There is no cruise control fluid, it's operated electronically and by engine vacuum..

WHat color is the leak??? Is it a black gooey kinda stuff coming directly from the steering wheel itself?? I've seen some older Fords do this.. I'm guessing it's the adhesive or plastic or something of that nature that makes up the steering wheel.. It's melting from heat... Short of replacing the steering wheel the next best thign is to get a steering wheel cover...

These cars can be converted to a stick, but it's not a project for the faint of heart.. It requires fabrication of the crossmember, pedal assembly, and driveshaft.. Not to mention cutting that hole int he floor and mounting up the shifter...

Don;t think you are limited by the auto trans.... There are TONS of things that can be done with them... Alot of the serious drag racers run an auto for consistency... A shift kit alone can make a world of difference.. But before doing any mods to an auto trans you need to make sure it is healthy and some other simple upgrades are covered such as an auxillary fluid cooler and just simply having fresh fluid and a filter...

These cars also had issue with the TV cable grommet.. This is the cable that goes from the trans to the throttle linkage on the transmission.. Some genius at ford decided to makes these from plastic.. with age they deterirate and the cable becomes disconnected which can burn up a transmission pretty fast... Luckily there is an upgrade available that replaced the rubber gromet with a brass one...

 

You know it really looks like dried root beer (But its not food or drink trust me) but most like power steering fluid. It is in the crevices of the cruise control off/on unit but only on the left side. I didn't realize you could do so much with an automatic transmission, perhaps I will keep it and mod it up. Maybe not soon, but in the future after I've got all of the functions working in top shape and basically rebuilt this car, I want to give it more power. And at the plastic gromit, oh s*** I should probably check that out, I know transmissions are not cheap.

 

Sounds like your crazy Arizona heat is cooking the innards out fo the steering wheel and or airbag.... You may be able to remove the airbad and clean the goo out enough to stop it from making a mess.. Haven;t found any real good ways to take care of this short of replacing stuff...

Definitely check that grommet! If it is still plastic replace that bugger.. I think tey are only like 6 or 7 bucks at the dealer, if that.. Some autoparts can get them too.. I think it's Transtar (trans parts company) makes them as well....

Dual exhaust and some better flowing catalytic converts will do wonders for your power, and fuel economy too.... The 5.0 HO upper intake is a nice upgrade too...

If you are thinking of rebuilding your engine and want some moer power it would probavly be easiest to combine the project... AS 87_Crown_Vic mentioned a 5.0 Explorer / Mountaineer engine would be the best bag for the buck.. However if it's newer than '97 it'll reqire the use of special headers instead of the exhaust manifolds.. THe sparkplug placement in the heads is a bit different... These are referred to as the GT-40 engines.. Best heads Ford made for the 5.0, better camshaft, better intakes.. It will require a bit of re arranging for the different firing order though.. That or use an engine computer from the MK7 as 87CV mentioned..

The next best engine would be a 5.0 HO from an 87 and up Lincoln MK7, 91-93 Cougar/T-bird, 87-95 Mustang, or 94-96 F-series/Eseries.. Same as above ad far as the computer..

All of the above models had pertty darned good 5.0's as far as power and longevity..

 

So how would I go about replacing my steering wheel and the components of what heated/whatever it is? Do I replace the wheel itself or take it apart and figure out what happened?

I'm also wondering how rebuilding engines work. This is how I imagine it.. You slowly buy the desired parts and build your engine. Once you have collected all the parts and the new engine is complete, you swap it out with the old one. Is that how it kind of works or no? Is there anything in my old engine worth salvaging? I would like to know more about the duel exhaust. What other upgrades/modifications would I need and how hard is this to perform? Please feel free to explain even the simple terms your using, I'm getting a little bit confused.

Also where exactly is that plastic grommit? I'm not entirely sure what it is...

 

that stupid grommet is located where cables connect to the throttlebody. it is the white plastic one that transmission cable slides and snaps in. the other cables under the throttlebody is the accelerator cable that snaps onto a ball on throttlebody and the cruise is paired with the accelerator cable off to the side.

