2000 Lincoln Town Car Signature Series aka rolling junkyard 2.0

[Pvt.Hudson]

Done. No leaks.

[87gtVIC]

No leaks is always the goal. Nice work.

[Pvt.Hudson]

So putting a bunch of miles on the PI intake the extra power at the top end feels good, car doesn't feel too much like a slug now. Much better then a NPI one but have gotten used to it so car feels slow again. Still better then a single exhaust NPI configuration it came with however. Threw P71 spec KYBs on, takes away some of the boat feel but having soft front springs its still no HPP/Touring.

Last month the headliner decided to come down again on the rear. Hot glue on the velcro mounts failed. This time tried some Loctite epoxy seems pretty secure now also added another velcro strip along the rear roof rail support also it reduced the headliner rattles quite a bit. Hopefully its won't come down again cause I don't wanna fix it a fourth time. Such a shoddy design as most things on the Lincoln are, the CV/GM are much better thought out.







Door panel broke again. For the fourth repair no more fucking around time for a mechanical solution, used a bracket from a venetian blind feel really secure now. Such shoddy design practices as most things on the Lincoln are, the CV/GM are much better thought out.



Left turn signal on the cluster decided to comeback to life and is now working. Was gonna wait to swap in a JY cluster when the mileage matched but now I don't have to.

Next on the list is, replace the U joints as they feel like they are worn @ 90k, address the slow leaking OFA that I'm pretty sure is leaking coolant, reinstall the air suspension as I have all the parts now and tune the PCM so I can convert the MAF to a slot one so I can use the air 04 P71 style air box.

[Mainemantom]

If the rear of the headliner comes down again and you choose to replace it. Cut the material longer, then roll it over the edge and glue it down on top. You also need to use plenty of the 3M super HD 707 glue. I cut the material longer all the way around and roll it over. I have not had one come down when I have done it this way. Make sure you use auto headlining material.

[Pvt.Hudson]

If the rear of the headliner comes down again and you choose to replace it. Cut the material longer, then roll it over the edge and glue it down on top. You also need to use plenty of the 3M super HD 707 glue. I cut the material longer all the way around and roll it over. I have not had one come down when I have done it this way. Make sure you use auto headlining material.

The issue is with the headliner mounts not the fabric. Its just a bad design. The CV/GM uses plastic push trees that are really secure to hold the rear edge of the headliner. On a 98+ TC they use velcro mounts that are hot glued to the fiberglass. My issue is that the rear ones keep letting go and it sags.

[Mainemantom]

So what you need is heavier velcro ? I have some new 2 inch wide outdoor quality, 8 lbs holding capacity. Genuine Velcro brand.
If you want some, Pm me.

[sly]

Need stronger glue to hold the velcro to the headliner board.

Wood glue might work well to hold the velcro to the headliner board. Would need to clean the surface on both though.

[Pvt.Hudson]

Not much to report. Other then the idler arm gave up the ghost rather early compared to the GMQ that made it to almost 200k before the original failed. Replaced it with a AC Delco Pro idler arm. Gonna replace the junky pitman arm that was replaced at some point cause it has some play.





Reinstalled the Air Susp a while ago. Had to pilfer parts as whomever converted it to springs decided to it was easier to just cut everything then properly disconnect. So had to get a section of air line from a 2011 TC and a replacement wire harness from a 99 the trunk wire junction that runs the height sensor and both solenoids. Went with Limo springs. Other then the load leveling when loaded I can't really tell to much of a difference and the handling still feels the same as when I put my old coil springs in from my GMQ rather then super stiff Arnott coils that were in it. Had to futz with the height sensor bracket to get proper rake by moving it to the limit so its at full height, forgot 98-02s tend to sit low in the rear vs a CV/GM might just be the body lines of a whale TC. Pretty sure the sloppy handling comes from the softer front springs it has vs a HPP/Touring Sedan.



