Fixing The Taurus

After an entire winter of not having instrument cluster lights on my Taurus, I decided it was time to change that and dig in ... finally fixing the problem which was a bad electrical connection, likely caused by the cold.

It requires some work to get the dash apart - but this was workable with a socket set, a screwdriver, and a special tool from O'Reiley's that removes the Ford radio.

Here's a shot of the dash mostly taken apart.  The hardest part was getting the radio out.  Once it was out, all that was needed was removing the fasteners behind the radio, removing similar fasteners holding the plastic panel beneath the steering wheel in place, and then popping the plastic pieces out.

Lastly the instrument cluster comes loose and the electrical connection is actually made on a thin plastic circuit sheet that runs the juice to all the spots (including lights) inside the cluster.  I cleaned the contact points with alcohol and a couple QTips, checked the lights... they worked...and put it all back together.

I should have done this months ago.

And.. Brakes

The other thing that I had to resolve on the Taurus was this strange squealing noise coming from the rear brakes.  After some closer inspection with Dad, we discovered that the springs in the passenger rear assembly had rusted through and were tumbling inside the drum. 

In the end I had to have the drums turned, and replaced hardware, shoes, and wheel cylinders.  While I was at it, I ended up getting some wild hair and decided to paint the drums.  I kind of like it... even if its on a 2002 Ford Taurus.

Here's the exposed drum with all the internals installed.

For some reason I didnt' take pictures of the car with the wheels on.  I'll update this with some pictures when I have them.