Prudence, my 87 Town Car

[Lutrova]

I do enjoy this car, but it's been stressful while living in such a remote and hostile part of the country. Although had my wife not been stationed at Fort Irwin, I never might have learned all that I have about how cars work, or at least how they worked thirty years ago. Now that we're living in civilization again I'll probably be driving it more often and sending it to a shop for work when I don't have time to do it myself.

Today the car arrived on a carrier from Phoenix. I had it dropped off at a friend's house on the very edge of town where I can work on it in a garage instead of a parking lot. The driver apparently told my friend that the brakes weren't working on the Lincoln, so he had to use the parking brake. What actually happened was I put on a brake pedal lock when I left it in Phoenix, and no one noticed, let alone took it off, while loading or unloading the car. Funny, he must've felt the pedal had no play, but never investigated any further.

I'm still waiting on a Dorman quick connect fitting for the upper radiator trans cooler line. Ordered one off Amazon but it's currently lost in the postal system. I also have a new radiator cap, just in case the old one had anything to do with the last incident. After doing some thinking, I can't help but feel the fan clutch should be replaced. It doesn't seem like it's bad, but it would definitely explain overheating, and at 30 bucks or so it's peace of mind.

We mixed spring water with coolant in the parking lot, so I'll have to flush with distilled to get as much out as I can. I thought about throwing in one of those bottles of flush and clean, but I worry with the core plugs already leaking a bit that removing any more corrosion might turn a small leak into a big problem. And at this point, the whole cooling system is new except for the water pump and whatever junk is in the block.

[DerekTheGreat]

That's what I do, work on what I can and farm out the rest. Tough part is finding a competent shop.

As for the fan clutch, you can do a quick test: With the engine idling in park and fully up to temp, shut it off while looking at the fan blades. They should come to stop within a second or so. If not, clutch is bad. I replaced the one on my TC about five years ago, suspect it's bad again.

[gadget73]

I've also seen the "newspaper test" done. basically stick a magazine or equivalent into the fan and if it stops, the clutch is done. If you get confetti, its fine.

I keep several of those stupid quick connect fittings on hand. I've got a total of 8 of them in my life and they're crap.

[DerekTheGreat]

Quick connect fittings?

[87gtVIC]

Kinda like this:

https://www.ebay.com/itm/185526760852?chn=ps&norover=1&mkevt=1&mkrid=711-117182-37290-0&mkcid=2&itemid=185526760852&targetid=1645685074928&device=c&mktype=&googleloc=9004382&poi=&campaignid=16730423415&mkgroupid=135815925780&rlsatarget=pla-1645685074928&abcId=9300841&merchantid=110791126&gclid=CjwKCAjwo_KXBhAaEiwA2RZ8hIqNT2FDF_DSwjlA0XuyOSsDjGQ6ZHQnXLwwjJAFosJbwWWKLGA8iBoC4vYQAvD_BwE

Ive had them blow out on me before. Popped off at the radiator and completely soaked my brakes.


Soon enough your townie will have all new parts!

[DerekTheGreat]

Oh, well if I had bothered to read all of Lutrova's post I'd have seen where he mentioned them, hence Inspector's response about them.

[gadget73]

I've never had the line pop out, but there is an O ring down inside that seals against the steel tube. When it gets rock hard and the line moves for whatever reason they just vomit fluid. They absolutely do not like to be re-used and you can't just spin them out like a normal fitting. it'll spin, but the O ring will shred when you do it.

I want to say they gave up on those stupid things in 1988. At some point it became a standard double flare fitting on the line, and a double flare to pipe adapter screwed into the radiator and the transmission.

[Lutrova]

Soon enough your townie will have all new parts!

It feels like I must be getting to that point! Theseus' Lincoln. Especially if I get the trans rebuilt soon, as seems to be in order. At this point the only major system I haven't touched in some way is the AC, and having said that I'm sure it won't be long now until I do.

But as I keep telling my wife, it won't be long now before all the major stuff is sorted out. Things just wear out with age after 35 years, and once all the old rubber bushings, seals, and gaskets are replaced it'll be a reliable car. So far, though, she remains a skeptic.

I've never had the line pop out, but there is an O ring down inside that seals against the steel tube. When it gets rock hard and the line moves for whatever reason they just vomit fluid. They absolutely do not like to be re-used and you can't just spin them out like a normal fitting. it'll spin, but the O ring will shred when you do it.

I want to say they gave up on those stupid things in 1988. At some point it became a standard double flare fitting on the line, and a double flare to pipe adapter screwed into the radiator and the transmission.

That o ring was probably my downfall in my parking lot radiator swap. I figured the quick connect might not take kindly to being serviced as Ford intended, so I just undid it with a wrench at the radiator. Naturally, the fitting puked fluid on reinstallation. The transmission shop that fixed my crossed threads at the case had a lot of trouble with the quick connects at the radiator. Their solution was to cut the hard line and use a flared fitting at the radiator with a rubber hose to bridge the gap. Not particularly workmanlike, but if I had the tools I might've done the same to the one remaining quick connect in my cooler lines.

The '89 limo I took the trans cooler and hard lines from had ditched the quick connects at the transmission, but still used them at the radiator. Though perhaps they had a surplus of cooler lines for tow/police package cars with the old style fittings that they were still working through.

