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chagan

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I'm having a few electric issues that I hope someone helps me with. I'm gonna list everything that is going on because I'm looking for a common link of some sort.

Always had the alarm go off when the car got wet, so I disconnected the speaker so I could sleep at night-nothing major yet

Had a new Kenwood head unit installed (professionally)no problems after the install

My tranny went- started revving in the 30 to 40 mile range without moving then banged into gear.

Pop replaced the tranny with an identical unit (got the car from him & he had a spare; he was a head mechanic at Mac Trucks for ages-knows his SH** but...

Went to pick up the car and the remote wouldn't open the door
opened the door with the code and the alarm signaled, then had to put the key in the ignition before I could hit the disarm button to start the car (door locks opened and unopened several times before I was ready to start it) yes, the battery on the remote was replaced first to check the simple things.

The car seems to slide between gears, not hard shift between them. I don't know much about the Lincoln, but when the tranny was broke, I knew it. Now I think it is not much better.
On the way home that night the headlights started to flicker on and off randomly-no pattern at all-but only on low beam. Switching to high beam and there was no flicker. The panel of the headlight switch was extremely hot

Now when the car got wet the door locks opened and unopened repeatedly over several minutes all by themselves as well as the alarm going off. (without the speaker of course)


I noticed a great loss of response in performance- I used to only have to depress the gas pedal an inch or so all the way from home to work- now I had to give it much more pedal and it started to miss when I did this. The car also didn't kick into passing gear without much persuasion- just kept slowly revving with the low tone of the non-passing gear.

Brought it to a place to fix the headlights so I could drive at night- they said the alarm was shot so they took out the under hood fuse and the fuse box module to totally disable the alarm. They replaced the headlight switch because the relay was shot. This fixed the headlight issue.

There was a time when the computer stopped responding (kept telling me that I was almost out of gas when I just filled up and resetting the DTE did nothing. (seems ok now that the alarm was disabled).


My temp gauge stopped working somewhere along the line and when I got the car back the car seemed to have some balls back and the temp gauge worked briefly again. I watched the temp gauge return to non-working status as it slammed from the normal zone to hard left. (appears to be getting current, just opposite from what it needs.) At the same time the performance dropped off again. Maybe a major coincidence but I don't know.


Now this may be a multitude of different issues, but I thought I'd list them all together to see what can be grouped together.

I would truly appreciate some input from you guys to see what I should be looking into. I find it too much of a coincidence to have all of these things happen relatively at the same time without some common link. Please help
 
Welcome.

You mentioned a shot load of stuff. Most of it has been covered so do a search.

One thing that I do NOT want you to search for is the answer to the hot key issue. Your ignition key switch is probably ready to catch fire. Yes. Yo read correctly; I said catch fire. Here's how I replaced mine:

http://www.lscclub.org/tech/ignitionSwitch.htm
1984ignitionSwitch-004t.jpg


Our cars do NOT like three year old batteries. Replace it.

Our cars do NOT like original alternators. Replace it and the voltage regulator at the same time.

This actually eliminates 90% of our electrical problems. Don't cut corners and don't bitch over the fact that AutoZone tells you that your car uses the heaviest, biggest, most expensive battery they have. Buy it and staple the receipt to the folder you keep your title in. Five years and ten months from now, you'll thank me when you exchange that battery for a new one.

Our cars do NOT like aftermarket alarms.

Our cars do NOT like aftermarket radios. A harness install is the only SAFE and proven way.

If you COMPLETELY do the first two items and still have a problem, then we'll start trouble shooting.
 
OldSchool1 said:
Welcome.

You mentioned a shot load of stuff. Most of it has been covered so do a search.

One thing that I do NOT want you to search for is the answer to the hot key issue. Your ignition key switch is probably ready to catch fire. Yes. Yo read correctly; I said catch fire. Here's how I replaced mine:

http://www.lscclub.org/tech/ignitionSwitch.htm
1984ignitionSwitch-004t.jpg


Our cars do NOT like three year old batteries. Replace it.

Our cars do NOT like original alternators. Replace it and the voltage regulator at the same time.

This actually eliminates 90% of our electrical problems. Don't cut corners and don't bitch over the fact that AutoZone tells you that your car uses the heaviest, biggest, most expensive battery they have. Buy it and staple the receipt to the folder you keep your title in. Five years and ten months from now, you'll thank me when you exchange that battery for a new one.

Our cars do NOT like aftermarket alarms.

Our cars do NOT like aftermarket radios. A harness install is the only SAFE and proven way.

If you COMPLETELY do the first two items and still have a problem, then we'll start trouble shooting.
Click to expand...


Thanks OldSchool, I did do research and read about the ignition switch and regulator/alternator combo. Someone also mentioned the solid state switch next to the ignition switch- might as well change that while I'm at it. The alarm was a factory install, don't know how old the battery is- better change that too. I think you (or someone else) mentioned tracing the positive connections all the way back to the alternator and cleaning them and the 2 engine block grounds. Can you tell me where the grounds are located? Thanks again.
 
chagan said:
Thanks OldSchool, I did do research and read about the ignition switch and regulator/alternator combo. Someone also mentioned the solid state switch next to the ignition switch- might as well change that while I'm at it. The alarm was a factory install, don't know how old the battery is- better change that too. I think you (or someone else) mentioned tracing the positive connections all the way back to the alternator and cleaning them and the 2 engine block grounds. Can you tell me where the grounds are located? Thanks again.
Click to expand...
You're welcome.
One ground is located at the rear of the engine and attaches to the frame at the firewall. Another is at the engine block in front of the oil filter and attaches to the battery.
 
