few questions about my 86 TC

[gadget73]

Hi all. New here, etc etc.
I picked up my 86 Town Car today, and I'm presently putting it back together after quite a lot of years of neglect and assorted halfass repairs. Right now, the in-dash electric temp guage is disconnected, the sender removed (I have it) and a mechanical guage has been installed in the intake location. My question is this: Does that particular sender (the single wire one, nearest the front driver's side of the intake manifold) run anything other than the guage? I'm just not sure if the computer needs that sender to be present for any special reason.

Question 2: The thermostat presently installed is a 165 degree. Temp guage (the mechanical one) tells me the engine runs right about 160. I'm told by the person I got it from the original was a 195 that he replaced to help with some overheating issues. Once the radiator was replaced, he never changed the thermostat back to the original. Will this affect performance or fuel economy running cooler than original?

Question 3: Car has the Ford Premium Sound system installed, but I suspect the amp for the front channel is toast. When I plug it in, the front speakers play, but after a few minutes begin to distort badly, then make loud clicking/popping noises. Can I simply bypass that amp and run the front speakers right off the radio, or does the radio not feed a speaker level signal to the amp?

Question 4: About how fast should the car be going to switch into overdrive? If i'm not accelerating, it shifts into OD about 35 mph, and the engine seems to lug a bit, like its shifting too soon.

Thats it so far. As I get this thing back in decent order, I'll probably drop by with more questions if my trusty Haynes manual (which came free with the car) is not helpful.

 

[thamarkman]

Hi, I think that your thermostat is a little to cold. I would go with at least a 180 degree. If your engine doesn't get hot enough sludge could form, gas mileage might suffer a little bit. I believe the temp sensor only reads temp and that the computer doesn't need it otherwise. Your digital dash just tells you that the temp is OK. It doesn't matter if its cold or warm it will tell you Ok. So I think it is just for when it overheats it will let you know. As far as your premium sound is concerned do you have the knob that pulls out and says premium sound? If so, don't use it it sounds bad. A lot of people have told me not to use the overdrive unless your on the freeway. I guess it puts too much wear on the overdrive band if it keeps shifting in and out of OD while your driving around town. I don't like it when my car shifts into OD and lugs around at 35-40. I only use overdrive when I know I am going to go at least 45mph for a little while. No reason to wear out the overdrive. My 90' Towncar has 203,000 miles on the original tranny and counting.

 

[gadget73]

Hi, I think that your thermostat is a little to cold. I would go with at least a 180 degree. If your engine doesn't get hot enough sludge could form, gas mileage might suffer a little bit. I believe the temp sensor only reads temp and that the computer doesn't need it otherwise. Your digital dash just tells you that the temp is OK. It doesn't matter if its cold or warm it will tell you Ok. So I think it is just for when it overheats it will let you know.

Luckily, mine doesn't have the digital dash. I get one whole guage that tells me what the engine is doing (temp guage). Just so long as the computer doesnt read any engine data from that particular sender, I won't worry about it.

Stereo doesn't have any switches to engage the 'premium sound'. It appears to just be on all the time. I'm not keeping the stereo in there long anyway. I'm not really impressed with the FM performance, and without front speakers working, it doesnt sound all that hot. Handily, in the trunk was a stock GM stereo, so I can put that in my truck and install my mp3/cd player into the Lincoln.

 

[Pepsi2185]

I can help on the stereo, you are going to need to rewire the harnesses anyway, the factory setup is probably common ground. Do you know if it has the football amp??

 

[Pepsi2185]

Sorry, lack of description, on the lower end of the rear speaker shelf or the back of the seat there is either an oval shaped gray amp or a square black box amp.

 

[gadget73]

Sorry, lack of description, on the lower end of the rear speaker shelf or the back of the seat there is either an oval shaped gray amp or a square black box amp.

Oval grey (actually it looks like aluminum) amp. It's not a common ground setup. I can just cut the plugs off the defective amp and make a bypass harness from that if I know the pinouts for it. Any help is muchly appreciated.

 

[Pepsi2185]

Ford changes colors all the time so i usually do not follow diagrams. Ive seen three color changes in one year. You can use 12 volts and pop the speakers, if they push away from the speaker that is the proper polarity, LOL. Thats what i usually do. Or you can check www.the12volt.com Or you can reference the rear speakers and i believe the wire opposite the clip is the positive wire. Trace it at the amp and see if you can interpret the fronts.

 

[gadget73]

Ford changes colors all the time so i usually do not follow diagrams. Ive seen three color changes in one year. You can use 12 volts and pop the speakers, if they push away from the speaker that is the proper polarity, LOL. Thats what i usually do. Or you can check www.the12volt.com Or you can reference the rear speakers and i believe the wire opposite the clip is the positive wire. Trace it at the amp and see if you can interpret the fronts.

Turns out it was common ground. I didn't look closely enough at the plug. Ended up re-using the wires the previous owner ran for the very same reason. I need to do some re-routing. I can see wires in a few places, namely on the passenger side edge of the rear speaker shelf and in both door jams. I'll probably re-route those tomorrow when I steam clean the carpet.