Low Brake Fluid 2009 Ford Taurus

[PandaBear]

Originally Posted By: engineer20
i can post a picture later, but I took a picture of cotter pins or metric cotter pins in the "metric" section of ace hardware, so I don't know why you guys are so uptight about it, does it matter, and out of complete seriousness, you probably should use metric, but you said domestics use SAE but I can't tell if that's serious or if you're just joking. Don't modern domestics use metric too, as many of the nuts/bolts are metric on domestics, rather than sae? or for ford at least.


Wrong cotter pin.

An automotive grade "SAE" cotter pin that fit is safer than a garage door grade "metric" cotter pin (or the other way around, whatever). I don't know all the details but if the heat treatment or material is not right it will shatter at the wrong time.

Note: if you haven't notice by now all cotter pins will wiggle a little inside where it should go. A metric / SAE pin will wiggle more or less, so that's why it is no big deal between the slight size difference in 0.04mm (or 1 mil if you want to use English unit) they have, because they still wiggle.

 

[engineer20]

The taurus isn't leaking anymore. I didn't replace the hose, the new caliper isn't leaking, so it was the old caliper that was leaking, not the hose, or the brake line.

 

[engineer20]

http://www.harborfreight.com/555-piece-cotter-pin-storehouse-67558.html

These are the cotter pins I"m talking about. Safe on a camry or a taurus?

and why do fords use moly based grease, different from the lithium grease? Thanks.

 

[dishdude]

Originally Posted By: engineer20
http://www.harborfreight.com/555-piece-cotter-pin-storehouse-67558.html

These are the cotter pins I"m talking about. Safe on a camry or a taurus?

and why do fords use moly based grease, different from the lithium grease? Thanks.


I had a Ford that recommended BP gas, said so right on the gas cap. Can you use BP gas in cars that aren't Fords? Why do Fords use different gas?

 

[artbuc]

Originally Posted By: dishdude
Originally Posted By: engineer20
http://www.harborfreight.com/555-piece-cotter-pin-storehouse-67558.html

These are the cotter pins I"m talking about. Safe on a camry or a taurus?

and why do fords use moly based grease, different from the lithium grease? Thanks.


I had a Ford that recommended BP gas, said so right on the gas cap. Can you use BP gas in cars that aren't Fords? Why do Fords use different gas?


What about HF gas? I heard HF gas was good but the guy at Autozone said his sister used it once and it ruined her tires. I have a 20% coupon which makes it a really good deal except I just bought new tires and have lots of extra oil filters except the filters are different brands. Will HF gas work on all oil filters or just certain kinds. I heard HF gas works ok on most filters but my transmission fluid is low so I am not sure.

 

[dlundblad]

Harbor Freight gas?

 

[engineer20]

Cmon. Im serious. Go to the parts store and you'll see ford has a seperate grease tube and the chemical is moly whereas the lithium based tube says for gm, chrysler, and japanese , so I just wanted to know why and if you used the lithium grease in the ford, would it be ok or not. Go to advance auto and you'll see what Im talking about.

 

[mk378]

Consult the car's factory service manual for the type to use on the part you are working on. It is not as simple as "here is Ford grease, and this is for GM". Different parts of the same car will often use different greases.

 

[dishdude]

What would you even grease on a 2009 Taurus? There aren't any zerk fittings.

Or are we still talking about greasing the sway bar links and exhaust system?

So much foolishness I can't keep it straight!

 

[Nick1994]

Originally Posted By: dishdude
What would you even grease on a 2009 Taurus? There aren't any zerk fittings.

Or are we still talking about greasing the sway bar links and exhaust system?

So much foolishness I can't keep it straight!
Maybe he can put a zerk fitting on the muffler and grease it up with a grease gun once a month?

 

[yeti]

Originally Posted By: Nick1994
Originally Posted By: dishdude
What would you even grease on a 2009 Taurus? There aren't any zerk fittings.

Or are we still talking about greasing the sway bar links and exhaust system?

So much foolishness I can't keep it straight!
Maybe he can put a zerk fitting on the muffler and grease it up with a grease gun once a month?


nick --you and dish are both wrong about the zerks.on that model, there are 3 zerks on the exhaust system. 2 to lube the muffler, as it's spinning, and 1 to lube the muffler bearings.and, greasing them twice a year is good.

please get your facts straight, so as not to confuse e20.
have a good day.

 

[HerrStig]

Originally Posted By: engineer20
so i may need new brake pads soon, any DIY tips? What special tools would I need and I now have a 25 inch breaker bar to remove my wheels instead of the lug wrench which I struggled with because it wouldn't provide enough leverage in the past. Thanks. And which brand brake pads are the best? NAPA?
Cast iron. Why don't you read the Wiki on brake pads for a start and if you can understand it make up your own mind.

 

[mclasser]

Originally Posted By: engineer20
What about HF gas? I heard HF gas was good but the guy at Autozone said his sister used it once and it ruined her tires. I have a 20% coupon which makes it a really good deal except I just bought new tires and have lots of extra oil filters except the filters are different brands. Will HF gas work on all oil filters or just certain kinds. I heard HF gas works ok on most filters but my transmission fluid is low so I am not sure.

 

[engineer20]

the aftermarket parts may have zerk fittings, but maybe not the origianl, do struts need to be greased or no?

 

[PandaBear]

Originally Posted By: engineer20
so i may need new brake pads soon, any DIY tips? What special tools would I need and I now have a 25 inch breaker bar to remove my wheels instead of the lug wrench which I struggled with because it wouldn't provide enough leverage in the past. Thanks. And which brand brake pads are the best? NAPA?


