Hey all, I just bought an 89 Town Car last Thursday. The car is beautiful and well cared for, but the cruise does not work. I have checked the fuses, I have vacuum to the servo, the cable to the servo is intact, everything at the throttle body looks good, the vacuum dump under the dash holds pressure, the brake lights are working properly, and yes the horn works. I am stumped!! Has anyone had this problem? I know on my Grand Marquis, you could hear a little click when you pressed the on button, I don't hear any clicking on this one. I am thinking it is either the buttons or the cruise module. Can anyone tell me where the cruise module is located? I know it is under the dash, but I cannot seem to find it. Any help would be appreciated!
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My '89 has the same problem. Dump valve is good. Horn works too. It stopped working after a shop did the lower intake manifold gaskets and yanked on the plenum without disconnecting the cables from the TB. I swapped in a new cable + servo but that didn't fix it. The cruise will appear to work but it does a poor job of holding the speed. Once it drops 15 below it cuts off.
The cruise module lives under the hood on the driver's side inner fender by the brake booster. It's this metal cylinder that looks like two bowls pressed together, and it has a cable and electrical connector coming out of it.
1989 Lincoln Town Car Signature Series | 249k miles, current project car
2018 BMW 430i xDrive M-Sport | 50k miles
2018 Toyota Tacoma TRD Sport | 97k miles -
make sure that the dump valve plunger is adjusted correctly and released all the way from the brake pedal you just want it to make contact with the brake pedal without being pushed in. if its pushed in just a hair by the brake pedal in resting spot it will not turn on cruise, that is how i always fixed my cruise control problems. if that doesnt fix it underneath the dash on drivers side on the firewall is a black box with 2 connectors long ones that is the cruise module, the servo is the the two bowls thing underneath the hood that tristar mentioned but its not the module its the servo, module is under the dashboard drivers side attached to firewall. big black box with i believe 2 plugs. Its possible the slip rings are bad in the steering wheel for the cruise buttons, but i honestly never had them go on any panthers i owned.
1982 Lincoln Continental Mark VI Bill Blass Designer Series 2-Door(Larisa)-Mods: HO Roller 302, GT40P Heads, Explorer Intakes, HO ECM(D9S), Autodimming w/compass and outside temp rearview mirror, Daniel Stern Lighting Mod, Dual Exhaust, 90's GM C/K Series Retractable Hood Light, Red Digital Dash Display, 92-94 White Leather Town Car Signature Cupholder Armrests, HPP Wheels, Police PS Cooler, Police Trans Cooler. More to come!!!!
1998 Ford Explorer Limited 5.0 AWD(Fiona)-Mods: Lincoln Navigator THX Audio System, Ford Explorer Sport Instrument Cluster.Comment
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The cruise circuitry is integral to the ECM on an 89. It rarely fails. Might be worth checking it for codes though. If the VSS does not work, you'll get no cruise control and it will give a code for it.
Check the cable from the cruise servo to the throttle body. The cable slides up and out of the cruise ball, and you can unhook it once its lifted out. Pull on the cable and make sure it pulls on the throttle. If its broken inside, the inner wire of the cable will just pull out and the cruise obviously won't work.
There is some way to test the cruise buttons by putting it into some self-test mode, but I've never tried it. My 86 uses a different system. These instructions should work on an 89 though.
86 Lincoln Town Car (Galactica).
5.0 HO, CompCams XE258,Scorpion 1.72 roller rockers, 3.55 K code rear, tow package, BHPerformance ported E7 heads, Tmoss Explorer intake, 65mm throttle body, Hedman 1 5/8" headers, 2.5" dual exhaust, ASP underdrive pulley
91 Lincoln Mark VII LSC grandpa spec white and cranberry
1984 Lincoln Continental TurboDiesel - rolls coal
Originally posted by phayzer5
I drive a Lincoln. I can't be bothered to shift like the peasants and rabble rousersComment
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Thanks for the info everyone. I will check it for codes and I will double check the cable and the dump valve position as well. One thing I did notice is that the computer has been changed to a reman unit at some point, so I hope it doesn't have the wrong computer in it.Comment
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I just checked the codes. I only get a code 34, which I believe has something to do with egrComment
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Did you hook up the single lead to the code reader? If you did, you probably pulled the "normal" codes from the ECU and not the specific cruise control codes.
At least, that's what I'm understanding. Maybe I missed over something while reading the tutorial
1989 Lincoln Town Car Signature Series | 249k miles, current project car
2018 BMW 430i xDrive M-Sport | 50k miles
2018 Toyota Tacoma TRD Sport | 97k milesComment
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does the cruise servo hold vacuum? these things have been popping lately, replaced two of them this year so far from my spares, my last good spare is the spare for the LSS.
1986 lincoln towncar signature series. 5.0 HO with thumper performance ported e7 heads, 1.7 roller rockers, warm air intake, 65mm throttle body, 1/2" intake spacer, ported intakes, 3.73 rear with trac lock, 98-02 front brake conversion, 92-97 rear disc conversion, 1" rear swaybar, 1 3/16" front swaybar, 16" wheels and tires, loud ass stereo system, badass cb, best time to date 15.94 at 87 mph. lots of mods in the works 221.8 rwhp 278 rwt
2006 Lincoln Town Car Signature. Stock for now
1989 Ford F-250 4x4 much much more to come, sefi converted so far.
1986 Toyota pickup with LSC wheels and 225/60/16 tires.
2008 Hyundai Elantra future Revcon toad
1987 TriBurner and 1986 Alaska stokers keeping me warm. (and some pesky oil heat)
please be patient, rebuilding an empire!
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So, I put my vacuum pump to both ports on the servo, and neither would hold vacuum. One would kinda taper off, the other would not hold at all. How do you test the servo? Also is it possible that it could have the wrong pcm? Would a pcm for a digital dash have the integrated cruise function?Comment
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The ECM is not different for digital vs analog dash. As long as its not the wrong year part, such as an 86-87 brain, it should work.
Sounds like the servo is bad if it won't hold vacuum.86 Lincoln Town Car (Galactica).
5.0 HO, CompCams XE258,Scorpion 1.72 roller rockers, 3.55 K code rear, tow package, BHPerformance ported E7 heads, Tmoss Explorer intake, 65mm throttle body, Hedman 1 5/8" headers, 2.5" dual exhaust, ASP underdrive pulley
91 Lincoln Mark VII LSC grandpa spec white and cranberry
1984 Lincoln Continental TurboDiesel - rolls coal
Originally posted by phayzer5
I drive a Lincoln. I can't be bothered to shift like the peasants and rabble rousersComment
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Yeah, I am thinking it is probably bad too. Looks like it is time to hit the bone yards and see if I can find one. If that isn't it, I will pull the pcm and make sure it is the right one for the car.Comment
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So I replace the servo with one from a boneyard, and still nothing. I believe it is good, because it does hold vacuum (the old one did also I discovered). I checked the dump valve on the pedal, and it appears to be right. I took the steering wheel off and cleaned the contacts, and I also pulled the buttons apart and they looked clean and good inside. Everything appears perfect, yet still no cruise. I even took the Ecm out, and It appears to be the correct computer for the car #E8SF-12650-AC. It is a reman from Ford dated 9/91. I can't imagine the owner wouldn't have noticed that his two year old lincoln came back from the dealer with no cruise, but I guess you never know. I don't know what else it could be.Comment
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Do all your brake lights work?
Alex.Comment
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Try plugging off the servo's port that goes to the dump valve just to rule out the hose and valve.sigpic
89 LTC 429>557 Cobrajet stroker
13 F-150 XLT 6.2 l
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