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Sousa632's 2001 Duratec Sable LS Premium Wagon

100K views 525 replies 45 participants last post by  ice445 
#1 · (Edited)
01 Sable LS Premium Wagon, Duratec. Auto Climate control, Cloth seats, pleather door inserts, column shift.



I bought the wagon to replace my wife's Saturn wagon cause we needed more space. Space we got! I picked it up for $1400 and have done a bunch of work to it since it was in my driveway in June of 2011. So far I have replaced the battery, coil, plugs/wires, UIM/LIM gaskets, a few vacuum lines, PCV/PCV hoses, front/rear brake pads and rotors, 3rd cat, 2 o2 sensors, rear balljoints(YES...... a wagon DOES have rear balljoints and YES....... they are replacable), the heater blend door motor, and typical routine maintenance items.

This is how she looked when she came home, and what she replaced in the background...







Ripping in the engine to replace the UIM/LIM, plugs wires and coil




It was hot this day....




I took the Tbird Sport rims I had on my Tbird and put them on the wagon with 225 60R16's on them










After that I put the stock rims back on it and started tinting the rear windows. I never completed that yet with winter set in and no garage to do it in.....







Finally setteled on getting rid of the black Tbird rims, and painted them silver and I'm sticking with that. I might sand them back out and go gunmetal in the spring but I'm not quite sure yet. This picture I took down the road from my house just after Hurricane Sandy right by the water. This area was under water during the storm......... we lucked out.









She's been put to work many times






Cant do that with a sedan! ^^



I'm in process of fixing the lovely door panels now -_-. You can see how bad they are here.




Once the weather finally gets above a reasonable temp to go out and work on the car I have front struts, balljoints to do to it. I also have to get a replacement heater bled door motor(warranty item). I'm hoping to have them done soon cause it's driving me nuts having parts here, and not having them on the car where they are needed............ :angry:

She's been a trooper! I used her to drive the family to NC for vacation, as well as dropping the seats and loading it up with stuff to take to the recycling center as well as trips to home depot for doors in my house. A true all purpose vehicle without being a gas guzzeling truck or a van. Can't go wrong with a wagon! With a new set of front tires I wouldn't hesitate to drive this car down to FL(which I might to get away from this damn cold, and visit family). :p I need to get some new pics...... all these are old minus the one from Hurricane Sandy but that's still like 3 months old.
 
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#96 ·
You're far more ambitious than I am. My body doesn't like crawling around underneath the car anymore.
 
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#97 · (Edited)
Oh trust me by body doesn't like it either and I'm feeling it today, but it saves me a lot of money so that's my justification. Plus it's the feeling of doing it yourself that gives you a confidence boost. :D

Looks like today I'm going to put in the rear engine mount and swap the Sable wheels back on it. Then she's all ready for DD use again. We were going to go to my parents house for Easter dinner but with some sickly people in the house that plan was scrapped.

I'm also happy to say that there was no oil leakage from the pan overnight :D The way it was, there would have been a sizable stain on the driveway. Not a drop on the cardboard I put under it last night so I'm happy.
 
#98 ·
So she's ready! Not exactly how I wanted to spend my Easter, but I was able to get everything ready to go. I think Jesus would understand :rolleyes2:

Anywho..... I replaced the drivers rear motor mount which was crap too. I also swapped the Sable wheels back to the wagon. Got it all set and the last feat I have to do is get it out of the back yard. It was a 'joy' getting it back there so I'm sure it's not going to be any different getting it out. -_-

So here are some pictures. This is the old and new side by side



The old one was cracked pretty bad





New one in and ready for use.



Here's a video of the motor shifting between gears. There is still a litte movement which I guess the front mount is 'weak' but not toast but it's a HELL of a lot better than it was before!



And now the Tbird is back up for sale. Once that sells, the plates will be transfered back to the wagon and it's going to get a well needed alignment with the bushings that I changed in the rear of the car. Good stuff!

And here's a pic of how she sits. I moved her in the back yard to get a good pic.

 
#99 ·
Nice! Your video proved to me that my rear motor mount is f*cked as well. Mine flails around under the hood so I'll just add that to the list -__-

Planning on headlight restoration or modification (black housings)?
 
#101 ·
Nice! Your video proved to me that my rear motor mount is f*cked as well. Mine flails around under the hood so I'll just add that to the list -__-

Planning on headlight restoration or modification (black housings)?
It's funny that you say that cause I was going to break out the buffer and hit the headlights but decided to get it all together and done first. They are definately on my list though.
 
