General Questions

[sking]

I bought a 2003 Marauder a few weeks ago and I have a couple of questions:

Did they all come with a full size spare and matching alloy wheel (without the gods head center piece)? I have seen full size spares before but the rim is usually stamped steel.

Did the windows come from the factory tinted or did the previous owner add that. The driver and passenger windows seem after market but the rear and back window seem to be OEM.

Should the steering wheel mounted controls be rear illuminated at night? If so I bet that is a fun bulb(s) to change.

Is there a way to enable daytime running lights or was that strictly a factory option.

Also oddly enough when the radio is in CD DJ (CD changer) mode the buttons labeled 1 through 6 (shared with FF Rew etc.) do not move you from disc to disc. But I found that pressing the Tune button does, weird.

I have been having a blast driving it, although it does drink some gas, but that’s to be expected.

Thanks and sorry for all the noob questions.

[CBT]

Interesting questions, lets get started: What color is it?


I bought a 2003 Marauder a few weeks ago and I have a couple of questions:

Did they all come with a full size spare and matching alloy wheel (without the gods head center piece)? I have seen full size spares before but the rim is usually stamped steel.

Did the windows come from the factory tinted or did the previous owner add that. The driver and passenger windows seem after market but the rear and back window seem to be OEM.

Should the steering wheel mounted controls be rear illuminated at night? If so I bet that is a fun bulb(s) to change.

Is there a way to enable daytime running lights or was that strictly a factory option.

Also oddly enough when the radio is in CD DJ (CD changer) mode the buttons labeled 1 through 6 (shared with FF Rew etc.) do not move you from disc to disc. But I found that pressing the Tune button does, weird.

I have been having a blast driving it, although it does drink some gas, but that’s to be expected.

Thanks and sorry for all the noob questions.

[SILVERSURFER03]

My vote is black

[Egon Spengler]

Wheel in trunk is full sized spare with a dull gray finish and no center cap

Windows come with a factory tint but a very light tint

Steering mount controls is a good questions... I never noticed if they do or not! haha

You do not want daytime running light. Don't think marauders have them

Tune makes the CD changer change from one disc to the other and the FF/REW button allows you to move through a track on the CD

[dakslim]

My vote is black

I vote Black too.:)

[CBT]

I vote Black too.:)
Groan:shake:

[dakslim]

Groan:shake:

Hey!:mad2:

[SC Cheesehead]

I bought a 2003 Marauder a few weeks ago and I have a couple of questions:

Did they all come with a full size spare and matching alloy wheel (without the gods head center piece)? No, only the early 2003's. The later 2003's and all the 2004's have donut spares on steel rims. Check out:
http://www.mercurymarauder.net/forums/showthread.php?t=31102

Did the windows come from the factory tinted or did the previous owner add that. Probably aftermarket, OEM had a very light tint, and was the same on all windows.

Should the steering wheel mounted controls be rear illuminated at night? If so I bet that is a fun bulb(s) to change. Don't believe they're illuminated, at least mine aren't.

Is there a way to enable daytime running lights or was that strictly a factory option. Pull back on the headlight knob and that will turn on your foglights, In that position, I believe those will function whenever the car is running, even if the headlights are in the "off" position. I just usually leave mine in the "auto" position and let the car decide when it's dark enough to operate the headlights.

Also oddly enough when the radio is in CD DJ (CD changer) mode the buttons labeled 1 through 6 (shared with FF Rew etc.) do not move you from disc to disc. But I found that pressing the Tune button does, weird. Not weird, just quirky... ;)

[Egon Spengler]

Actually - You can only pull back on the knob when the headlight switch is turned to either the parking light or full headlight modes and pulling back just activates the foglights. If you want automatic headlights to come on when it starts getting dark out, turn the headlight switch to the left of off and they will automatically turn on and off when it gets dark or light out

Is there a way to enable daytime running lights or was that strictly a factory option[/B]. Pull back on the headlight knob and that will turn on your foglights, In that position, I believe those will function whenever the car is running, even if the headlights are in the "off" position. I just usually leave mine in the "auto" position and let the car decide when it's dark enough to operate the headlights.

[Dragcity]

Yes, the steering wheel controls are supposed to illuminate when the lights are on.

