2003 Lincoln Town Car - Signature Series (TecNickal)

[TecNickal]

I got fed up with the stupid door lock actuator in the driver door last night. So I yanked the door panel off and much to my surprise, it's already been removed once before. The weather shield was already town, and one of the tabs on the door panel was busted off. Anyways, used a nut and a bolt and reattached the actuator to the door shell. Works great now, nut and bolt are a little unsightly but door is closed you don't see them

Drove to a friends house today and did the gear swap on the power pedals. Never removed the brake pedal from the car :o It's a very tight fit, but you can do it all within the car. Pedals work great now.

Also fixed my fuel door release so no more ghetto zip tie to open. Mechanism was fine, but someone had pushed the door out of alignment. So some "minor adjustment" by forcing weight into the fuel door to realign it made it perfect. Now it is doing well.

Next, drove the car to find the rear end noise. Driver side was strong. So I pulled the wheels, rotors (dang rust made that a CHORE), brakes, dif cover, and axle shafts. Driver side is toast, done. Severely pitted on shaft and wheel bearing itself too. Passenger side is just in beginning stages. So now need to find some 2005 axle shafts at Pull A Part tomorrow or get Dorman shafts. I'll be installing Trac-Loc this week too when I have a chance one night after work.

[jaywish]

In general Dorman sucks made in China.
Are the 05 axles 28 spline? I don't remember the change to 31 year.

[Louis]

Yeah, the '03 axle shafts were not hardened properly and gave out rather quick.

I thought they were a covered recall item? (like the timing chain tensioners)

[PainFisted]

The change to 31 spline was in 05. That's a nice land yacht you got there.

[jaywish]

If the change was in 05 that is good except the posi carrier has to then be 31 spline as opposed to 28 spline. This is still good because you can get a brand new 31 spline carrier. About $250?

[PainFisted]

I've been eyeballing this lately.


http://m.ebay.com/itm/131151158544?nav=SEARCH

[TecNickal]

For 2005 model year Vics, Marqs and Towns...The cutoff BUILD DATE is 12/04/2004. This date or earlier indicates a 28 spline rear axle. 12/06/2004 or later indicates a 31 spline rear axle.

Otherwise, may have to go to Charlotte, NC PAP and yank some 04 drive shafts. All in the name to get Ford OEM ones.

Got a 28 spline locker in the garage with bearings/races right now.

Like new locker for under 200$?? Wow.

[TecNickal]

Got the Lincoln back together last night.

After cleaning the whole case out (there was a lots metal shavings in there), flushed it out, wiped it dry. Installed the locker carrier (that's quite a task on a creeper with not much room and not much upper body strength). But got it up in the car, installed the caps. Prelubed the bearings on the carrier. Then installed new wheel bearings and seals. Prelubed the bearings there too. Threw in the axle shafts, put the clips on, and put the retainer back in with a new bolt with locktite.

Put the turned rotors on, put the calipers with new ceramic pads on too.

Next, put the wheels on, filled the rear end up with Castrol 80-90 limited slip fluid (not synthetic) let it cycle in the air to throw the fluid around. Drove it. Nice and QUIET now. No more racket. That Ford kit is AWESOME...new bearings, axle shafts, seals, etc. I was impressed. Air springs I am going to wait on til they're needed. And the locker function works

This weekend I intend to check the front end out and see where the clunk is coming from as well as install the junkyard park assist module I scored on eBay from a 2005 Town Car (last year for radar park assist).

The clunk happens when you're turning and going over uneven pavement (like tree limbs growing under the pavement), or even going straight but rough pavement.

Thinking about moving the XCAL 3 from the 2000 Taurus to the Town Car...make the shifts better in the Town Car. Not sure I can use a 03 P71 PCM in the Lincoln besides adding a grounding wire. Either way I want firmer shifts!

[Louis]

Nice work, pat yourself on the back as a differential rebuild is not a job for the timid and is quite an accomplishment!