[Lutrova]

Got out to the Lincoln today to get some work done. Put in new wiper blades, quick connect fitting, and fan clutch. The old fan clutch was leaking, so I'm satisfied I've found the reason the radiator failed. Especially since it only popped after idling in the heat for a while. Unfortunately, I had forgotten my keys at home, about a half hour from my friend's house where the car is currently sitting, so I wasn't able to test these new repairs. I still have to flush the cooling system. Also, the new radiator is sitting a little differently than the old one such that the holding brackets are a little askew. I'll have to play around with it to see if it'll move over any.

[Lutrova]

It's been a fairly eventful week. Finished the coolant flush, or called it good enough. There's probably still regular water in the system, but hopefully the thick layers of rust in the block will protect it from further damage.

With the cooling system once again working as intended, I turned my attention to what needed to happen to pass Texas' safety inspection. The h-pipe had a patch on it, so I went to a hole in the wall shop where some guy pieced in new pipe. Not that I can tell with the exhaust leaking from the cat pipe to manifold connection, but at least there aren't any rust holes now.

By rights the car should've failed inspection. The e-code headlights aren't DOT approved, the license plate light housing is dangling in place, and the air pump tubing to the cats is missing. But none of that mattered to the fine folks at Jiffy Lube - God bless them.

Next up is spending a day at the county tax office to get all the title transfer and registration paperwork done. I've been thinking about running year of manufacture plates, but I'll ask the officials about what plates might qualify.

[Lutrova]

I guess I'm going all in on the Texas thing



The clerks at the county tax office didn't balk at the old plates, although technically they were only run in '86 while '87-'89 were similar but without sesquicentennial verbiage. The old plates have tags through January of 1987 and they only gave me a windshield sticker for registration. Hopefully I don't get pulled over for having 35 year expired tabs, especially when driving out of state. Otherwise, it was a pretty easy process. And I much prefer stamped license plates to the flat printed ones everyone seems to be using now.

In other news, the car is running well enough. I've still got an exhaust leak where the right manifold and the cat pipe meet. And the AC works, but it's not the best. I'm hoping the sun shade plus the UV-blocking tint everywhere else will help to limit its workload, seeing as cooler weather is just around the corner.

My current concern is the transmission. Ever since the car came to Texas it's been making some strange noises from the trans, particularly in drive while at a standstill. It also has a pretty good jerk in third when letting off the throttle. On the other hand, the slipping on cold starts which had been increasing in regularity while in the desert has gone away in the month we've been here. Maybe all the humidity has some effect on the dried out seals? There might be a little less pep, particularly in first gear, but otherwise the trans is in working order. Nonetheless, the transmission shop in California felt it was getting close to time for a rebuild, what with all the stuff that was in the fluid. And if it's never been worked on before, it is at least 35 years old. Certainly transmissions don't get any better with age. And my gut says the time for a rebuild is before anything major goes wrong and more parts might need to be replaced than if I'd been a little proactive.

I called around to a couple shops in town. One shop quoted 1700, while another said anywhere from 1200-2200. The latter quote may be more realistic, but I liked the former a bit better. I spoke with them about also installing a shift kit and a 2" overdrive band. If I understand correctly, this requires the reverse drum from a later AOD or an AODE - Are there any other required parts? And with a shift kit, are there options that improve longevity without taking away from the smooth, Lincoln ride? I think I understand that firmer shifts are better for the transmission, but I don't have a good feeling for what that does to ride quality, or if any modification is necessary for a car that's still largely stock.

[87GrandMarq]

Though it’s not a shift kit, this shift improver kit addresses the weak points of the aod without increasing shift firmness.

https://superiortransmission.com/product/superior-kaod/

I have spoken to the techs over the phone at this place and was pleasantly surprised that they are friendly and very knowledgeable. I guess they’ve been in the game for some time. I have one of these kits to go into an unmodified valve body to replace the Baumann shift kit I have. It’s too harsh for my liking.

[DerekTheGreat]

You drive a Lincoln, not some redneck Ford. Keep it shifting smooth like silk. I suspect my transmission was rebuilt some years before I bought my car. I've put some 40k miles on it after I adjusted the trans per this video:

It was previously adjusted a smidge tight, where it wouldn't shift as early as it does now, aka like factory. Had an '89 Town Car that I had the transmission rebuilt on. I think twenty thousand miles were racked on it before it went to a member on here. It shifted like my '88. No issues. Then just a couple years ago I bought a 1991 Mark VII. It shifted firmly and a bit late. After drinking all of the "it[the AOD] needs to shift a bit firmly and later or it will lunch itself Kool-aid" I decided to leave it alone. That car lost OD about six months after I got it going again.

As for the A/C, get your windows tinted with that ceramic type tint. That makes a huge difference, my A/C seems to freeze everyone right out of the cabin no matter what the ambient temp is.

[Arquemann]

When I changed over to carb from CFI, I initially did as the Lokar instructions say, 40psi with the gauge block installed, but it resulted in incredibly early and lazy shifts. From that I tightened it quite a bit solely on shift feel and WOT shift timing. Now it shifts firmly but very smooth still. Like an american boat should.

[sly]

As long as the window sticker has the correct plate information, they shouldn't have any issues with the stickers on the plates.