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1993 Lincoln Town Car Electrical Problem

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Posted by: Lucas

My 1993 Lincoln Town Car has a problem that causes the engine to die. I think it is an electrical problem.

At first I noticed that three lights on the dash would sometimes flash. They are the left turn signal light, right turn signal light, and high beam light (blue light). It’s always these three lights simultaneously, never just one or some of them. Sometimes the Check Engine light comes on at the same time they come on. As far as I can tell the lights outside the car do not flash, it is only on the dashboard instrument panel. At one point I thought this occurred randomly, but then it seemed to me that it was affected by the engine revs, the lights flashing on when the engine revved high, then dropped. I had the battery and alternator replaced, but this did not fix the problem.

For a while this problem did not seem to affect the engine. Then it began to occur more frequently and the engine seemed like it wanted to die when the lights flashed (hesitating, losing engine power). Sometimes the engine would die, but could then be restarted right away. Finally it got to the point where the engine would die while driving and would not start. When this happens the tail lights outside the car come on, and just stay on steadily, never turning off unless you unplug the battery. At the same time, when you turn the ignition switch, the starter does come on, and you can hear it turning over the engine but the engine will not start. Then if you unplug the battery and wait a while, the engine will start and the tail lights outside will turn off normally. But the engine will just die again, sometimes right away, sometimes after a while, and the problem cycle repeats itself.

So does this sound familiar to anybody?

Posted by: Frat-man-du

Lincolns have notoriously sensitive electrical systems. All kinds of weird and seemingly unrelated issues can pop up when the battery is weak or the charging system is having an issue.

Battery or corroded battery connections is where I would start.

Posted by: Lucas

It isn't the battery or alternator. I put in a new battery, battery terminals, and alternator and the problem is worse than ever.

Posted by: slowmkviii

Quote:

Originally Posted by Lucas

It isn't the battery or alternator. I put in a new battery, battery terminals, and alternator and the problem is worse than ever.

I think what he is saying is that you should check conections at both ends of the pos. and neg. wires and check the wires

Posted by: hrmwrm

it does sound like something searching for a ground through something else. i work on so many different cars, i don't always remember specifics. does your year have a seperate voltage regulator? it could also be voltage spike. lights coming on at higher revs is a clue.

Posted by: Borman

I used to experience almost the same crap with lights on my 91 LTC - samy symptoms plus Seat Belt light blinking.

Replace ground cables: from battery to chassis, from chassis to engine as well as high current main red wire from battery to fuse block nearby and from battery to alternator.
Check resistance of these segments above - it should be no more than 0.2-0.5 Ohm. Voltage drop on them should not exceed 0.2-0.3V in normal conditions.

Measure DC voltage on idle running engine with cheap analog voltmeter, see if arrow shakes or not. DC voltage should be around 13.8-14.3 V on a good alternator. If it varies more alternator or at least its internal regulator unit is dead.

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