My 1985 Town Car Sig.

[Piece-it pete]

I finally found the vac leak. The line I found unhooked at the back of the engine went to the bottom nipple on the firefall, one of the plastic lines was cracked, and a line I found unplugged under the dash on the drivers side ended up going to something on the steering column.

It runs MUCH better. Still no dash lights though.

Pete

[Piece-it pete]

Well deep draining the battery finally killed it. I'll swap it out tonight.

I'm thinking I'm coming to the end of the line with this car. It's not really the cars' fault, I have the ability to take some things to like 80% and just can't seem to get that extra bit of finishness, polishedness, or maybe I've just hit a run of bad luck. Add being out of summer and out of money and I dunno.

Pete

[79lincolnlover]

I'm thinking I'm coming to the end of the line with this car.

Take a break and come back to it later. Are you going to park it for the winter?

[Piece-it pete]

Good advice! I took a 3 day break from it and I like it again A big part of the problem is that the 03 has been taking so much attention.

Turns out the battery must've been running on less than full for a while. With the new battery (and the fixed vacuum leaks!) it's running almost as good as it did when I bought it. If I only knew how to fix the tap-tap-tap, and since I swapped the TPS it's not quite as smooth either. I'll have to harvest another one.

I can't park it over the winter though. I really need two cars, particularly now that my mother in law will need additional looking after. So I'm back to where I've been for years, wondering if I'll ever get far enough along with it to think about cosmetics. Heck I suspect I'll still be saying that 5 years from now

Pete

[Piece-it pete]

Wow I haven't blathered on for almost a month? I'm slipping

The 85s acting up a little, on cold start it starts to warm up, the gauge goes to its' normal position, heater blows heat, THEN, heater blows cold and the gauge goes pretty far past normal. Does that just long enough to make me worried and then heat comes back on and it settles down to normal. It only does it once per cold start.

Coolant is full. I had the water pump off earlier this year and the vanes were perfect. The thermostat was changed 2-3 years ago with Stant premium, and the heat comes on first anyway, so the t-stat is working, right?

The radiator looks like it's been changed at one point, nice and clean on the inside. The only foul spot is the heater core, which has had a slight seep since I bought it, not enough to see but I smell it occasionally. Perhaps it's clogging? But the problem is so regular.

Any ideas? Maybe the heater lockout is malfuctioning?

Pete

[jaywish]

Do you have ATC?
do the non-atc cars have a valve in the heaer hose?

[Piece-it pete]

Yeah it's ATC. I'm going to pull the lockout this weekend and see.

Pete

[tjc78]

All Townies have ATC. I'd say it wouldn't be a bad idea to get rid of the blower lockout. I can't believe it hasn't failed yet. Certainly an odd problem you have.

[Piece-it pete]

Great minds think alike

I replaced it a while back. I thought I fixed my vacuum issues but believe it's leaking again, maybe that's it.

Pete

[tjc78]

I would just take it out entirely. Splice the hose back together, jump the connector and plug the vacuum lines. I think most people have enough brains to not turn the heater on until the car is warmed up a little.

[Piece-it pete]

I dunno tj, I might accidently get cold air on my feet.

:straightface:

Pete

[Piece-it pete]

Well as mentioned I got the dash lights back on. Darn that intermittant dash short!

But with end of year $ coming up I've been thinking about the bit I usually spend on car parts. Heater core, sure, the one window motor I didn't change (grr), whatever closeout parts catch my eye, a diagnosis on the front end clunk, a few things for the 03...

However the ticking noise is getting worse and I'd like to address it. I suspect it may be the exhaust manifold gasket. I realise without hearing it we're flinging stuff against the wall, but does it sound, um, plausible?

Pete

[gadget73]

exhaust leaks can sound like valve noises. Get a piece of hose that fits in your ear and go snooping for it. if its a slight ticky leak, it'll probably be between the head and manifold, or maybe between the manifold and the downpipe.

[Piece-it pete]

Thanks. Yeah it ticks pretty hard and been getting worse.

Man I don't want to break a bolt though. Can I move the manifold far enough away to get the gasket in there without disconnecting the exhaust?

Pete

[Lincolnmania]

yea u can if it never had a gasket before......like gadget posted get a piece of hose out and stick one end in your ear and the other end around the exhaust to find the ticking.......could be a rotted out thermactor pipe