Console Coming Apart

New 02/11/2005

The console lid slowly started getting out of line, and then finally one
day when I closed it, the little plastic catch broke. Since then the
console lid has been getting looser and looser. It doesn't look like
it's the hinge on the lid itself, but the other end, which is down in there.

The whole console is kind of loose. Of course, I don't know how much
the console's rigidity used to rely on the lid being latched, so I don't
know if that's worse, or if it'll tighten up when I replace the lid.

Does anybody have some shop drawings and an idea about what I'd need to
buy? I'm definitely not going to the stealer again, now that it's my
money involved.

In conversation with the stealer before I left with BB's oil pan and
tranny pan replaced, he mentioned that the coolant sensor couldn't be
replaced by itself but required the whole reservoir which runs about
US$80. Is that true, and how much of a ripoff was the price he quoted?
--
Bob and Kelly Crispen
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The screws on the console lid worked loose on our 99 I installed some
bigger screws.. I believe the factory screws are a T-10 or T-15
Flathead Torx IIRC.

Yes he was correct about the coolant tank. The price isn't too far
off, but I would contact Ford Parts Network and see what they can get
you one for. The install isn't too tough. If you do repalce yours
I'd love to have the old one or you can cut it up yourself but we are
trying to determine what is the problem with these sensors. It coudl
be that the magnet is glued to the bottom of the float and eventually
comes off, or it could be that the float just quits floating. Doesn't
seem to be that deposits are building up on the vertical column the
float runs on however.

Ref here:

http://v8sho.com/SHO/CoolantTankMysteryLowCoolantLightCause.htm

Scott
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I fixed the broken latch by drilling a 1/64" hole through both the
broken tab and the corresponding "handle" portion of the latch. Then
I drilled about 1/8" down into the tab portion with a 1/8" drill bit
to make a small recess. I mixed up some J-B Weld resin and used a
toothpick to get some of the resin down into the holes and onto the
mating portions of the broken parts. Then I mated the two pieces and
used a small nail/brad to reinforce the joint, sinking the head down
into the 1/8" recess I had drilled. I followed this up by filling the
recess with more J-B Weld and cleaning up the excess resin. This has
held up for two years and 20K miles.

For the lid, you can try loctiting the screws that hold it in. IIRC,
the entire liner of the console is just held in by friction clips.
Empty the junk out of the console (this was the hard part for me) and
gently pry on the front edge to remove the liner. From there, you can
tighten two of the bolts that hold the framework of the console to the
floor (they do require quite a bit of torque sometimes.) That should
tighten up the console and keep it from flexing and wobbling. Then
remove the Torx screws from the lid's hinge, loctite them, and tighten
them back up. If that doesn't work, try the larger screws like Scott
mentioned.

I also had a problem with the lid's vinyl cover seperating on the
hinge side, and then causing the lid to bind when I opened the
console. I just removed the inside cover, tucked the vinyl back in,
and reinstalled the cover. It's been fine ever since (that was almost
2 years ago.)

Dan Carman
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Are you referring the the latch that opens the lid and closes the lid on the middle console? If so the latch part can be found for 10 bucks on Ford Parts Network. I just picked one up for my 97.

Jon Martinucci

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