I have a 07 Crown Vic with the P71 police package. This is by far the best car I've ever owned. As we all know Ford discontinued production of the Vic this year. Big mistake in my opinion, and it's now going to be replaced with a front wheel drive Taurus. What was Ford thinking ? Why not upgrade, redesign, the Vic ? Give it a 5.0 and a fresh new look, and off it goes. Ford has made the same great mistake Chevy made back in 96, when they discontinued the Caprice. Now this year we see the return of the Caprice, and even though it's not an American made car. Our friends down under have built a solid vehicle that I would love to own. I believe we will see the return of the Crown Victoria in a couple years.
Now for those of you that are the proud owners of P71 CVPI's, here's a tip if you happen to come across oil dripping from your rear differential. This happened to me a few months ago and after googling the possible cause, it seemed to be a bad pinion seal. The oil was leaking from where the drive shaft connects into the differential. But as I was inspecting the area my automotive sixth sense kicked in. I just felt it had to be something other then a bad pinion seal. Honest to God I never knew there was an axle vent on the car or any vehicle.
So I googled axle vent and found that the Crown Vic has an axle vent on the driver side rear axle. If this vent tube or vent bolt becomes clogged, or just stops working it can make your pinion seal leak. Now depending on the year of your Vic it may be a vent tube, or as on my 2007 it was a vent bolt. The bolt is a hollow tube about an inch 1/4 long with a springy top. I removed this bolt and cleaned it, blew air through it, and placed it back on the axle. The leaking stopped for a couple days but then it started again. I was bummed out. Because now I gotta pay to have the pinion seal fixed. But I wasn't ready to give up so fast. I removed the bolt again to see if it was bad. I found it in what seemed to be working order. I wasn't convinced so I took it apart by prying off the metal top. This will expose the spring, and a little rubber disc which is used as a gasket.
Everything seemed fine with the bolt. But I felt that maybe the rubber disc wasn't working as it was. So I put the bolt back together without the rubber disc. I replaced the bolt back on the axle and it hasn't leaked since. I've put a few thousand miles on it, and it's still not leaking. I may eventually replace the bolt, but the only place you can get one is from the dealer. They charge around $20 for this little bolt. I feel as long as mine isn't leaking it's doing it's job.