#105 ·
You betcha! I can already feel a difference in shifting gears. It doesn't feel like it bounces like it did before going to P or R.

I decided being that I had a good sucessful weekend, I would get it out from the back yard and put the icing on the cake. I was able to squeeze it out of there and move it to where it was on the side of the house. The tbird is currently listed for sale so hopefully that sells quickly.
 
#106 ·
Nice work John! You will definitely see the difference in handling and feel the difference shifting gears now that the engine's mounted tighter. You got a lot done this weekend ~
 
#107 · (Edited)
Today, not much happened. I went outside to run it and turn the AC on to see if it was still working. Then I realized(before I started it thank god) that when I removed the o2 sensor I disconnected the wire going to the compressor clutch(they are attached to the same harness). I rearranged the wires to get more room and I found the real reason the AC would stop working. The clip on the plug was ****. There's no tension left in it. I guess I'm going to have to find the wire end and replace it so I know it can be secured, and I won't loose AC when I hammer on it. The new trans/motor mount should help with that too.

I was able to verify that the AC is good and cold though so that's a BIG plus to know. I also ran it a little bit. All in all..... pretty good. Just need to sell that Tbird so I can transfer the plates and have cash for a new windshield.
 
#113 ·
Today I cleaned up the headlights. Grabbed my compound, polisher and had at it. Took all of 2 minutes to go from this....



To this...






And with that being said.......... if I decide to take a personal day tomorrow at work or not, it's going back on the road either tomorrow or Saturday. Being that I'm using MY car for work now cause I haven't heard back what the company is doing with the van being broke, I need something that's more reliable and not as much of a gas hog as the Tbird. I was going to wait till I sold it to put the wagon back on the road but decided against it.
 
#114 ·
When did you paint your grill? What kind of paint & primer did you use?

I might be doing mine this weekend.
 
#115 · (Edited)
#116 ·
Shes back on the road!

B) Today I ran to the DMV(after going to the doctor finding out I have strep throat like everyone else in my house) and transfered the plates from the Tbird back to the wagon.

Now that's said...... I still have the ratteling noise in the rear passanger side of the car. I'll have to dig a little more but at least I know it's not something that's going to fall apart right now. I'm going to see if I can get the windshield repaired rather than replaced (I've seen a bunch of youn00b videos that show it's possible and is not hard). I also have to get used to the wheel being so far away from me now. I've gotten used to the Tbird wheel being in my face. :lol2:

All in all I'm going to take it for alittle longer drive later and then put it up on the ramps to triple check my work on the oil pan gasket, and re-torque the bolts in the rear that I replaced all the bushings. All in all I'm happy to be driving this car again.

I'm kind of hoping that the company takes their time either fixing or replacing my van because I was thinking about taking what extra money I get from them to bring the car to a shop to have the rear mani gasket done. If that's done this car is staying for the long run!
 
#118 ·
DMV was open till 1, and my doctor squeezed me in just before she closed at noon so I guess I was lucky today :)

Then on the way back from the DMV, I spent 20 minutes to get $20 of gas cause we can't pump our own gas............ They need to change that ****! The dude pumping gas moved slower than my grandmother.
 
#120 · (Edited)
So today, with a day off of work, I was able to triple check my work. The oil pan is nice and dry still :)

I also decided to call around to see how much places charge to cut rotors. It was vibrating pretty bad when stopping. Last time I called around they all wanted $25 each even with me taking them off the car. With the price of rotors at AAP with a discount for a pair being $60 it was stupid to spend that on a cut.

So, I found the STS around the corner lowered his prices to $15 per. SCORE. Got them cut and it's smooth as butter stopping now! While I had it apart I clean/lubed the caliper guide pins for some added insurance. The drivers side was good, however the passanger side was dried up and slightly sticky. I'm guessing that was the rotor that was worse out of the 2. Pads were very good on both sides with very little wear on them. I think I had maybe 5k miles on them.

I also re-adjusted the rear alignment some cause the camber was horrible on the back since I did the radius arm bushings. I asked them when I was there to see what they would charge to do the rear exhaust mani gasket and he said he would have to look at it to give me a price. He won't charge me to look at it and give me an estimate so I may do it when I get a full alignment done. All in all it's been looking pretty good for the wagon lately. And tomorrow she's my work DD till they get their **** straight at work with the van. I'll just keep racking up the milage. Tomorrow is looking like a 180 mile day.........
 
