87 Town Car not starting,.. needs Starter and..?

[smurph98gt]

Hey everyone, first post here!

Anyway, I'm picking up my first Town Car (thats not a rental) tomorrow for a pretty good price. Theres only one problem.. it doesn't start. Just from turning it over I can tell its the starter, it just grinds and never actually turns over. Have any of you done this yet? I know where the starter is on my 5.0 Mustang, but never changed it... is it much different on the TC?

The guy I'm buying it from says the car didn't start for his wife, he went and tried, and it started up. He drove it to get some gas, and it died. He couldn't get it started, and then it started making the grinding noise, so he thinks whatever was wrong, caused the stall and no-start, and he killed the starter by trying to get it started.

When my mustangs fuel pump primes, I can hear a brief, slight, whistling noise, and then it stops. On the TC I heard a slight buzzing, almost whooshing sound that was pretty constant. Is it SUPPOSED to sound like that, or could that be the initial reason why it died? I'm wondering if he even had any gas in it at all.

Thats it.. any help would be greatly appreciated, even if its to pass on some other Lincoln Town Car sites so that I can learn more about this car..

Thanks everyone!

-Ronald

 

[Sifrino3]

Welcome!

 

[JoshMcMadMac]

Welcome aboard Ronald. First, don't worry about the fuel pump. It's normal. For the starter, I believe it is similar to the Stang. That does sound like the problem, so good luck!

 

[smurph98gt]

Cool, glad to hear thats normal..I really didn't want to have to replace the fuel pump as well! I guess we'll find out what else is wrong after I fix the starter.

I'm actually really excited to pick it up and get working on it.

Here's another question,.. the front seat is in rough condition, and I found some cheap replacements on eBay from a newer model (94 I think), will they bolt right in?

Thanks for the welcome guys!

-Ronald

 

[smurph98gt]

Theres a picture of her.. not too shabby IMO!

 

[JoshMcMadMac]

Nice ride for the right price! I don't think I've seen that color before either.

 

[smurph98gt]

Thanks!

I wonder though, what the problem was that it wouldn't start initially, and then he got it to start, and then it died. I'm really beginning to wonder if there is even fuel in the damn car, and him turning it over and over 20439524 times ruined the starter.

Does that sound like something that could have caused this whole situation?

 

[smurph98gt]

Well, I got the starter swapped out.. the old one was pretty jacked, the gear spun completely free, no wonder it wouldn't engage.

Got it swapped, got a little bit of gas in there, started it, and it fired right up.. screeched a little bit though when it started, I think the starter was just getting seated, but anyways, it ran a little bit low.. just didnt seem right. I killed it and went to fire it up again, and it wouldn't start. Just turn over but never caught.

Got some more gas in there a little bit later, and boom.. it started up.. but again, ran a little off and then died. Couldn't get it to start. Let it sit a bit, tried again, and it started once more, but promptly died.

Around the engine bay it smells like gasoline pretty strongly. I didn't have more time to check anything.. so its sitting still.. anyone have any bright ideas?

I know someone said that the Fuel Pump noise is normal.. it just skeeves me out a little bit cause I'm used to my mustangs fuel pumps priming, then stopping until the car starts.

Thanks again guys!

-Ronald

 

[smurph98gt]

Oh! I also tried pulling the codes using a code reader. Once the key is turned to the KOEO position, the code reader just shuts off. What the hell's that about?