My '89 Lincoln Town Car

[L1011tristar17]

How will you reinforce the door panels?

Some of the plastic ribs on the backside of the panels are cracked, so the tops of the panels are pretty loose. I was thinking of gluing something along the ribs (like metal strips) to make them stronger so that the panels don't flop around.

[DerekTheGreat]

Hey, how'd you find a coach roofed Townie with opera lights? Aside from another like yours all the rest seem to not have coach lights.

[L1011tristar17]

Hey, how'd you find a coach roofed Townie with opera lights? Aside from another like yours all the rest seem to not have coach lights.

That's a good question. I think the previous owner might have added them in along with the Signature Series script on the C-pillar, since every other coach-roof townie I've seen has neither of those. The lights themselves also look different than the lights on vinyl roof cars.

[DerekTheGreat]

Would you mind posting pics some time? I'd like to get a closer look. Not that I'll ever come across another one but I might end up fabbing what came on the vinyl cars into Ashley's 89, don't know yet. I do know the wiring is there and the hole is just taped over. IMO a Townie isn't a Townie unless it has those lol.

[L1011tristar17]

I finally got around to having the car inspected. I'm surprised that it passed the first time around despite having sat for such a long time. It still drives fine and adding some transmission fluid helped a bit with the slipping. It still does it occasionally, but not as often as it used to. Is there any way to bleed air out of the transmission fluid?

Oddly enough, the misfire seemed to go away. I've noticed that it usually happens if I'm slowing down for something (such as a red light) and then it turns green so I accelerate from 15-20mph back to the speed I was going. Last time it did this, I waited until nobody was behind me and I braked to a complete stop. When I accelerated from the stop, the misfire went away. Very odd. Here's a recent picture I took of the car while I was out:

[Tiggie]

Nice townie. I like the amber lenses on the '89.
Trans should bleed itself if there is any fluid in the torque converter. Most will even if there isn't. Don't think air is your problem. The misfire at 15-20mph might be the engine lugging if your TV bushing has crapped out and the car is trying to speed up in third. Just a thought.

[L1011tristar17]

Quick car update: I've been busy with grad school and money has been tight, so I have not had much time or money to put into the Town Car. It rolled over 247,000 miles a few weeks ago, but the misfire, broken air conditioning, and exhaust leak were enough to park it since I moved in May. I try to drive it occasionally and I will try and fix those issues. I did have to replace the glove box latch a few days ago.

I sold the Park Avenue back in July and replaced it with a low-mileage BMW 328i that I purchased from my aunt. Even though it's 17 years old, it's the cleanest E46 I have seen and almost everything on it still works. I have been using it as my DD up until a couple of weeks ago when I was rear-ended outside of my apartment. The damage doesn't look bad, but it was enough to tweak the unibody and total the car. I got a pretty generous check from the other driver's insurance company, bought the car back at salvage value, and used the check to have the car fixed at a really good body shop back in Virginia.

Until the BMW gets fixed, I am borrowing our family's spare car (2004 Honda Odyssey) to drive to school and work. Hopefully soon I can get back to working on both my cars soon!

[L1011tristar17]

Tried to change the oxygen sensors and ended up breaking some of the hard plastic vacuum lines near the passenger side of the engine. Any way to replace these? Pretty much all of them are brittle and disintegrate when I touch them.

[jaywish]

For a simple break a quick fix is a piece of hosethat fits tight and connects the two broken ends.

Also if there are bubbles in the trans fluid you my fix that with a new filter and gasket. Make sure there are no old gaskets in there before attaching the new filter. I believe bubbles will likely hurt the trans if not rectified.

[VicCrownVic]

1/8" ID vacuum hose is what I use to for in line repair, or even full line replacement. Here's an example from the eBay seller I buy from: http://www.ebay.com/itm/400268086852...%3AMEBIDX%3AIT, and that seller has a few different colors.

[DerekTheGreat]

I've thought of replacing small section of vacuum tube with adhesive lined heat shrink tube and just concentrating the heat around the ends that overlap the line I'm trying to fix.

[sly]

1/8" ID vacuum hose is what I use to for in line repair, or even full line replacement. Here's an example from the eBay seller I buy from: http://www.ebay.com/itm/400268086852...%3AMEBIDX%3AIT, and that seller has a few different colors.

This. I bought a 50 foot spool of 1/8 id line and replaced a LOT of lines with it. Everything works great now.

[L1011tristar17]

Car/life update

Hey everyone! It's been a while since I last posted here. Life has gotten pretty busy over the last year. I finished grad school, started a full-time job, and did some shuffling around with my cars. The Buick is long gone and the BMW will be up for sale soon. I picked up a new truck this past weekend (2018 Tacoma) and I absolutely love driving it! Fortunately, my Lincoln isn't going anywhere. My apartment complex is pretty lenient when it comes to parking and doesn't mind me parking it in the overflow lot. I haven't had a lot of free time to work on it since I had to keep the BMW on the road (big part of the reason I am selling it). But I still have big plans for it.

Once I have my own garage I would really like to start tearing into it and replacing all of the worn out parts. It is a couple hundred miles away from 250k and I am willing to bet that a majority of the rubber suspension parts are original. I figure it will be easier to fix everything at once when the car is taken apart. I don't really plan on doing anything else different other than a HO or Explorer swap. Since I have a new vehicle with a warranty I can work on the Lincoln at a leisurely pace. I still drive the car every now and then but it has a pretty bad misfire that seems to come and go. Transmission slips only when it's cold and accelerating from a stop. I bought a new battery for it a couple months ago since I left the lights on and killed the old battery.

I also finally registered the car in NC but they wouldn't let me keep the vanity plate (boo) but I did get rid of the ugly front license plate bracket (yay). It really makes the front of the car look a lot better.

[VicCrownVic]

Welcome back again! Good to hear things seem to be going well for you and that the TC will be staying with you.

[79lincolnlover]

Time to up-date your signature. Welcome back!