mike dexter

...and the ball joint is ka-put. Not quite 1.5 years old. I definitely recommend not using these parts.

My Edge is Gen 1.0, and yours is Gen 1.5, so perhaps there are some differences in this area. I did not remove the cowl screen molding, but it was very tight getting to the nuts underneath it. Ratchet wrenches definitely help with this. No special tools other than the spring compressors. Note that loading the strut into the cavity and attaching the top nuts is a two person job. About 2 hours overall.

Hey guys, got this job done over the Christmas holidays, and they work great now. Thanks again.

I would not recommend that. The rubber is there to account for the relative movement between the pump and the rack. The pump is mounted to the engine, the rack is mounted to the subframe, so a rigid metal line will fatigue and crack.

Awesome, thank you very much for your replies.

Does anyone know if these are compatible? I have a perfectly good set of Monroe front strut assemblies on my 2007. Except for the mounts, that is. They are horrible! I would like to replace them with Motorcraft strut mounts (if this combination is possible).

Agreed. You will get the benefit of some new fluid, and hopefully avoid the sudden shock of 100% new fluid. If your transmission has no problems, then drain and refill again. When I drain, I get about 5 quarts.

Looks like a paint defect to me. Either small bubbles or some debris in the paint. My recommendation would be to take it to the dealer.

If it were me, I would do it myself. Then I know exactly what went into my car. Flush with distilled water, drain out 50% of the coolant capacity, fill back up with undiluted coolant. However, since you don't live in a hard water area, it is probably not that urgent.

Hey EDST. I finally got around to this job last weekend. The new brake shoes fixed the problem. This was surprising to me, as I hardly ever use the parking brake, and did not expect it to be that worn down. In fact, I had to move the slack adjusters all the way in the other direction, in order to get the rotors to go back on.

My 2007 Edge had the same problem as your Sable. I had my dealer reprogram the PCM per the TSB, and it fixed the issue. I cannot recall which TSB it was exactly - one of the "driveline clunk" ones.

The liftgate is not draining properly. Just below each rubber bumpers is a rectangular drainage hole. Clear out whatever is obstructing those drains, using something like a coated wire or a pipe cleaner that won't scratch the paint.

I have the same problem on one of my rear wheels. Even after setting the slack adjuster all the way out, the brake shoes still would not contact the rotor. I will likely order new park brake shoes and try them. Let us know what happens with your car - I am curious.

Follow up... I was underneath the car this weekend and saw that the new Moog control arm has a ripped ball joint boot already. I know its not a show stopper, but am disappointed that it ripped after only one winter. Add me to the "dissatisfied" list.

The paint shop at the assembly plant needs large holes for the doors to drain. At the same time, the holes want to be small in order to reduce the amount of road noise, wind noise, air leakage in the cabin. So Ford's solution is to install these black clips after the car is painted. I remove these from my cars. Leaving them in impedes water drainage from the door, which causes rust on that bottom edge. For me, they are not worth the 0.1% (or whatever) NVH improvement (doesn't everybody just turn on the radio anyways?) Plus, now I have some nice large access holes to spray in some WD40 into the door periodically, as an additional anti-corrosion measure.