This really sucks! I'm driving a Ford Taurus from Rent-a-Wreck. (Funny thing is, this Taurus really is a wreck! It was either this, or a Tempo, or an Escort Wagon- I made the best choice I could.)

Well, I did get the alternator, after quite a fight. You guys ever see the back of your alternators? The front and the back can be put on in 4 different ways; to angle the rear connections however they need to go, which lets GM use the same alternator for many cars. Well, turned out the "listed" replacement part # for my alternator had the rear connections on the wrong side. So, after staring at it for an hour, I figured "Damned if I do, damned if I don't", and took it home. I removed the four screws holding the rear case to the front case, and separated the two. As expected, the brushes flew out, propelled by their springs. I put the springs back in, put each brush in, and (per the GM manual -and- the Haynes manual) used a paperclip to hold them in. I put the alternator back together after rotating the rear case 90 degrees, and it works!

That's not why I'm driving a Taurus though. My posi is destroyed... turns out, after I fixed my rear calipers, I never bothered to readjust the parking brake equalizer (above the center of the driveshaft, under the car floor). My rear brakes were "always" grabbing, which must've confused the hell out of my posi unit.

(My posi is actually the '84 Eaton Gov-lock locker. Instead of cones, it uses a governor that activates gears- problem is, the design is such that the teeth of the locker get destroyed if the governor doesn't fly open correctly. Apparently this is what happened.)

During a left turn, I get this horrible "CRACK!" of a pop-type noise; and the whole car seems to slow to a stop (like the brakes were applied). A right turn, while not as bad, is still giving me a popping noise.

So, my local junkyard is pulling a 3.42/open/drum rear from an '88 Camaro 2.8 automatic for me. The guy said he'll have it for me by 9:30am tomorrow morning, and I'll put that under my car just so I can get going to school & work. Then I'll have a long time to rebuild my current "money pit" of a 3.73/blown posi/disc axle. That axle WILL go back under my car- I've spent too much time on it to leave it swapped out.

I figure I'll hunt down some 28 spline axleshafts, and get the SLP posi unit, and maybe even buy new 3.73 rear gears, depending on how bad mine are now.

In the meantime, this Taurus really sucks. It's beat to hell (if I dented it, I don't think they'd notice), has great pickup from 0-30 but nothing after that, and handles like a boat. Man, I miss my car.

 

I feel your pain Tom! My girlfriend drives one and she is a terrible and scary driver! So when we go out in her car I drive! She has a 97or 98 taurus. Man, that car sucks! Other than cold a/c, it doesn't have much going for it!

 

That just sucks bigtime !!! I guess thats two of us that have goofed lately huh ? I forgot to fix my tv cable and blew up my tranny . But I dont know whats worse , driving a ford taraus or destroying your posi ...I'll tell you whats bad Tom , having to rent a plymouth breeze !!! Next time I will be renting a camaro convertible

 

I had an 88 Taurus and I really loved that car...until i got hit with it by a truck But it worked out ok cause now I got a Town car

 

Sorry to hear about the posi.

Should've taken the Escort. My other car's an Escort wagon with glasspack, Venom400, cone air filter and sounds like the V6 4th gen Camaro of my neighbour's friend :-)


Ben