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92 Town Car Stalling

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Posted by: tbsrider2000

I have an excellent low mileage '92 Town Car that runs great, but lately it has decided to stall on occaision. There are no engine codes and the engine light does not come on, it just dies while you're running down the highway. It acts like it just ran out of gas. After letting it sit for an hour or so, it will start up and run just fine again.

I've been told that winter additives in gasoline cause the gas to foam when sloshing around in the tank, and due to the baffle design in the tank, Town Cars are very susceptible to this??? I don't know if I go for that or not. I've also assumed that the gas cap may not be venting properly, causing a vacuum in the tank, but I've driven with the gas cap completely off and it still has stalled.

The pressure at the fuel pump has been tested and is fine, but I am still suspecting that the fuel pump is overheating or something and is unable to pump fuel after it gets hot. I have replaced the fuel filter (which was fine).
I have thought about blowing air through the fuel line from the filter to the tank, but have not tried that yet. I also have not checked the spark when it dies, but I believe it still has spark at that time, because it will attempt to kick over. (computer getting hot??)

Any suggestions would really be appreciated.

Dave

Posted by: John Hubertz

Classic TFI (thick film ignition) module symptoms. Does your car have the distributor mounted module?

If yes, what is happening is the module heats up and a crack opens in the circuitboard (bleah.....dead). The module cools and the car magically repairs itself until it heats up again.

Posted by: tbsrider2000

I will check that out for sure. I drove to work today, and really suspect the fuel pump is having issues also. I did make it to work and back (cooler day today) but I could hear the fuel pump struggling from inside the car, and went around to the passenger side and you could hear it from there as well (pump is on passenger side of tank). But I will definitely keep an eye out for your suggestion as well.

Posted by: Frat-man-du

Quote:

Originally Posted by tbsrider2000

I will check that out for sure. I drove to work today, and really suspect the fuel pump is having issues also. I did make it to work and back (cooler day today) but I could hear the fuel pump struggling from inside the car, and went around to the passenger side and you could hear it from there as well (pump is on passenger side of tank). But I will definitely keep an eye out for your suggestion as well.

Both my 90TC(5.0l) and 92 Grand Marque (4.6l) had noisy fuel pumps - very high pitched and quite obvious. When the sound changed to somthing like gravel being moved around is when they went bad. Both went between 125 and 150k.

The module (mentioned above) is a sore point as well. i would change , just for piece of mind- replacement are much better than the org!

Posted by: eldrewado

I was wondering if this module can have a crack so that the car doesn't stall, but it tries to stall all the time? my 92 LTC does this only when hot and quits if i unplug the MAF but the MAF is fine

Posted by: Redwingvksm

Eldrewado - that isn't the TFI - that sounds like it's the IAC is partically clogged.

With out the MAF the computer goes into default mode - and opens the IAC more - but if it's partically clogged than you wouldn't notice it when the IAC is wide open - just when it's stepped alittle (When the computer knows it's self and can adjust the IAC - when the MAF is plugged in. Clean out the IAC and see if it goes away!

)

Posted by: tbsrider2000

Quote:

Originally Posted by Frat-man-du

Yep, my fuel pump sounds like it's grinding gravel.. lol. My car only has 67K miles on it, but it sat alot, and that's never good for anything. I will check the module out though for sure..

Posted by: eldrewado

Quote:

Originally Posted by Redwingvksm

Eldrewado - that isn't the TFI - that sounds like it's the IAC is partically clogged.

With out the MAF the computer goes into default mode - and opens the IAC more - but if it's partically clogged than you wouldn't notice it when the IAC is wide open - just when it's stepped alittle (When the computer knows it's self and can adjust the IAC - when the MAF is plugged in. Clean out the IAC and see if it goes away!

)

hey thanks for the advice, i used the acromyn MAF because i knew it, but whats the IAC? Im assuming the I is for idle? ive only recently gotten hooked on lincolns and caddys.

Posted by: Redwingvksm

Yea - your Idle Air Controller - it's on the throttle body.

Just clean it and your Throttle Body out and you should be good to go!

Posted by: pepperman

Also check your vacumm lines one of them maybe rotted out, that happened on my Town Car.