The Unofficial "Ask a Stupid Question" Thread

[Derphound01]

G1 or H1?

And how much modding did you have to do for them to mate to the 9007 sockets?

 

[CDsDontBurn]

Statement: The 4.6 on our cars' engine take 5w-20 oil

Question: Do these engines take dino oil, synthetic blend oil, or full synthetic oil?

 

[1997ThunderbirdLXV6]

Statement: The 4.6 on our cars' engine take 5w-20 oil

Question: Do these engines take dino oil, synthetic blend oil, or full synthetic oil?

So we're not allowed to dispute the statement?

 

[XR7-4.6]

Our engines call for 5w30. Ford switched the 4.6 weight to 5w20 in the 2000s to eek a tiniest bit of efficiency out of.

They’ll take all of the above.

 

[KevinVarnes]

No variable valve timing garbage on our cars so you can run any type (conventional, blend, full synthetic) of oil that you desire.

This is from the 1997 owner's manual with regards to what viscosity Ford recommended:



A lot of companies switched from 5W-30 to 5W-20 in the early 2000's as XR7-4.6 stated to get a little more fuel mileage.

 

[Grog6]

I won't use Dino oil in a cheap lawnmower, lol.
Quaker state to Castrol Full Synthetic gave me 5mpg. Lazarus had QS in it when I got it.

 

[Derphound01]

5W-30 Dino oil is just fine in our cars if you change it every 3k or 12 months, whichever comes first. Synthetic is best, but YMM(literally)V.

5W-30 was the spec the car was engineered to use. 5W-20 was the bean counter spec to prevent class action suits over reduced fuel economy when E10 gasoline became the national standard.

 

[MadMikeyL]

Synthetic oil is always better. My recommendation is run synthetic 5w30 with a motorcraft filter and change it every 5-6K miles.

 

[White Lincoln]

Oooo, oooo... I have a stupid question!!!!

When I run the A/C on high and driving around town, there is this smell, like antifreeze or A/C or tranny or gas smell that is emitted. My Town Car did that once when we coming into Vegas after a long dusty drive from Albuquerque. What the heck is that smell??? Amaaco said it is the tranny passing heated fumes when the tranny gets hot. I have a tranny cooler on both cars.

Any suggestions?

 

[Kidd-7]

I had an ac smell a while ago, it musty and almost chemical like. I was told R134a smells like horse shit.
It ended up being the ac coil in the dash was moldy. Cleaned it out and all good now.

 

[White Lincoln]

I had an ac smell a while ago, it musty and almost chemical like. I was told R134a smells like horse shit.
It ended up being the ac coil in the dash was moldy. Cleaned it out and all good now.

What or how did you clean it out, if you don't mind me asking. Thanks!

I was thinking it can't be mold, I live in desert! But after 25 + years, it can accumulate and all it needs is some moisture to come alive.

 

[White Lincoln]

In searching "how to clean A/C coil", of all the u-toob headliner pics, ones showing goofy guys trying to clean out thier HVAC... this one got the most hits... I wonder why.



(it really did not get the most hits, but I think the creators thought it would.)

 

[XR7-4.6]

For me I took the blower out and sprayed the evaporator directly with this stuff (made for home AC systems) it works fantastic

 

[dDUBb]

I was thinking it can't be mold, I live in desert! But after 25 + years, it can accumulate and all it needs is some moisture to come alive.

Plenty of perspiration on a hot day; your body cools off when it evaporates and it condenses on the AC coil.

 

[SnowyOwl]

Here's one to properly match with the thread's title: When I unlock the driver's door manually (by rotating the key in the door lock cylinder), should the passenger side door unlock as well? Currently it does not unlock the passenger side.

My car has remote power locks (which are non-functional), but no keyless/keypad entry. The power locks work fine when operated from the switches on the door panel (inside).

 

[1997ThunderbirdLXV6]

should the passenger side door unlock as well?

No. That would be "European power locks".

 

[Kidd-7]

For me I took the blower out and sprayed the evaporator directly with this stuff (made for home AC systems) it works fantastic


View attachment 13135

I used something similar, make sure it’s a no rinse type. I also used a small brush to clear out as much debris as possible. I ran some water over the coils and made sure the drain was clear.
There’s not much room in there, I used a flashlight and my phone camera to check progress.

 

[Ericv8thunderbird]

So, I just got a message from my tuner about shutting off the check engine light for the trans swap.

“Ok bad news. I can't turn off those codes. The strategy files for that year simply dont go into enough detail. Ive turned off the functional parts of the transmission control but I can't access the monitoring controls.”

Does this seem right to you guys?

 

[CDsDontBurn]

Remove the light itself then? That'll turn off the light!

 

[KevinVarnes]

I won't use Dino oil in a cheap lawnmower, lol.
Quaker state to Castrol Full Synthetic gave me 5mpg. Lazarus had QS in it when I got it.

Not to turn this into a BITOG oil fight, but I used to run conventional in all of my cars and I cannot recall any of them having less than 250k miles when they were retired due to rust or sold. My old '92 V6 T-Bird was all conventional and ran a LOT of Fram filters. When the rear upper shock mounts rusted out at 260k the engine ran great and burned no oil. I think it is more about regular maintenance most of the time than what brand oil or filter you are using. Now, late model garbage with all of these variable valve timing solenoids and other crap, yeah, I'll put synthetic in those since they seem so sensitive to everything. Oh, my lawnmower runs conventional oil.

 

[Kenz]

Does this seem right to you guys?

No that isn't right. The tune on mine has the check engine light working as it should; same for others who have a proper tune with a manual swap. IMO take it somewhere else or pursue a different option for getting a tune.

 

[Zep5.0]

It's hard to find dinosaur liquid around here. I had to buy Castrol or Orielly was my other choice. (This is the break in oil for my 347 per builders request) I think I can go to synthetic after 3 oil changes and 1200-1500 miles. I tend to agree that synthetic is needed with newer stuff and will go that way after break in.

 

[MadMikeyL]

Not to turn this into a BITOG oil fight, but I used to run conventional in all of my cars and I cannot recall any of them having less than 250k miles when they were retired due to rust or sold. My old '92 V6 T-Bird was all conventional and ran a LOT of Fram filters. When the rear upper shock mounts rusted out at 260k the engine ran great and burned no oil. I think it is more about regular maintenance most of the time than what brand oil or filter you are using. Now, late model garbage with all of these variable valve timing solenoids and other crap, yeah, I'll put synthetic in those since they seem so sensitive to everything. Oh, my lawnmower runs conventional oil.

Conventional oil is fine for most cars, as long as you change it frequently. Synthetic oil will last longer, and doesn’t change viscosity as much with extreme hot or extreme cold temperatures, so the advantages will be most apparent during cold starts in the dead of winter, or when doing 100mph in 100F heat. Plus there is just the convenience factor of not having to change the oil as often.