OldSchool1 said:
You're welcome.
One ground is located at the rear of the engine and attaches to the frame at the firewall. Another is at the engine block in front of the oil filter and attaches to the battery.
Click to expand...

NOW we might be getting somewhere. As I mentioned this pretty much started happening after my father-in-law swapped out the tranny- sounds like he was working near that rear ground and might have damaged it somehow. In addition, I noticed that the battery retaining plate is missing so the battery is sitting loose on the shelf and might be causing an interruption at the front ground. That would make complete sense. I hope the rear ground is damaged, that would tie everything together nicely. You da man...
 
Just an update-

After the shop disabled the alarm and replaced the headlight switch, I had far fewer electrical issues. I still had a lack of performance and some DTE errors which became mute after a friend borrowed the car for a football game and the next time I tried to drive it, I couldn't get it into gear. Had the car towed to NY for a tranny rebuild and the perfomance is back, there are no electrical issues outstanding and even my temp gauge is working again. I wouldn't have guessed that the odd issues were related to a bad tranny- performance yes, but not electrical. I guess that it is all tied in somehow.
 
chagan said:
Just an update-

...
Click to expand...
Thanks for the update. It's really nice to hear the progress (or lack there of) of any jobs that we discuss. It lets us know weather or not the advice was correct or not.

I really like the charging system of our cars. Once you know the path and what voltages you are supposed top have and at what points, you can go in and change one or to components and have a brand new car. Installing a new alternator and voltage regular is like crucial to our systems and never replace only one.
 
OS please mention that the new battery needs to be fully charged to protect the alt. jd old fart too.
 
JDS353 said:
OS please mention that the new battery needs to be fully charged to protect the alt. jd old fart too.
Click to expand...
I can never say too much about the battery!

Motorcraft's EXT-65-850 has 875 cold cranking amps and 1090 cranking amps at 32 degrees. It comes with a 36 month guarantee and a 72 month pro rating and runs about $100.00 retail. I have one in OldSchool1 that I put there in 2001 and it cranks today like it did four years ago.

Autozone has the Duralast 65-DL with 750 cca. and 935 ca. and a reserve capacity of 140 amps. I put one in OldSchool8 for about $65.00 and STAPLED the receipt inside my OldSchool8 folder. It has a similar warranty.

I swear by new/well maintained batteries for electrical trouble shooting. I only have hands-ons with the charging system of our electrical systems, but you gotta start somewhere. If this isn't 100% then everything else in our cars is moot :)
 
Forgot to mention that I did replace the voltage regulator and bought an alternator. The shop that I took it to load tested the alternator and said it was ok, so I told them to put in the voltage regulator anyway.
 
chagan said:
Forgot to mention that I did replace the voltage regulator and bought an alternator. The shop that I took it to load tested the alternator and said it was ok, so I told them to put in the voltage regulator anyway.
Click to expand...
I'm no electrical engineer, but I think the two items synchronize over time and need to be replaced in tandem.

What year is your Lincoln Mark VII?

Did you replace the multi purpose stalk?

Did you replace th ignition (inside or below the steering column)?

See my signature :)
 
chagan said:
...
No, but my father in law says he did which is why I have a seperate key for the door and the ignition.
Click to expand...
The ignition switch I'm referring to is not the key ignition switch but the wire harness ingnition switch that the key switch moves (shown below with two gold colored bolts). These switches fail and cause many problema in our Mark VIIs, especially before 1990.

1984IgnitionSwitch-007a.jpg
 
chagan said:
Forgot to mention, the ignition key was very warm to touch on several occasions after turning the car off.
Click to expand...
WOOOOAAAHHHH!

Stop the presses Bro!

I wish I'd read this back in September!

A HOT IGNITION KEY MEANS THAT YOUR IGNITION SWITCH (pictured above) IS DEFINATELY ON THE ROAD TO FAILURE!

Please replace it as soon as possible.
 
chagan said:
I wanted to read the link again and it's broken. I can't get to any articles on

http://www.lscclub.org/tech
Click to expand...
Yeah. The site is on ... vacation.

IIRC, the article reads something like:

1984 - 1989 Lincoln Mark VII Ignition Switch
TOOLS
Phillips screwdriver
blade screwdriver
#25 super torx wrench (hollow end)
MATERIAL
white lithium grease or equivalent
PARTS
Motorcraft Switch 714093 (pn: F29Z-11572-D)
Disconnect the negative battery cable

Remove the three steering column screws and the upper and lower vinyl shell.
Inspect all wiring and connectors for breaks.
Carefully remove the decorative collar by pulling the 4 - 6 push-pins that hold it into the dashboard.
Located the grey and tan (aluminum and plastic) ignition switch. Compare it to the part that you bought BEFORE you remove it because they are not returnable.
If the two screws that hold your ignition switch in look like these, then there is no doubt that you are looking at the original switch (a bolt with a rivet-like head). These can only be removed by chiseling/cutting slots into them to be driven out or use a set of needle nose vise grip pliers to grip once and turn out.
WITH EXTREME CARE, just barely pry the black latches away from the switch to disconnect it. Remove the switch and compare it to the good switch. Bad switches normally are separating or rattle or (gulp) burnt! A burnt switch means that you may have just saved someone's life as the next step may have been a steering column fire.
CAREFULLY install the new switch and check for operation before putting the collar back on.
 
chagan said:
Much appreciated OldSchool. I think that I will cut and past it for future reference.
Click to expand...
You're welcome.
The information will return to the web in due time. For now, if I have the information on a hard drive, I'll share it with enyone who asks.

JD
 
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