I need help, I have had a 1975 200 4 door Comet rusting, I mean resting, peacefully in a shed for probably 10 years. Before that it was a semi daily driver. My daughter is 15 and wants to drive it when she turns 16. I did what I could think of as far as getting it running, new plugs wires, oil, battery, fuel filters, cleaned the gas tank out, nasty, new fuel line the old one leaked, and a new starter solenoid, the other one had magic smoke coming from it. It came the day to turn the key to see what happens. It fired right up, my daughter was grinning ear to ear, rev that baby up a little, great. Mechanically everything seemed fine, until she turned the key off. It kept running, I guess since it had sat for so long it didn't want to miss its chance. Pulled the key out and it kept chugging along, and not like a Riesling chugging, it purred like a kitten until I pulled the battery cable off. Can't keep a good Comet down. What am I missing, what do I need to check? I had a couple of people suggest it was the ignition switch, changed that today, same result. If anyone out there in Maverick/Comet land has any ideas please help me.
I might not be calling it by the right name, Rock Auto calls it an "ignition starter switch" it mounts on the steering column and when you turn the key it pushes a rod into the switch to make whatever connections need to be made.
What is next to revive a car that has been sitting for years? I kind of want to tend to the cooling system, I have heard the thermostat can get stuck or corrode or fall apart, has anyone used any kind of flush products for the coolant system?
"And my blinkers don't blink." OK, so multiple things to check. Do all your bulbs light? If not you may not get enough load to trip the blinker, which is essentially a self-resetting circuit breaker. If not, is it a bad bulb, or is it corrosion in the socket? Bad turn signal flasher which doesn't trip. Or do the lights not come on at all? Bad turn signal flasher which is burned out/doesn't reset. Faulty turn signal switch. Blown fuse.
Welcome! I've revived a few cars from deep sleeps. The big things are fluids, filters and other things that deteriorate with time. Drain off your old coolant, flush and fill with tap water, drain again. Replace thermostat with OEM spec (192 degrees, me thinks). Replace the thermostat housing if yours is corroded. This is when you have to assess if you need to replace radiator and heater hoses. Replace if required. Refill with 50/50 mix of green antifreeze and distilled water. Change oil and filter. I recommend using a high-zinc motor oil in any vehicle with a flat cam (all US/Canadian/Mexican Ford inline sixes have a flat cam). Change oil and filter again after 500 miles. Avoid the temptation to change the automatic transmission fluid and filter. There seems to be some evidence that old C4 transmissions really are held together with gum and varnish deposits. One thing for sure, there are a lot of transmission failures right after fluid and filter changes on old cars of all brands. Expect your transmission to leak; add only Type-F fluid to top up. If you're going to burn off old fuel by running the car, change the fuel filter after destroying the old dinosaurs. Flushing the brakes with fresh fluid can restore a lot of braking performance if everything else working properly. Unless there is a known braking problem, I would only replace the fluid at this point of a restoration. Replace battery, wiper blades and tires. Inspect seat belts, replace if frayed or damaged. Clean up or replace the battery cables. Okay. Now you've reset the car to the place where it was when it was rolled into the shed 10 years ago. You will still need to deal with any mechanical problems the car had in 2010. Again, welcome! Post some pictures! P.S. don't let anybody give you any guff about your car being a 4-door!
Awesome, thank you, especially about the transmission fluid, now that you said that I think I have heard that before. I have never paid any attention to "high zinc" right now the 10yr old oil is drained, that was the first thing I drained, but right now there is just plain old 10w30 in it. The old gas had to go, I don't know if it had to be done but I took the tank off and drained all that stuff out, it didn't look like gas and did my best to get all the caramel crust out of it. And I have an extra fuel filter for just in case. I feel like it is a personal challenge now, "Oh...its a four door.", "Oh, its not a V-8.", "Its going to take more work than what its worth." It drives me crazy. Thank you for your advice, everyone on this forum has been awesome. I have to bring that baby back to life.