I'm not sure if people were fooling with you but here is the thing:

How do you know you need brake pads soon? Did the thickness of the pad material gets to 2mm? rust corrosion? uneven wear? squeaking because the clip on the pad is touching the rotor (at 2mm, so you know it is time to change the pads)? If you still have thickness more than 2mm on every pad just leave it alone.

Unless you impact your previous wheel in, your lug nut wrench (or tire iron) should be enough to break loose the nut. You can put a water pipe over it and add leverage, or just stand and jump on it like I do (be careful not to slip and hurt yourself, and wear shoes). If you need a breaker bar you were doing it wrong.

Just stay with OEM if you need parts, they are good starting points until you know better.

Originally Posted By: engineer20
the aftermarket parts may have zerk fittings, but maybe not the origianl, do struts need to be greased or no?


I haven't seen zerk fitting on OEM parts on cars newer than mid 90s (my first car is a 95), for your Camry and Taurus I don't think you should buy anything with zerk fitting just to keep the design similar to OEM or until you know better (they are pain in the rear having to grease instead of install and forget).

Struts don't need to be greased, and don't do struts until you know better. If you make a mistake with spring compressor it can pop out and kill you or people near by. If you make a mistake in tightening the strut on the rod you can scar it and damage it, and have to do the whole thing again with warranty void.

Originally Posted By: engineer20
Cmon. Im serious. Go to the parts store and you'll see ford has a seperate grease tube and the chemical is moly whereas the lithium based tube says for gm, chrysler, and japanese , so I just wanted to know why and if you used the lithium grease in the ford, would it be ok or not. Go to advance auto and you'll see what Im talking about.


I'll be serious with you. Rule of thumb is if you don't see grease leaking out of your car, don't put new grease in where it leak out, and only put in new grease if the leak is fixed or the part is intended to be greased. Grease leaking out of CV joint shouldn't be regressed, it should be replaced. Grease leaking out of a ball joint shouldn't be regressed, it should be replaced. Grease leaking out of wheel bearing should probably also taken apart and cleaned then repacked (if OEM said it is ok) or just a completely new bearing. Grease out of your exhaust system? Clean up all the grease you smear on it and don't do that again.

I'll also be serious with you about buying OEM part from the dealer and not worry about what other aftermarket parts work or not work.

 

[engineer20]

heard with a quickstrut, you don't have to worry about a compressor and all that, I already pratically took my front strut off when I was working on the ball joint (just unbolt from the strut tower thing under the hood, and it'd come out!) the rear is trickier beacuse you have to take the seat out, but if you have a quick strut, you don't have to compress it, just instasll, right? or no?

 

[PandaBear]

Originally Posted By: engineer20
I already pratically took my front strut off when I was working on the ball joint (just unbolt from the strut tower thing under the hood, and it'd come out!) the rear is trickier beacuse you have to take the seat out, but if you have a quick strut, you don't have to compress it, just instasll, right? or no?

Did you take the center, big nut off the strut? or the 2, 3 nuts that hold the top bearing cap to the car?

If the main strut nut, just use a spring compressor to put it back in, your strut is fine and don't need replacement, neither does your spring, bearing cap, bump stop, etc.

If the bearing cap nuts, just put it back in, you will be doing the same if you replace struts, plus you have to do another alignment after replacing struts.

If it wasn't leaking or have excess bounce, your struts are fine and don't change it. After market struts don't last as long and you will end up changing it sooner than just put the original ones back on.

Next time don't take things apart before you know which nut and bolt is for what.

 

[mk378]

Again the OP is beyond help, but for anyone else reading: Never remove the nut from the top of a strut shaft (in the center of the mount) unless you know what you are doing and have safely compressed the spring first. Absent-mindedly removing the nut will instantly release the spring tension and the parts will fly apart. This is a situation that can cause injury or death.

 

[engineer20]

I see. Which fluid is better, I did a pan drop from a shop a few months ago, remember, because of the sheared bolt, and I used motorcraft merc v. I heard castrol trans fluids are good, the valvoline merc v isn't as good as the castrol but what about the amsoil? Amsoil has one for the newer trans which is mercon lv as well as toyota ws, whereas the older amsoil which they sell at this belle tire for 11.99 a quart, is toyota type iv (4) compatible as well as mercon v compatible. is that worth getting? it'd work in both the taurus and camry, and would it work well as power steering fluid, the amsoil, and would it benefit, or would it only benefit if I use it as trans fluid in the trans during the next drain and fill? I want to do a ps fluid change with the baster method this spring, would amsoil help, or is using motorcarft mercon v good enough? Thanks.

 

[engineer20]

as the car is nearing 100k, i worry the struts may go bad soon, does the dealership offer quick struts, or are they seperate strut and strut mounts and if I don't use motorcraft dealer struts, what's a good aftermarket for ford struts? Thanks. for the serp belt, there's 2, the drivebelt powered by the alternator as well as the ps one, I heard it was a PITA so I might have a mechanic do it, with a belt, you don't have to worry about a mechanic doing it, but with wheel bearintgs, I heard mechanics often mess it up by doing it wrong/too quickly, so suspension stuff, if you DIY it's good but belts, it's just putting a belt on, but for this vehicle it's a pain, so if you pay someone else to do it and save you that pain, you have nothing to worry about. so motorcraft or bando? motorcraft oem parts are way chepaer than toyota oem parts, should i just get the dealership oem serp belt, and do I change both, or just change the main one? Any brand you recommend for the tensioner?

spark plugs, I guss I'll try to DIY, i'll use motorcraft, but if I ca't, I'll get a mechanic, are ford 3.5 v6's really hard to do or not really? Just use a u joint and a 1/4 drive and you should be all set? you have to remove the intake manifold, is that hard or no? Thanks.