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Paul's 2005 Mercury Sable LS

10K views 43 replies 16 participants last post by  ice445 
#1 ·
Figured I might as well make a little thread on this one since I did for my last beater...

Just picked this up ridiculously cheap down here in SC as my new beater to keep miles off the Fusion. 2005 Sable LS with the platinum package. It has two tone gray leather (perforated stopped for gen 4.5), A SPOILER, the aluminum bezel, special wheels, and a painted front grille instead of chrome. Has traction control too, and all the other things an LS sable typically has... sunroof, power driver seat, EATC, Mach with CD changer, keypad, heated mirrors with puddles, autolamps, foglamps, and the 3.0L Duratec... my first DOHC bull.

139k miles...Newer tires, cold cold AC, responsive brakes, drives perfectly straight and suspension does not clunk like on my old beater!

Now...why I got it so cheap... needs some exhaust work, a battery, and a windshield. Otherwise, needs a good cleaning inside and out to be up to my standards for a beater, although it is pristine inside! Bezel is not dinged and the leather is so perfect! Not sure how long I will keep it...The car has seen salt (was a student's car who is from Michigan) hence the rims being flaky and a bit of surface rust. But this is the first bull I have owned in a long long time that does not have any ROT! WOOO! What a feeling!

Here are the initial pictures... and I will update as I begin work. Thanks to Bull Geek for his free storage and help! :p


Seller Pictures:




My Pictures:





I will get some more pictures to share too... So yep.. back in a bull. I just cannot stay away.
 
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#31 ·
Nice lookin car, Paul! You wouldn't need resistors anyways, just get a Tridon EP26 LED Flasher Relay to replace your original flasher relay.
 
#34 ·
Thanks! I use Griot's products. The interior cleaner and a microfiber with some elbow grease.




And yes for 2004-2005 I am pretty sure the only Sables to come with a spoiler were the Platinum Editions.


The car is still kicking up here in snowy and salty NY. Heading back to warm SC soon!
 
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#35 ·
Update time!!! I know... I do not come on here like I used to.


So this car is still running and driving pretty well. It has 148550 miles. Over the last few months, it has gotten the following:

A newish radiator out of a junkyard SHO that took care of the leaky one.
New Sway bar links to get rid of the clunky old ones.
New inner and outer Tie Rod ends + Alignment.

Coming soon:
New Bank 2 Catalytic Converter to take care of the P0430 (Bank 2 below threshold). As it stands, it is SC friendly with the code since there is no inspection or emission testing here, but when the car goes back to NY to do winter duty, it has to pass inspection and emissions. Plus, I cannot have that darn CEL on any longer!!!

Adjustable Pedals are ready to be installed. Will be getting to that soon so I can actually enjoy them!

Needs a transmission service ASAP. Starting to get a little shudder.. hoping new fluid takes care of it.

Oh, and I seafoamed it too. Smoothed out the idle a little bit.


So yep... this old Sable is still going.... and it has a Fusion to keep it company.

 
#36 ·
Update time!!! I know... I do not come on here like I used to.


So this car is still running and driving pretty well. It has 148550 miles. Over the last few months, it has gotten the following:

A newish radiator out of a junkyard SHO that took care of the leaky one.
New Sway bar links to get rid of the clunky old ones.
New inner and outer Tie Rod ends + Alignment.

Coming soon:
New Bank 2 Catalytic Converter to take care of the P0430 (Bank 2 below threshold). As it stands, it is SC friendly with the code since there is no inspection or emission testing here, but when the car goes back to NY to do winter duty, it has to pass inspection and emissions. Plus, I cannot have that darn CEL on any longer!!!

Adjustable Pedals are ready to be installed. Will be getting to that soon so I can actually enjoy them!

Needs a transmission service ASAP. Starting to get a little shudder.. hoping new fluid takes care of it.

Oh, and I seafoamed it too. Smoothed out the idle a little bit.


So yep... this old Sable is still going.... and it has a Fusion to keep it company.

Nobody really does, lol. I'm praying for ya that the trans service makes the lockup issue go away.
 
#37 ·
I have not been very active on here in a long time... funny how life gets in the way of leisure. This car is still kicking, and now that I have moved back to NY (not really sure why), this car will continue to be my daily beater.



Since I have not updated my progress in almost a year, I figure I can throw down a little update. The car now has 158k miles and the engine runs perfectly.

As mentioned before, the bank 2 cat needed replacing, so that was done shortly after my last post. No more CEL for emissions. That was done at 149k miles.

Adjustable pedals were added in at some point along the way last year. The switch is located on the cluster surround like any 2003+ car. Nice to have, and seemed to be the only decontented thing I lacked over a 2004 version of my car. I still have all the other decontented stuff like glove box light and ash tray light since it was an early enough 2005.

The car has been whacked a couple times on the corners by other inconsiderate people... but for a 12 year old car, I am not that worried. Did a quick fix and you can barely tell. May go back later and respray bumpers, but for now, we continue on.

The optima red top battery finally went as it had an expanded cell so it was only sitting around 12.2v. Found a dated blue top for $20 from work and have had no issues since.

I finally had enough of the worn struts and the awful handling of the car, and at 157k, it was time to upgrade. I purchased new KYB complete strut assemblies for the front, and Motorcraft 2000-2003 strut cartridges for the rear. Moog Cargo Coils for a Gen 2 are the springs I used. While in there, I also made sure to add a sway bar, but instead of just adding, I upgraded. I used SHO 24/26mm sway bars on the car (Thanks Bull Geek!) and wow what a difference. The driver side wheel cylinder was leaking as well, and it was time to upgrade rear brakes. The car had original drums on still!!! I opted for a 1996 Taurus rear disc set up. The car is much more even in braking, and the handling is so much more improved. Ride is a little harsher as to be expected, but having three adults in the back barely moves the ride height.


