The saga was not over. :rolleyes-green:
After the day's events at the Speedway, we left the venue and proceeded to the hotel. After checking in at the front desk we went to park the car and it almost didn't start! But it was not going to ruin our evening so we parked it and decided we would deal with it in the morning.
So we began our trip back Saturday morning with a jaunt to the nearest WalMart to exchange the battery we had just bought four days earlier in Texas. Oh, by the way, did you know Texas has a "battery fee"??? It took the manager to figure out how to zero out the fee in the exchange transaction. After some smooth talking at the counter we walked out with a new battery, installed it in the car and proceeded to head east.
We had planned to stop in the Indianapolis area and meet up with Rene and Brad for dinner. We were navigating our way through the traffic in St. Louis when we began to get the by now all too familiar signs of low voltage... again! We literally googled a WalMart at the next exit and within a couple minutes we were in the parking lot when the car died from lack of electrons. Luckily we coasted to a stop off to the side of the store under a nice shade tree. Unfortunately, this particular WalMart did not have an Auto Center and they also did not have a matching battery. As luck would have it, there was a National Tire and Battery literally across the parking lot. Of course no one around had an alternator but we were able to find a battery. An inordinate amount of time later we had a brand new Interstate battery under the hood and were back on the road. We then enlisted Rene and Brad to search the Indy area for an alternator for the '04 Cobra mill in the CE.
Less than 90 minutes later we had to stop again, this time in Vandalia, IL for yet another WalMart battery exchange! :eek-large:
By now our dinner plans had been changed and Rene and Brad had found an alternator and were heading west with it while we proceeded eastwardly with our 3rd battery of the day. We were to meet up somewhere around the state line (presuming we had enough electricity to get there).
Over 2 hours later we were within minutes of meeting up when... you guessed it... we were low on power again. Struggling to get to yet another WalMart, the car managed to get within 1-1/2 miles of our destination in the little hamlet of Clinton, IN.
I had managed to pull off onto a side street and parked the car along the curb. We had talked about possibly swapping the 'dead' battery for the other 'dead' battery thinking it maybe had recovered enough juice to start the car and get us going a little bit further. Then we decided to try another trick.
We had with us a lithium battery jump starter which had proven itself quite useful. It was theorized we could try to start the car with it but instead of disconnecting it, we could leave it connected and perhaps it would have enough juice to get us to the local WalMart. The diminutive size of the unit allowed it to be connected to the battery and then tucked on top of the battery to allow the hood to close.
It worked! :laugh:
The car started and we immediately headed off into the sunset. :love-it:
Less than 2 miles later on the other side of Clinton, we pulled into the parking lot of the local WalMart with juice to spare. LOL
We had exchanged the battery (again) and were pushing the buggy out the door when we saw Rene and Brad had arrived and were parked next to the disabled CE. After a couple cold beers from the cooler, we began the operation of replacing the alternator.
In most any other Mark VIII, this would've been a 5 minute job... but on the '04 Cobra the alternator is not at 12 o'clock but is down around 5 o'clock on the drivers side. Now I don't know how the access is on the Mustang, but on the Lincoln... let's just say there is no access. The engine and accessories were obviously shoe-horned into place from the bottom with the k-member removed. Once the car was up on jackstands, it was immediately apparent the alternator was not coming out the bottom and would have to somehow be removed from the top.
Five hours later we were connecting the battery cables up to the new battery. We took a standing voltage reading and crossed our fingers and started the car. Success!!! The voltmeter indicated the car was charging! :wink2-green
Now, having come this far and still six hours or more to drive ahead of us, we decided it would be best to go ahead and swap out the leaky drivers side front air strut with the unit Lvnmarks had shipped us earlier in the week. Less than an hour later we were lowering the car back down off the jack and started to car and watched the suspension rise in all its glory! The Lincoln gods were finally pleased!! :big-grin:
At long last, we bid farewell to our good friends and drove on through the night.
In summary... our journey included a blower motor controller repair, a heater core bypass, 1/2 can freon, one brake caliper bracket bolt, crossover plug o-ring, front drivers side air bag, 5 batteries, one alternator and lots of tire tread from excessive burnouts along the way. The experience was... priceless! :big-grin: