket set cougar v6
Gasket Inlet cougar v6
KYB Front Strut (pair)

had to get the gaskets as the rocker cover one was leaking and i wias told i need the inlet gasket set for when they change the plugs as the inlet has to come off to do the job.

[bunter]

All these parts are coming from Pontiworld Australia down from down at the gong.

dave from there is great he hunted ford the front sturts for me i could have got stuck but i wanted kyb and he found a st for me in the USA.

[bunter]

YAY its almost over i get my car back soon.

we paid $348 for the kyb front struts and 118 for the strut caps and bearings, and it cost $176 to have them fitted and wheel alignment.

on top of that we had a service done, we supplied Motorcraft Double Platinum plugs air and fuel/oil filter and all up with the front struts and the service cost $276 thats labour.

i was lucky to find a mechanic that used to work for marshal merc in parameter i used to know when i worked at the same place as a detailer for the same company.

[bunter]

here is a photo of the strut caps, the one on the left is the pas side the one on the right is the drives side, see how the center has snaped out of the cap.

This is was was making all the banging sound when she hit a small pot hole or a ripple in the road.

[thearrow]

Wow that's amazing that it would fail like that but then when you drive around on some of the goat tracks that are passed off as roads in this city what can you expect.

I have a front mag wheel that has cracked and is leaking air and another one that is buckled. So a new set is on the way from the USA still it is a cost I hadn't planned for and I didn't really need at the moment.

It's good that she is back on the road - post some pics.

[bunter]

it is great the kyb stuts are great. i will post up som photos this afternoon.

its got all options bar the sunroof.

[bunter]

ok here are a few photos of the cougar.

[bunter]

the wife next week is getting the car fitted out for custom car seat covers,
i think they going to be black with red insert, with the cougar logo on the front head rests and cougar across the centre of the insert, the back will be the same as the front less the logo on the head rests as there aren’t any.

Wednesday they take the car for 2 hours to make temples for both front and rear seats also getting mats made up for it as well.

she is ordering the cougar bonnet scoop as well as getting some air brushing done down the sides and on the bonnet of a cougar on the bonnet and the out line of a cougar stretched out down the sides.

[b2tf]

I saw "Wife" and "Cougar" in the thread title and expected something so very different........

[bunter]

lol wat was running in your mind when you saw that ?.

[thearrow]

You will have to post more pics when the work is finished. What colour will the exterior paint work be??

Will be interested to see the seats as well.

[Dshibi]

Nice to see some pics of the car Bunter. Interesting read about the KYB struts as well. I've been looking at replacing mine for a while. Will have to see if that's the way to go. I assume they'll work on a lowered car as well.

Dan

[bunter]

if they are on lows should be ok, if they are sl or ul i dont think so, you will need short stuts.

my wife is also looking into getting the bonet scoop and the small rear wing,

oh does anyone knopw if a double din sterio will fit were the factory one is ?.

my wife also wants to get a double din installed the one with the 7inch screen with gps and all that. just need to know if it will fit

[Dshibi]

Awesome, I've got 118000 on the clock now. The springs (just standard Pedders SportsRyders) have been in for a while though, but just feel the struts might need a change soon (or well past! hahahah, whenever Ford gets a look during service though they say there's no issues).

I had the small spoiler but sold it to pcperfection! But they should be easy to source, and cheaper than the Eibach one (which I now have).

A double DIN head unit will fit but might need an adaptor housing to fit snugly (there's a few you can get) otherwise you might end up with gaps either side of the unit.

Cheers,

Dan

[bunter]

not much to report on the car its going in Monday to get new front rotors and new front and rear pads.

On Wednesday we take the car in to get the new fitted custom car seat covers put on as they have to take the seats out to fit them, they aren’t like your norm covers that just tie up these have to be fitted like they are glove, also putting blue LEDs to light up the front and rear foot areas so when you open the doors it lights up.

so soon as the works done Wednesday ill post up the photos.

[bunter]

ok an update

got the car seat covers done, now this is what the eife wanted, so woman have a weird idear of things.

car seat covers, as you can see the air brushing of the cougars head in the back of the car seats













Custom carpets made to fit in the cougar




She has had blue LED in the foot wells will get photo tonight when its dark.

[thearrow]

Mate.....as long as she is happy.

[bunter]

well she isn’t happy they buggered up the ecu the abs and the traction control, the idiots shorted out the wiring while they were trying to install the lights in the car,

we took the car to our mach and launch in Smithfield and they got the error codes from the ecu.

so they shorted out and blew fuses and we have been told that enough to screw the ecu and the ABS and the traction control.

so this going to cost them allot to fix.

now the way they set up the lights was not the way my wife asked of them.
they were to have it running off the door switch so when you open the door the lights light up the foot are of the car front and back.

Well these so called qualified people should have known that Fords are neg switching on the door switches for the inside light.

So now we have the Traction control light on the dash on all the time, the ABS light on and the handbrake light on.

they used 2 strips of small LEDS one in the back just below the bottom of the rear seat and cut a 2 foot slice in the carpet.

then they got the 2nd light strip and fed it behind the console under then dash, to light up the front, and because they didnt know how to hook up the light switch and kept shorting it out and popping fuses, they ended up drilling a hole under the dash and putting in a switch to turn it on. And this defeats the perpus of why they were wanted there in the first place.

Now this is not going to be cheap for him to fix.

not happy jan.....

[thearrow]

So bunter what happened are you back on the road again??

[bunter]

yes the car is on the road has been always just the ABS and the Tracktion control isnt working.

i have been in touch with the guy that did it and he has taken full blame for what has happen.

He has no choice in the matter.

he had a guy that worked for him that didnt know what he was doing and that guy stuffed the ECU and the ABS computer. that have to be fixed or replaced, and thats not going to be cheap for him been told it could cost him upwards of 3k

[REDDYZ]

I would suggest to buy a second hand ECU from wreckers... should be under $500...