hood lift supports/struts

[sandrew]

After getting bonked in the head twice today by my hood due to failing hood supports I'm looking at ponying up for some new ones. Advance Auto has some Monroes on their website for $22/ea (online only, not available in the store).

Has anybody used these? Are they a PITA or easy to swap out?

Having your hood fall on you while you're already cussing at the rear surge tank brackets and the person who designed them doesn't really help your mood...

 

[ruWelded]

Snap

They just snap on and off a ball joint on each end. I have not replaced any of mine, although one of my SHOs needs them replaced.

 

[avocadoman1]

standard Taurus hood supports at the junk yard.
hundreds of thousands of them available for very little cost.

 

[TopGunnYFZ]

cussing at the rear surge tank brackets and the person who designed them doesn't really help your mood...

Gald im not the only one who does this when working on the SHO. :thankyou:

 

[sandrew]

Thanks, guys. RockAuto has 'em for $15 each so I'll grab them from there. I originally looked at Advance Auto because they're on the way home from work and I was hoping to find them in stock at the store. The ones actually in stock are almost twice the price of the Monroes and only have a year warranty. No thank you.

Yeah, I HATE those surge tank brackets. My forearms look like I got in a fight with a cat - and the cat won.

 

[NebraskaSHO]

If your garage is heated:



I hope this is what you were working on:
http://s24.photobucket.com/albums/c44/pcross_53/Taurus SHO/?action=view&current=DSCN0856.jpg

 

[sandrew]

That would be it. Chasing down a misfire on cylinder 4.

The cylinder power test or whatever at Ford confirmed the hand scanner at AutoZone - misfire on 4 and it picked up an intermittent on 3. They were baffled and wanted $650 to pull the surge tank/intake and "check out the COPs". Pfft. NOT.

I had purchased 4 of the $25 new coils on ebay last year and put those in. I didn't bother with the plugs because I thought the person who welded the cams replaced them (I saw the guy from the parts store deliver them that morning, anyway). Not sure if he did or not, the plugs didn't look that bad but were gapped at ~.050. I guess it never pays to assume that somebody did their job correctly...

Anyway I bought 2 more coils from RockAuto and Autolite XP Iridium plugs and replaced all 8 plugs (gapped correctly at .044 this time) and the coils on cylinders 3 & 4. The car feels stronger but the idle is still wonky, it likes to idle about 650 rpm or a little less when warm, and it feels like a car with a lopey cam. Probably a vacuum leak or something. In any case I should have somebody who really knows Gen 3 SHO motors have a good look at it sometime. As soon as I find one around here, that is.

I might just have to suck it up and buy new coils for the front bank, too, even though I've never had a code for cylinders 5-8. $300 + shipping. Ack. I hope I have a good tax refund this year.

The garage wasn't heated but my little ceramic heater did it's best to keep the temp about 55 degrees - plenty warm to work in.

 

[NebraskaSHO]

:wave:

Good you have power in your garage. My garage at my apt. does not so I tend not to work on things too much when its snowing and 15* out.