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I am working on a 70 Mercury maquis 429 4b.

Tiny
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  • 1970 MERCURY MARQUIS
  • 200,000 MILES
I am working on a 70 mercury maquis 429 4b brougham, I rebuilt the engine, and rewired the entire car, and I am in the process of replacing the exhaust system, however I ran into a problem, when my friend was disconnecting the engine from the rest of the car, he disconnected the vacuum lines without telling me where they went or marking them, the manual he has covers 20 years of this car and does not include the proper vacuum diagrams, the engine is running soundly, however the vacuum line for the transmission is missing, so it has trouble moving at low speeds, I need help figuring out the where the vacuum line for the transmission goes, I cannot find any place for it, I found where it connects to the transmission, but cannot find where it connects to the engine, Please help! Thank you
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Wednesday, November 28th, 2012 AT 4:15 AM

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Tiny
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That hose goes to the plastic multiple tee on the middle of the firewall. Actually, it can connect to or tap into anything tied directly to intake manifold vacuum.
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Wednesday, November 28th, 2012 AT 4:24 AM
Tiny
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That's what a needed to know, thanks! And now I realize why I didn't think of that, my friend must have lost the rubber hose and I was looking for a rubber hose for the metal line to connect to, welp thanks friend!
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Wednesday, November 28th, 2012 AT 5:14 AM
Tiny
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Now I do have another problem, for some odd reason the battery keeps getting drained down, at first it got fried do to a jumper wire on the starter being improperly installed (by my friend I might add) well I fixed that problem but the battery still looses it's charge over night, any suggestions? (No lights are being left on and the wiring is hooked up correctly)
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Wednesday, November 28th, 2012 AT 5:29 AM
Tiny
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I'm going to have to do this from memory because I don't have a service manual for your car. First of all, unplug the voltage regulator and see if that solves the drain. Some often-overlooked things to check include a cigarette lighter stuck on, (it will overheat and a thermal circuit breaker will cycle on and off), a glove box light staying on, an aftermarket radio wired incorrectly, and a sticking power seat switch.

If you don't find anything like that, you'll need to insert an ammeter between one of the battery posts and its cable to read the current, then unplug fuses to see which one has the draw. Measuring the drain gets real complicated to explain in newer cars with computers, but yours will be straightforward and easy. Do you have a digital volt-ohm meter?
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Wednesday, November 28th, 2012 AT 5:53 AM
Tiny
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Yes I a multimeter, and I just replaced the voltage meter, it has no after market stereo system, and the cigarette lighter doesn't work, however I will test every thing possible that I can, thanks for the help and I will report back with my results!
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Wednesday, November 28th, 2012 AT 5:07 PM
Tiny
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And wait a second, what kind of mechanic wouldn't have a multimeter?
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Wednesday, November 28th, 2012 AT 5:08 PM
Tiny
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You'd be surprised. I have over a dozen from my 35-plus years as a tv / vcr repairman, and I used two at the Chrysler dealership where I was their only suspension and alignment expert. It was there that I saw about half of the guys didn't own a meter or know how to use one. In fact, their AC expert had to retire early because he couldn't keep up with the new technology. To quote him exactly when working on an automatic temperature control problem, "I don't understand it; I have 12 volts on both sides of the motor and it still doesn't run"!

Later, as an instructor, I made sure every one of my kids understood electrical theory and troubleshooting. Two of my former students are working today at one of my city's top automotive electrical repair shops, and one of them taught the owner a couple of things. With good electrical skills, you can go anywhere and find a job.
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Wednesday, November 28th, 2012 AT 8:28 PM
Tiny
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Haha well that is very true, and kind of surprising that some mechanics and electrical engineers don't have them, well I ran some tests turns out the alternator wire going to the solenoid, it was on the wrong side, however, when I put it towards the other side, the alternator doesn't work, I tried connecting it with and without a fusible link, but it hasn't made a difference, I know for a fact the alternator is draining the battery when it is connected to the positive side of the solenoid, but the alternator will not work when it is on the opposing side, not to mention, when I disconnected the battery to test the alternator, the terminal (negative on the battery) sparked allot and the car backfired, the only time I have seen this is when the battery was connected backwards, but it is set up the exact way it was before I rebuilt the engine, any suggestions?
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Thursday, November 29th, 2012 AT 6:09 PM
Tiny
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I also had the alternator tested at o'reilys just to make sure and it passed 3 times, and the battery was tested as well at is good.
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Thursday, November 29th, 2012 AT 6:11 PM
Tiny
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Please don't disconnect the battery cable while the engine is running. That was a trick done many years ago by mechanics who didn't understand how these systems work. On newer cars it's real easy to damage a lot of computers if the voltage goes too high. The battery is the key component in helping the voltage regulator maintain a safe system voltage.