#123 ·
I love my wagon. It's a VERY versitile car. It hauls my 3 kids, my wife and myself, yet takes the trips to the recycling center with junk and Home Depot with no problem.

VIVA LA LONGROOF indeed Mark! You should know :)
 
#124 · (Edited)
STILL trying to track down the ratteling noise in the rear.....

Here's the springs..




If memory serves me correct ... THIS ^^^ is the passanger side where I hear it more. Note how the upper part of the shock looks pretty rusty. I know that has nothing to do with performance, but you never know.




Upper control arm bushings look like crap but the rubber doesn't look as terrible as the sleeves do...



The inner and outer LCA bushings look to be in good shape so I didn't take pictures

The upper part of the endlink which was in decent shape.



Now....... The balljoint on both sides are new, so are the strut rod bushings at the body and spindle. I also measured the height of the rear which from the ground to the highest point of the wheel arch on the body was 2 9/16". I REALLY dont remember hearing this noise before I replaced the shocks years ago, and honestly I'm not saying they are not the culprit either as the ass has been bouncing around a little more as the months have gone by. I'm tempted to just buy a new set of rear shocks and see if the noise is still there. If it is, It's more than likely the control arm bushings, if not.... I'll be happy. Eventually I'll end up doing the control arm bushings and put in a set of cargo coils but that's not happening right away yet(been looking at other Bulls for my wife to commute with).
 
#125 ·
Well today I got new shocks for the rear to try and see if the noise would go away. 90% of it did. Tomorrow I'm taking it in for inspection once my wife gets home from work. The exhaust still leaks and the crack in the windshield is not getting any smaller so I have my doubts on it passing but you never know being we only have emissions testing in NJ now. Everything there is AOK, no codes.

All in all it's not been getting the greatest of gas milage being it's been all highway driving. It's hovering between 21 and 23. I need to look at something with better gas milage for my wife being that she's driving a distance for work now. I haven't decided which is going to go yet but that decision will be made before the end of the week. I know I can get more money for the van being that there are less expensive issues and vans sell better than wagons do here. The wagon has been reliable where you turn the key and go every time. AC/Heat works, as do all other electronics(minus the ABS/TC because of the control module), so it's hard to let go of that....... till you smell the exhaust cause of the leak.
 
#126 · (Edited)
So more work tracking down the clunk in the rear being that the passed inspection has blown a little more fire under me to get things fixed. ;)

I wanted to take the interior panel off to see what's going on back there and while doing it I hit the floor with my hand and heard the rattling. Being that's a drop in piece in the rear that's held in by a few screws and the 3rd seat I had at it to see what the hell was making the noise.
Hitting it here would make the noise


What I found is right under the forward tie down is a metal "space" bracket that's attached to the floor panel on the inside of the footwell but nowhere else. There was insulation from the bracket to the body, but none from the bracket to the floor panel. So I grabbed a piece of extra insulation and put it in there.

Here's some (not very good) pictures of what I did.

Bracket in question on the right, insulated top and bottom now.




And for giggles this is what the inside of the right panel looks like



What I also noticed is that the washer bottle was missing a screw on the bottom and that was rattling as well. I replaced the screw and all is nice and tight in there now. Took it for a drive and the bad metallic noise is definitely gone. There is a tiny suspension noise but I'm attributing that to the control arm bushings, but it's not NEAR what it was before. Eventually I'll get to replacing those bushings but I found 98% of the noise:)

Also..... while taking out the back seat bottom to get to some screws I found 2 cassette tapes(nothing I'm interested in) and about $3 in change B) I can use that to get 3/4 of a gallon of gas. :woot:
 
#127 ·
I have a clunk in the back that I have not been able to track down. I thought it was the bumper cover since I had the dealer paint it before I bought the car since it was scratched. Nope. Thought it was the spare tire and I put some insulation (a rag wrapped around the spare tire mount that screws in). Nope.

Mechanic said it might be the struts.

I do have a vibrating muffler to replace now too.

Mine's a sedan though so your discovery won't do me much good.
 
#131 ·
Probably your struts. Taurus struts are NOISY. Also could be the strut mount if the metal sleeve has separated from the rubber isolator.
 
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