98-02 TC's have a unique air compressor vs any other panther. It is vertical in orientation so replacement costs way more. Also the air intake draws air from the front of the fender well vs behind the headlight like others do.

[aharonLTC]

I asked this on your lincolnsonline thread as well but wondering if when you did your PI intake swap, if you had interference between the knock sensor in the center of the valley and the PI intake, how did you solve it??

[Pvt.Hudson]

I didn't need to solve it cause 2000 doesn't have knock sensors. Only pre 03's that have it are 98-99 TC's. 2003+ CV/GM/TC they all got knock sensors.

[TecNickal]

Oh how I wish I saw this earlier. I have a brand new in the box Arnott compressor. I believe it was drop kicked in shipment. I spent half an hour trying to fit it in my car, only to find out it will not work on my car. It's specific to the 98-02 TC like you said. Any interest in it?

[Pvt.Hudson]

Crossed over 100k. Not much exciting to report. Had to replace the front sway bar bushings as they were making the sway bar rattle. Also oil change, greasing the 11 zerks on the car and rotating the tires.



Also finally found a HPP bar. Car needs all the help it can get. So in it goes. Hoping the handling is improved over the 16mm one.



It was pretty crusty so used concrete & metal prep on it then Rustoleum enamel flat black on it. Least it doesn't look crusty.

[Pvt.Hudson]

LCM Gremlins decided to come to roost. Wonderful Ford flakey electronics.

So the original LCM failed with lights on all the time about a year or so ago, didn't matter car off or on or headlight switch position. Friend was junking a 99 Executive so swapped in that LCM and went on with life. Past 3 weeks I've been dealing with strange autolamp behavior, could be middle of the day and lights will trip on. Sometimes disconnecting the battery, the autolamp system would return to normal. So figured well maybe this 99 LCM is having issues as well.

I tried one from a 2002 but it doesn't work as it's slightly different despite being overall 90% similar to the pinout of -00's, 01+ seems to have a wiper feed and seatbelt functionality built in. Only thing I could get out of it was the parking lights were on all the time with no control over anything else or interior lighting. So went in full bore with fixing the 2000 LCM



Unsoldered the big relay and of course the part number is NLA and the Omron markings don't even have a part #



Looked at the 01+ LCM and decided to use a smaller relay that is in those as I figured maybe they got a better deal on those vs the original large ford part numbered Omrons. Found some Panasonic ones for cheap so went with those. And decided to up the rating on the mini 5 leg relays by going from 10A to 16A.


All done. Thanks to it being covered in conformal coating, I ripped a through hole trace. So made a noose out of some strands of small wire and scratched away what was left and soldered the wire strand to that and then placed the noose over the through hole. Did that with a shitty 40w Weller and took way too long but it works now.


In the end I got the 2000 LCM working again but my autolamp issues remained. Replaced the ambient light sensor on the dashboard with one from a 98 Grand Marquis and everything is back to normal. So guess something shit out on the original sensor can't tell what as its 5lb of stuff in a 1lb bag.


I doubt I did anything special compared to what those module rebuilders do for $200 for what amounts to about $15 in relays. Given I have spare relays I'll "rebuild" the 99 one to keep as a spare.

[sly]

Yeah... seems the newer light sensors aren't as robust as the box ones. Go figure. I've had to replace the one on my 03 Expedition. I've heard of plenty of people with whales needing to replace the autolamp sensor.

[Pvt.Hudson]

Yeah... seems the newer light sensors aren't as robust as the box ones. Go figure. I've had to replace the one on my 03 Expedition. I've heard of plenty of people with whales needing to replace the autolamp sensor.

Its a pain because 98-I think 03's use the same ambient sensor. Can't use aero ones and later whale ones. And of course they are NLA.

From the markings on 3 I pulled in the yard (two from whale TC's and a GMQ) there are no real differences other then they were built by Control Devices Inc in the Dominican Republic. I guess the good part is if you have a 98-02 CV/GM/TC is its same ambient light sensor on all 3.