This car is all kinds of stressing me out... any advice??

Birdie

Birdie

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Miles City MT
So. Ill preface this with normally Im not such a wreck over dumb stuff but lifes been slamming me with one thing right after another lately with no signs of stopping. This was the cherry on top of the sh*t sundae. The other day we got our first snow while I was out overnight. I didnt get a chance to make it home before several inches were dumped. I had zero choice but to drive in that. Well. 3 blocks into the drive and the car went into ETC Engine Failsafe mode. No idea what thats about. It ran and drove perfectly normal all day before that... Anyone know what the hell happened there?? How to fix it? Is my car just toast? Im so upset >.<
Another thing is, I had a neighbor pull the battery so it wouldnt freeze through winter and get ruined (were already in the negative teens where I live) so the battery is in my house but... its 2 am and Im at work but just realized he shut the trunk. And Im having an anxiety attack wondering how the heck Im going to get it open come spring and thats stressing me out super bad too :/ is there a way you can open the trunk if the battery was taken out of the car?
I will appreciate any help or kind words. My Lincoln was the only nice thing Ive ever had in life.This is tearing me up so bad :(
 
Can you do any work?
Can you check for codes? We really need these to be able to help.

Your LS has a extra battery post hidden in the front passenger wheel well behind the plastic wheel well liner. Don't get confused and look on the drivers side as that throws people off too.

Now listen to this next part real close!
DO NOT jump your car from this post!!!

It's only to supply 12 VDC to open the car and/or the trunk so you can access the rear mounted battery to start the car.
Here is what it looks like;

Front Wheel Well Battery Post.JPG


So don't despair you can certainly open the trunk next spring!
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There are several different ETC modes, with different causes. More information is needed. It could be as simple as a bad wheel speed sensor or a marginal ignition coil. More information is needed.

Why the worry over the trunk. Just like nearly every other car out there, put your key in the correct opening in the trunk lid and turn it. The battery is not involved at all in that. It's purely mechanical.
 
Birdie said:
So. Ill preface this with normally Im not such a wreck over dumb stuff but lifes been slamming me with one thing right after another lately with no signs of stopping. This was the cherry on top of the sh*t sundae. The other day we got our first snow while I was out overnight. I didnt get a chance to make it home before several inches were dumped. I had zero choice but to drive in that. Well. 3 blocks into the drive and the car went into ETC Engine Failsafe mode. No idea what thats about. It ran and drove perfectly normal all day before that... Anyone know what the hell happened there?? How to fix it? Is my car just toast? Im so upset >.<
Another thing is, I had a neighbor pull the battery so it wouldnt freeze through winter and get ruined (were already in the negative teens where I live) so the battery is in my house but... its 2 am and Im at work but just realized he shut the trunk. And Im having an anxiety attack wondering how the heck Im going to get it open come spring and thats stressing me out super bad too :/ is there a way you can open the trunk if the battery was taken out of the car?
I will appreciate any help or kind words. My Lincoln was the only nice thing Ive ever had in life.This is tearing me up so bad :(
Click to expand...
So in my town no one can read codes for it EXCEPT the Ford Dealership bc the car wont *give* the codes to anyone else. The mechanics come here and use code readers and it gives absolutely zero info, on anything. Its broken down before, in September, over an MAF sensor and had to be put on a wrecker twice for that endeavor (150 dollars each time) bc my normal mechanic couldnt even give me a ballpark guess on what happened to shut it entirely down - bc the car gave him no info through his scanner. Ford will only deal with it if you BRING them the car and they charge so so freakin much I cant afford the wrecker and then them. They charged me 400 bucks once just to fix a fan in the dash making awful racket. That whole situation exhausted absolutely all of my savings in one go, over a sensor going out that I paid 75 dollars to replace and had a friend of a friend slap into the car. Mechanics here in town tried with it but did jack nor shit - I just asked here, took a guess and got lucky it was fixed at all in the end.
Feels bad yall. I dont know why this car has been so awful but im debating throwing in the towel n selling it bc Im very low income and have a ton of health issues and having these issues left right and center is making our lives hell.
 
If you have a bluetooth obdII and a smart phone you can download forscan lite and then you'll have a Ford specific Code Reader ...anyway Ebay or Amazon sells the bluetooth adapters for about $20 and I think Forscan lite was around $5.99 back when I purchased the app...good luck and I hope your luck turns around...sometimes we win some in life and other times we lose...all you can do is hope you win more than you lose
 
04_Sport_LS said:
Yeah... it called a key. The LS still has a key slot in the trunk lid... for such things you are concerned about.
Click to expand...
The key wont work. The trunk mustve been replaced. Itll go in but not turn either way. Thats why I was asking. Sorry that sounded stupid to you but the key has never worked for the trunk itself.
 
