Anyone have experience with Mercury Grand Marquis?

[KC0KM_EX_GFISHER]

Hi,

I found a 2003 Mercury Grand Marquis LS I may buy. Has anyone had any experience mounting and operating HF and VHF/UHF equipment/antennas on this car? I'd like to hear about your experiences ... good or bad.

This car is very similar to the Ford Crown Victoria so if you have a 2003 or newer one please reply as well.

Thanks!

George
KC0KM
Minneapolis

[KB9YNB]

Since this is *basically* the same car used by thousands upon thousands of state,county and local law enforcement agencies around the country, I would say there would be a plethora of options for mounting rigs, antennas, heavy-duty power, etc.  I don't think you could find a more well-supported vehicle vis-a-vis radio installation and operation. (other than the aforementioned Crown Vic.)

KB9YNB

[K0BG]

It will have few headaches you'll need to address.

First, the ignition system uses COP (coil over plug) technology, and although Ford's design is good, it isn't good enough. About the only noise abatement you can do is bead the control harness.

The fuel injectors are less problematic, but require that the beads be mounted very close to the individual injectors. This requires time and patients as they are difficult to get to.

You'll need to bead the cooling fans and AC fan, and maybe the IAC motor too.

If you need additional information, visit my web site. I'm in the process of updating the articles on beads as the newer and better mix 31 beads are now available from DX Engineering. Other than the mix, everything else is applicable.

Alan, KØBG
www.k0bg.com

[K5LXP]

I found the fuel pump in my '99 Marquis to be more problematic than the injectors.  Even so, with no abatement efforts made I still run HF mobile with good success (using DSP and NB).  My setup can be seen here:

http://www.qsl.net/k5lxp/mobile/2Mmobile/2Mrig.html
http://www.qsl.net/k5lxp/mobile/HFMobile/HFMobile.html

The "Ford Fuel Pump" noise is a long standing, well known issue, and there is a service bulletin/retrofit kit for it.  It requires dropping the tank and installing a part on the pump itself, but the problem (in my case) isn't so terrible I want to go through all that to minimize the noise.  If your vehicle is under warranty it might be a freebie though.

Mark K5LXP
Albuquerque, NM

[K0BG]

Mark is correct about the fuel pump. However, Ford standardize the requisite noise filter starting in January 2002. This "fix" is now standard across the line including the pickup trucks which were the worse offenders of all.

Alan, KØBG
www.k0bg.com

[W7DJM]

Alan, can you post any links or part no's for this?  I asked the local Fraud dealer about my older Ranger, and the parts guy acted like "why would anybody want a radio in a vehicle?"

[K5LXP]

Any dealer claiming ingorance on this issue is crooked.  This problem is so pervasive among Fords (at least a decade's worth of models) that even the ARRL has the bulletin on record:

http://www.arrl.org/tis/info/fuel.html

Mark K5LXP
Albuquerque, NM

[K0BG]

I'm with Mark. Find yourself another dealer.

I wrote this subject up in one of my articles about noise abatement, but I don't remember which one. Since this issue is now moot, I didn't include it on my web site.

If you want a copy of the TSB, go to http://www.helminc.com/helm/homepage.asp?r=seo11502 and use the "independent" selection and input the data. TSBs cost about $8 and you can use a CC.

Alan, KØBG
www.k0bg.com

[KC8ERP]

I have a 2003 Crown Vic and befor that I had a 98 Crown Vic.  I run an Alinco DX-70 and the ignition noise is S-9+ across all of HF, the fuel pump can be heard but its not even S-1.  If anybody has any sugestions on getting rid of the Ignition noise please let me know!  The standard solutions don't apply due to the COP ignition.  My setup can bee seen on my webpage:

http://www.qsl.net/kc8erp

Tnx es 73 de KC8ERP - Jesse