 

pics and part numbers can be found here

when I changed that part on my car, it cost me about $9 after taxes at the dealer.

 

there are special tools available for removing the steering wheel and I would suggest using them if you go that route. the horn cover should just pull off of that steering wheel and let you see a little of the innards. check and see if you can see anything that may be melting in there that may need to be replaced. I had to replace the foam between the horn contact plates and used some large felt feet (2x one inch diameter pads on either side of the center hole) and was able to use my horn again. maybe it's that foam that's melting and dripping out. Depending on what is actually melting out of the steering wheel will dictate whether or not you should replace it. You may just need to invest in a sun-shade (one of those windshield fold out shades) and tint (unless you're in phoenix where any tint is illegal last I heard - in which case you might get those roll down window shades for each window and some suction cup types for the rear window to help with the heat).

as for engine rebuilds, what you described is an engine swap. rebuilds are where the engine is partially or completely disassembled and worn parts replaced and reassembled. The process on most gasoline V8s takes about 2-4 days at a shop. You can buy rebuilt engines and just swap out (accessories and covers from the old engine will be used on the rebuilt one) and this will save a day or 2 worth of time. If you do it yourself, the latter will be more expensive.

dual exhaust conversion from single exhaust requires the H-pipe and driver side exhaust. it also requires welding hangers to the car on the driver side to mount the exhaust. Custom exhaust would be better, but more expensive (2.5" dual exhaust with shorty headers made for a mustang compared to the stock type 2" pipes and truck headers that are on there stock).

the hardest part about performing any of the modifications mentioned so far is just getting the old stuff off the car. case in point: the quad cats that are stock on these things make it hard to get a socket on the nuts to remove the cats from the headers. also, throttle body tends to be cemented onto everything else on the upper intake (at least it is on my car) and can make it near impossible to disassemble in a timely manner. Basically gaskets do one of two things, degrade and crack/fall apart or become a form of epoxy and glue everything together. usually it's the former.

 

Your 91 should have an airbag.. As Slymer mentioned it could just be the foram inside the airbag or steering wheel melting and drippping out.. I would remove the airbag and see what you find...

Procedure for this is fairly straight forward.. First and foremost DISCONNECT THE BATTERY FOR A HALF HOUR!! This is to insure that the airbag system is completely inactive.. Accidental deployment is not cool... After doing the above there are 4 nuts in back of the steering wheel that need removed.. The Airbag will just pull out and have a wire connected to it.. DIsconnect the wire, and place the airbag face up in a safe place.. (Safe as in some place that it won;t hurt anything if it would happen to go off).. Then inspect your steering wheel to see if you can nail down where the good is coming from.. If you find nothing in the steering wheel then CAREFULLY inspect the airbag...

 

Hey guys, I've been doing lots of work on my car with the guy that I met. I've made some real improvements!

First of all, the stuff leaking out of the steering wheel is steering wheel lubricant. Its completely normal in this environment, as I'm told.

Second, my compressor (The pump) Is just fine. The clutch was sticking to it and with some wd40, its good as knew. As for my accumulator, the hissing is it decompressing instead of the compressor exploding, which is supposed to happen. My a/c works just fine.

Together we replaced all the spark plugs, spark plug wires, distributor cap and rotor, ( Very dirty!) completely cleaned out the intake manifold, replaced all the gaskets, and the valve cover gaskets (Oil was EVERYWHERE! The valve cover gasket screws were so loose I could pull them out.)

Once we took the valve covers off, we found a very nice clean engine in excellent condition. It all looked really good and we blasted all the dirt and crap off of the engine. He is a really nice guy and helped me out A LOT. Other then that, there are not really any seriously bad problems with my car other then that small transmission throttle clutch piece which I cannot find. The next thing we are going to do is the windows and locks. I want to do an oil change, and maintain my transmission. Also, this friday I will be replacing all the wheels. The back wheels have bulge mark cracks (NOT good) And the front are extremely worn. Any tire preferences I should go with? I'm completely new with tires.

Thanks for the help! The car now runs like a BEAST.

 

Good news, I found the Throttle valve bushing and am going to pick it up right after my tires get installed. I went with firerreli.