Do you have triple A (AAA)? There may be a fee... but they might be able to send someone (wrecker service) to where you live... that has a lockout kit.

This would typically be a set of flat keys with various shaped teeth... and a flat bent piece of steel that looks like an allen wrench.

The object is to "rake" (whatever key works best) across the tumblers in the lock cylinder... while using the flat steel piece to turn the lock cylinder.

I worked at my cousins car wash close to 40 years ago... and got quite proficient at getting cars unlocked when an employee or car owner locked their keys in the car (it happens more than you think).

I fact... I got so good at it, that my cousin asked me to repo a couple cars for him. :)

Another thought...

Since you have probably never used the key slot in the trunk... are you sure the lock cylinder isnt froze up with corrosion???

Try spraying some PB Blaster in the lock cylinder, and see if that works. Let the spray "work" for a few minutes before trying to turn the key.
 
Birdie said:
So. Ill preface this with normally Im not such a wreck over dumb stuff but lifes been slamming me with one thing right after another lately with no signs of stopping. This was the cherry on top of the sh*t sundae. The other day we got our first snow while I was out overnight. I didnt get a chance to make it home before several inches were dumped. I had zero choice but to drive in that. Well. 3 blocks into the drive and the car went into ETC Engine Failsafe mode. No idea what thats about. It ran and drove perfectly normal all day before that... Anyone know what the hell happened there?? How to fix it? Is my car just toast? Im so upset >.<
Another thing is, I had a neighbor pull the battery so it wouldnt freeze through winter and get ruined (were already in the negative teens where I live) so the battery is in my house but... its 2 am and Im at work but just realized he shut the trunk. And Im having an anxiety attack wondering how the heck Im going to get it open come spring and thats stressing me out super bad too :/ is there a way you can open the trunk if the battery was taken out of the car?
I will appreciate any help or kind words. My Lincoln was the only nice thing Ive ever had in life.This is tearing me up so bad :(
Click to expand...
A happy update, SHE LIVES! My partner managed to get the trunk open for me bc the key wasnt turning when I tried. We ended up taking the battery to get tested and recharged, I put that back in. It started right up, I drove it like a mile down the road and then back again, ran it around the parking lot and parked it and repeated a few times. No more Engine Failsafe. I think it was just angry bc of the snow (I knew it HAD to be related to the damn snow bc it was fine before) But it didnt do that again and drives just fine now, aside from the roads being absolute crap up here right now and having worn out tires lol.
Really made me feel better though. At least I know its not all messed up like a soup sandwich. Gonna take it to Ford in spring and have the coils and plugs swapped out.
 
Birdie said:
... No more Engine Failsafe. I think it was just angry bc of the snow ...
Click to expand...
Crazy as it sounds, I do recall a thread on here with a similar thought...
I still can't find that thread, but here is another one.

ETC Engine Failsafe Mode, but only when snowing.

Hey all, I looked up results for etc engine Failsafe Mode occurring but no one has my scenario. Basically, it can be snowing out and I go clean off my car, drive it for about 10 minutes and then ETC Engine Failsafe Mode comes on. I saw that many things can happen when this appears, so what is...
www.lincolnvscadillac.com
 
Birdie said:
So. Ill preface this with normally Im not such a wreck over dumb stuff but lifes been slamming me with one thing right after another lately with no signs of stopping. This was the cherry on top of the sh*t sundae. The other day we got our first snow while I was out overnight. I didnt get a chance to make it home before several inches were dumped. I had zero choice but to drive in that. Well. 3 blocks into the drive and the car went into ETC Engine Failsafe mode. No idea what thats about. It ran and drove perfectly normal all day before that... Anyone know what the hell happened there?? How to fix it? Is my car just toast? Im so upset >.<
Another thing is, I had a neighbor pull the battery so it wouldnt freeze through winter and get ruined (were already in the negative teens where I live) so the battery is in my house but... its 2 am and Im at work but just realized he shut the trunk. And Im having an anxiety attack wondering how the heck Im going to get it open come spring and thats stressing me out super bad too :/ is there a way you can open the trunk if the battery was taken out of the car?
I will appreciate any help or kind words. My Lincoln was the only nice thing Ive ever had in life.This is tearing me up so bad :(
Click to expand...
 
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