One note... the 2005 has an active ABS sensor, so therefore, the 1996 sensors WILL NOT work. I had to retrofit the new sensors into the old spindle by drilling new holes in the 2005 sensors.


The car is still down in SC at the moment. As I got tied up with the move to NY, it is getting a new muffler put on before it makes its trip up to NY in July (Thanks again, Bull Geek!). The transmission shudder is getting worse, and as I see it, I just upgraded a bunch, and I genuinely like the car, so I am have a transmission rebuild done on it at Johnson's Transmission in Lugoff, SC before Nick brings it up for me. I plan to have the car several more years and will limit its salt exposure to prolong its life.


So not sure if I missed anything, but that is what the Sable has been up to. Once it is back up in NY, it will serve as my work car/ daily beater for the miles to pile up on. I want to see just how many miles I can put on this thing, considering the reality is that it is not worth anything anymore. The Fusion will continue to be the baby that I enjoy on weekends.
 

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#39 ·
It has been a while since I have updated so I'll share. The car is still kicking at the moment - it has 182k which it just rolled yesterday. Not bad - I have put about 43k miles on this car since buying. I bought it for $800 back in 2015, and yes I have probably sunk several thousand into it to keep it running well all these years, but it has still been an excellent car.

Over the winter I did spend a good amount of time on replacing items. First, the original fuel pump said it had enough. I installed a new Motorcraft unit courtesy of Automender12345. I was amazed that this car having seen winter and salt didn't fight me when coming to dropping the tank and replacing the pump. No bolts broke and the job was a breeze. It failed with 1/2 tank too so no fuel all over the place!

Then I focused on the front of the car where I resealed pretty much the entire drivetrain with exception of rear main seal and output shaft seals. New gaskets included throttle body, EGR gaskets, intake manifold upper and lower gaskets, valve cover gaskets, timing cover gaskets, crankshaft seal, oil pan gasket, transmission gasket (reusable OE style), and IAC gasket. Replaced alternator too with a reman motorcraft unit while I was in there. I even splurged on NOS OEM headlamps for the car to enhance the appearance. Charged the A/C to spec and that works perfectly. The motor runs strong and it was very clean inside.

Now comes the tough part - the transmission is beginning to have a slight torque converter lock-up issue at temperature, and most of all, the body is falling apart I'm afraid. I have pretty large holes that have found their way in three of four floor pans, the rockers on the driver side are pretty much gone, and the wheel wells are now just starting to rust through. The door bottoms are getting pretty rough. The car came from Michigan originally and did some winter duty up here in NY. The driver wheel bearing is also failing and the output shaft seal on the passenger side leaks as well. The power steering pump works but is very noisy. Had the rust shown itself sooner, I would not have invested the time and money into the car, but it was a good learning experience. I have come to the realization that spending any money on this vehicle to keep it going is foolish.

It is sad because I have thoroughly enjoyed this vehicle. I am however starting to look for its replacement and will be retiring it when the perfect car comes along. As I ride to work with my wife, we typically drive the 2013 C-Max, so the sable is not driven a whole lot anymore. In fact, it's mainly a tow rig for the jet ski we have at this time. So it will be easing into retirement and will make a great parts car for the 2004-2005 SEL DOHC that is out there that will be my future ride. I enjoy this platform too much to abandon it and I have the parts to keep a southern non rusty one going for some time. The new car must be truly rust free and will never see winter.

So we will see how far this Sable goes.... still chugging but it is getting tired. I still have the fusion that barely gets driven and the white Mountaineer that does winter duty only. In the photo with my fusion is my old 2000 mountaineer that my buddy bought off me. So there you have it!
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#40 ·
Just an update and a bittersweet one at that… as I have done for the last few years I pulled the plates off the car for winter to put on my mountaineer. However, they will not be going back on as my ownership is ending with just under 184k miles. Unfortunately all good things must come to an end and it is time to move on. I almost bought a couple replacements but the deals fell through. I’m relieved as it’ll be nice to downsize to three cars from four. At this time the mountaineer will be my full time backup vehicle with the fusion getting the usual 500 miles a year treatment.
This has been the best car I have ever owned, and if not for the underbody rust, I’d keep it around. It’s been a blast to own. I will definitely miss this car and will give one final update once the car is sold off to its new owner in the coming weeks. I owned it since 2015 at 139k miles. It is planned to one day pick up another when the right replacement comes along.
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#42 ·
It happens, you got a lot of use cheap. Congrats.
Days of cheap gone with the NEW NORMAL, as in pic. Horrible Market.
My '03 Sable wagon $4K 7.5 years ago, will still bring that today.
Hanging on to my ,03 Sable wagon, '03 Taurus sedan, and '05 Taurus sedan.
166K, 137K, 132K in that order.
Keeping them in the best condition I can.
-chart-
 

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#43 · (Edited)
Today, the Sable went home with its new owner. It lives on with another TCCA member Josh Smith (Jxshx3). It was tough to say goodbye but it’s going to a good home. Started in Michigan with the original owner, spent some time in South Carolina with me, spent the last several years with me in New York, and it’s off to Ohio to live its golden years.
One chapter has ended… and another is about to begin. Stay tuned.
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