What kind of voltage regulator do you have? I found a '71 book that shows one with the common fender-mounted regulator and one with it built into the generator. They don't show wiring diagrams though.
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Friday, November 30th, 2012 AT 2:53 AM
Tiny
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Yeah I haven't been able to find a wiring diagram either, however I bought a new regulator and the pig tail plug (just in case) it is grounded correctly, but it seems as if there is a loose wire somewhere, because it works great some of the time, but the rest of the time it acts as if the battery is dead, even with a full charge, I also noticed that the battery has been over flowing, and been getting hot, so I know there is a short, but I can't pin point it because I have excluded everything I could think of. Solenoid is grounded, starter and alternator are grounded properly, battery is grounded properly, and the wiring is exactly the way it was when the car was built, I have fallowed numerous wires and have yet to find the loose or improperly grounded wire. The alternator is producing 13.6 amps. And the battery holds a steady 30 amps and 13.4 volts while running. But I have yet to locate any shorts or grounding problems. Any ideas?
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Friday, November 30th, 2012 AT 3:38 AM
Tiny
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Something doesn't jive with those readings. It sounds like the battery is overcharging. That occurs when the charging voltage goes over 14.75 volts. At 13.4 volts the battery will not fully charge. The acceptable range is 13.75 to 14.75 volts. That can be measured right at the battery.

How are you measuring that 30 amps? If that's what's going into the battery, that's way too much. They charge best at a maximum of around 10 amps.
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Friday, November 30th, 2012 AT 9:54 PM
Tiny
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The battery itself measured about 30 amps, and the battery itself had 13.4 volts in it, it was getting a little more than 13.5 amps from the alternator, and this was done at an auto parts store with their equipment, they said the battery was still good, I took it to several places and the numbers where fairly close to one another, a tenth of a difference at most, however, today my friend took it to a shop to have them look at it, they determined that the voltage regulator was bad and charged him over $100, well that wasn't the complete problem, the car will start if it's been sitting for a little while, however if you drive the car for a small or even large amount of time then turn it off and attempt to start it again, it acts as if the battery is dead, and another thing. I hate to say this, but on the 3rd attempt at starting it after it had been driven around the block, the positive battery cable completely fried and melted on the solenoid end, something is really wrong with the electrical system, but the short in it only wants to reveal itself every now and then, any suggestions on what I should do?
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Saturday, December 1st, 2012 AT 4:21 AM
Tiny
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I still don't know what that 30 amps refers to. A typical battery is designed to deliver around 650 cold cranking amps, and it would be load tested at half of that. In the car it could start out taking a 30 amp charge from the generator but that would quickly drop to 10 - 15 amps as it charged up.

I get the feeling you're confusing volts and amps. That's why I'm having a hard time picturing what's happening. Any chance you can post a photo of that cable that melted? There's nothing on the car other than the starter that can draw enough current to overheat a large battery cable. Even if the generator was "full-fielded" and running wide open, it would only produce 40 - 65 amps. For that to overheat a cable, it would have to be too small in diameter or some of the strands of wire would have to be corroded off.
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Saturday, December 1st, 2012 AT 7:16 AM
Tiny
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Im just telling you what the people at the auto parts store told me, I know the difference between volts and amps.

And I will do what I can to upload a picture soon, however, it was a brand new wire with no damage to it what so ever, so im not exactly sure why it friend other than it over heating due to its 875 cranking amps and me continuously attempting to crank it
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Saturday, December 1st, 2012 AT 12:53 PM

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