When in CD mode, only the buton relevent to the CD operation are illuminated.

None have DLR, Not an option, not a function. In auto mode, headlights will come on when using the windshield wipers (or at least should)

[SC Cheesehead]

Actually - You can only pull back on the knob when the headlight switch is turned to either the parking light or full headlight modes and pulling back just activates the foglights. If you want automatic headlights to come on when it starts getting dark out, turn the headlight switch to the left of off and they will automatically turn on and off when it gets dark or light out

There we go, I usually just leave mine in the "auto" position, was just going from memory on the foglights.

[Egon Spengler]

Yeah, I like riding with the parking lights and foglights on when it is getting dark out and I always do the foglights and headlight as well at night

There we go, I usually just leave mine in the "auto" position, was just going from memory on the foglights.

[sking]

Thanks for all the replies. It’s black. The strange thing about using the Tune button to move from disc to disc is that it’s not in the manual. When I pull the headlight control out to activate the fog lights they only come one when the control is the Auto or On position. The Day Time Running Lights option sounded like just software changes and I thought there may be a hack.

The car has a ton of miles on it (161k) but is in immaculate condition and I only paid a little more that the asking price of the wrecked one on eBay that was mentioned else ware on the forums.

Thanks again I have been having fun reading through all the posts here.

[JimmyXR7]

Thanks for all the replies. It’s black. . . .

The car has a ton of miles on it (161k) but is in immaculate condition and I only paid a little more that the asking price of the wrecked one on eBay that was mentioned else ware on the forums. . . .

Sounds like a good deal. If the maintenance records were not available, Change the transmission fluid and filter at your first chance. Transmissions are expensive to replace.
Jim

[Bluerauder]

Wheel in trunk is full sized spare with a dull gray finish and no center cap

Only the 2003 300A's came with the full size spare. The 2003 300B's and the 2004 all got the donut spare. There were a handful of 300B's at the end of the '03 run that ended up with a full sized spare (like SC Cheesehead); but that seems to have been a fairly rare occurrence as they were gearing up to jam the donut into the remainder.

[Egon Spengler]

He was asking about the full sized spare, so I was banking on the fact that he had the full sized spare... my bad...

Only the 2003 300A's came with the full size spare. The 2003 300B's and the 2004 all got the donut spare. There were a handful of 300B's at the end of the '03 run that ended up with a full sized spare (like SC Cheesehead); but that seems to have been a fairly rare occurrence as they were gearing up to jam the donut into the remainder.

[LSp8]

My 04 came with a mini spare that i replaced with a new steel 16" for a 03-05 CVPI these cars were not meant to have donuts even if it's just to get to the nearest tire place. The steering wheel controls are supposed to light up and I never thought about the pain in the azz it may be to change the bulbs.

[fastblackmerc]

My 04 came with a mini spare that i replaced with a new steel 16" for a 03-05 CVPI these cars were not meant to have donuts even if it's just to get to the nearest tire place. The steering wheel controls are supposed to light up and I never thought about the pain in the azz it may be to change the bulbs.

I bet they are LEDs and you can't easily change them. Just like the LEDs in the window switches

[Sully008]

None have DLR, Not an option, not a function.

This is not entirely correct. All Marauders built for Canadian sales are enabled with daytime running lights. There is a module behind the front grille that controls this. I don't know if this can be added to the US market ones.

[Dragcity]

This is not entirely correct. All Marauders built for Canadian sales are enabled with daytime running lights. There is a module behind the front grille that controls this. I don't know if this can be added to the US market ones.


Hmm, learn something new every day..... My Bad...

[SC Cheesehead]

Hmm, learn something new every day..... My Bad...

I didn't know this either; that's what I love about this site, always learning something new about our cars. :up:

[mossiehorn]

DLR can be added, in fact it is required for used cars imported from the US to Canada. My Town Car had them added when I brought it across the border. Saved a pile of $ doing that!

[Blk Mamba]

Cover the PAT, (blinking red light on the dash, top of the dash, in front of the driver) with something, (I have a small Red Cardinal, stuffed animal) position the headlight switch to automatic, you now have DRl's. This can be changed back by just removing the little stuffed animal.