[SVT98t]

1. Did you shim out the carrier to make sure it's centered?

2. Your's didn't have park assist? What came in the kit off eBay? I'm just curious.

3. Sounds like a sway bar end link. My 93 had that issue, twice. CheeseSteakJim can confirm this awesomeness.....

4. You can do a J-Mod to make your shifts firmer without a tuner. Linky:http://www.tccoa.com/articles/tranny...on/index.shtml
I've done this a few times and it's awesome! It's not difficult, just time consuming. All you need are 2 seperator plate gaskets ( $5 total) some drill bits, and fresh tranmsission fluid. I usually change out the transmission filter at the time since everything is out.

4.1 Also, I wouldn't exactly recomment swapping a 03 P71 PCM into a Town Car. I know the Town Car's have much much more electronics in them. It should work though, but the only upgrades you'll get is the increased idle speed, and increased speed limiter.
That's it.

4.2 If your XCAL3 is locked to your Taurus, you'll have to send it back to SCT to have them unlock it. And I'm not sure how expensive that is. Then you'll have to get a tune for it.
You might be able to send it to Lonnie at Blue Oval Chips, and he can work magic, plus give you a tune as well.


-ryan s.

[TecNickal]

I'm glad I had a friend around to guide me. I did most of the work, he just told me what to do. Hanging out with older guys has its benefits - they know what they're doing when they are true car guys that experienced doing the same things in the 60s, 70s and 80s when they were my age.

1.) Yes sir, it is shimmed and centered perfectly Used the shims from the Mark 7 I robbed the carrier from.

2.) Mine does have park assist, but the module behind the bumper has failed and needs replacement.
Official Ford part number for 03-05 (Ford says 04-05, but 03 is included), 4W1Z-15K859-BA , the engineering part number (what's stamped on the part) is 4W1T-15K859-BA or 5W1T-15K859-BA

3.) Endlinks are such a common Taurus problem, I'm pretty good at replacing them since Tauruses eat them up!

4.) Ok - that part sounds kinda scary to be honest. How hard are these shifts? Slam shifts or do they give a good bump? Does it make it shift like a C4 or C6 Ford Automatic? the 3-4 shift in my 91 w/the AOD is LAZY. Threeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeee pauseeeeeeeeeeeeee Fourrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrr

4.1 ) Sounds like I should drop the PCM idea.

4.2 ) XCAL has 4 unlocks left, as I bought the XCAL brand new. This means tune will get dropped for the Taurus, but that's fine with me. Never liked the tune that was done for me. $125 to have that done.

So Lonnie @ BOC is the guy to talk to?

[SVT98t]

3. You can set up the shifts how you want. On my Tank, I just drilled the correct size holes in the seporator plate. I didn't remove any of the accumulator springs. It gave some firm shifts. Nothing neck-breaking or anything. They're solid.
I did a full J-Mod on my buddies Mustang. Drilled the holes and removed the springs. Holy crap. Those are very crisp, neck-breaking shifts.
There are 3 series of holes to drill: under 300hp, 300-4500hp, and 450hp+.
All you have to do is pick what range you want.
-most of the 03s have the modified valve bodies to fix some of the issues with the earlier valve bodies.
All you essentially have to do is: http://www.tccoa.com/articles/tranny...ybusiness.html
I..........
here it is:

http://www.crownvic.net/tech/4R70Wnotes.pdf

Infotainment!


-ryan s.

[sly]

my 93 wants a j-mod (not that full on neck snapping one though)

[TecNickal]

Just called up Lonnie @ BOC. Enjoyed talking with him - good guy. He said to go ahead and let him do the tune, before you do the J-mod. I may like what the tune does for the transmission. Works for me!

The guys that did the rebuild of my Taurus transmission have a special going on for a transmission fluid service. I do not normally let others do my own work, but for $135, and their sterling reputation, I may let them do it. Need to verify what kind of fluid they are using...and I know Mercon V is required. Then get a transmission cooler installed and enjoy! Need to get a B&M SuperCooler and find a good spot to mount it. Or maybe there's an OEM one at Pull A Part I could rig to work like from a 2nd Gen Automatic Taurus SHO.

[SVT98t]

This is what I'm buying for the Marauder:

http://www.americanmuscle.com/mishimoto-trans-cooler.html

-ryan s.