1995 Town Car Shuddering after 1 year without use

Hello people, last week I took my brother's '95 Town car for a ride but only to find out a couple of problems and I've been doing some research since then and I've worked out some of course. Here is a list:

Problems:

1) The battery runs out of charge after acouple of days without using the car even when I charge it overnight, the battery is about 6 months old and has been tested to make sure is not a deffective one, it only happens if I install it on this TC, also the interior and exterior lights flicker, I checked the output voltage from the alternator and is 14.6 volts.
SOLUTION TO THE FLICKERING: I cleaned a gray connector located next to the power distribution box under the dashboard, it has two wires (One green, one yellow) make sure you unplug the negative terminal on the battery before cleaning it (Thanks to Dereck for this) By the way this connector is called "Bert" LOL.

2) Also with the lights: when driving at night all of the exterior lights will go off at any random moment and will keep going on and off for some time, it takes about 30-40 seconds untill they stay on again.
SOLUTION: This was caused by a bad battery, it was still under warranty I got a replacement and there are no more problems with this.

3) The A/C Indicator screen and the Anti-theft system work erratically, for example the A/C controls will work but the screen remains off and when I park the car and get out of the car the key-in chime will make sound even when there is no key causing the anti-theft system not to engage. I noticed that if I put another battery in, this problem seems to dissapear, at least it happened when I tried with my pontiac's battery.
SOLUTION: Same problem with the bad battery.

4) The car feels slow and the SES light is on, I had it scanned and the result is a problem with the DPFE sensor (P1401) so I checked the connections to the sensor only to find out that it is disconnected, I plugged in the sensor and the car feels slower, it doesn't has a decent response when accelerating. This must be a bad sensor since my brother disconnected it. What other symptoms would a bad sensor cause?.
SOLUTION: Replaced the DPFE sensor but the problem still wasn't solved, after reading a bit more I found that the EGR channels tend to get clogged and that causes hesitation, stalling and backfire problems. To clean these you have to take the intake elbow (at the back of the engine) and you'll see a horseshoe shaped passage. Look at the eight post (http://www.automotiveforums.com/vbulletin/showpost.php?p=6538418&postcount=8) in this thread for some pictures. Also check the PCV valve and hose for proper operation and cracks.

5) The fuel indicator on the dashboard showed a "CO" and only the 2 upper and lower marks, after putting some gas in it it went back to normal, maybe the fuel float was stuck?.
SOLUTION: Refilling the tank to the top and adding some injector cleaner got rid of this problem. Hopefully there will be no need to lower the fuel tank if you have the same problem.

6) After driving for a while the car started to shudder like an old steam train (choo choo!). This might be because of old gasoline?.
SOLUTION: Apart of the old gasoline this problem was caused by a plugged fuel filter and the clogged EGR channels. Since it had been sitting for one year I also replaced the air filter , spark plugs and wires (these hadn't been changed in a while).

7) The gear shift has too much play, would the info for a `94 TC in this post be enough for my `95 TC?
Too much play in... (http://www.automotiveforums.com/vbulletin/showthread.php?t=423721&highlight=gear)
SOLUTION: I took apart the dash panel under the driver's side (above the brake and gas pedals) and you can see an 'L' shaped piece of metal, this control the shift lever linkage, it has a torx screw which can come loose, after tightening it the shift lever goes back to normal.

Thanks in advance to anyone who can give some help...

THANKS TO EVERYONE WHO HELPED.

Best regards,

Oscar

You have a wiring issue causing your parasitic battery drain, light issues, and A/C and anti-theft issues. You'll have to get creative with a multimeter to follow the lines to see where the draw/short is at.

Replace the DPFE sensor. They go for $50-80 at your local auto parts store or the Ford dealer. The DPFE sensor controls the EGR valve. The EGR valve should open under light load at higher speeds to decrease emissions. You can check the operation of the EGR valve, too, by putting a constant-vacuum hose to the port on the EGR valve to open it at idle. When vacuum is applied, it should shudder momentarily and then get back to nearly normal RPMs as the ECU compensates for it.

The shudder can be from bad gas, dirty fuel lines and injectors, clogged fuel filter, worn plug wires, dirty/worn spark plugs, and the transmission.

I'd first try to determine if it's a misfire from the engine or the transmission torque converter shudder. TC shudder usually occurs when the ATF is out of spec (old and dirty). Check your ATF level and quality. If it is low top it off. Remember to check when the ATF is HOT, after you had cycled through all of the gears, and with the engine running in Park. If the fluid is brown or smells burnt, change the fluid. Remember to drain the torque converter and not just the pan to get as much fluid out as you can!

While you're down there you should be able to adjust the TV cable which links the shift lever to the transmission to tighten it up.

Battery drain is common in this car when Alternator diodes leak to ground. Sometimes this condition also causes speedometer wander at idle, and definitely causes all sorts of electronic gremlins.

Hello, thank you both for your answers; I've been a bit busy and haven't been able to make any progress on this car.


Battery drain is common in this car when Alternator diodes leak to ground. Sometimes this condition also causes speedometer wander at idle, and definitely causes all sorts of electronic gremlins.

Is there any way to check this and be sure that this might be the cause?, how is this supposed to be fixed? Replacing the alternator?.

You have a wiring issue causing your parasitic battery drain, light issues, and A/C and anti-theft issues. You'll have to get creative with a multimeter to follow the lines to see where the draw/short is at.

Replace the DPFE sensor. They go for $50-80 at your local auto parts store or the Ford dealer. The DPFE sensor controls the EGR valve. The EGR valve should open under light load at higher speeds to decrease emissions. You can check the operation of the EGR valve, too, by putting a constant-vacuum hose to the port on the EGR valve to open it at idle. When vacuum is applied, it should shudder momentarily and then get back to nearly normal RPMs as the ECU compensates for it.

The shudder can be from bad gas, dirty fuel lines and injectors, clogged fuel filter, worn plug wires, dirty/worn spark plugs, and the transmission.

I'd first try to determine if it's a misfire from the engine or the transmission torque converter shudder. TC shudder usually occurs when the ATF is out of spec (old and dirty). Check your ATF level and quality. If it is low top it off. Remember to check when the ATF is HOT, after you had cycled through all of the gears, and with the engine running in Park. If the fluid is brown or smells burnt, change the fluid. Remember to drain the torque converter and not just the pan to get as much fluid out as you can!

While you're down there you should be able to adjust the TV cable which links the shift lever to the transmission to tighten it up.


Thanks, I'll check all that; about the shudder I'm pretty sure it's because of bad gas, every time the car starts to shudder it will go very slow and take very long to accelerate no matter how much I step on the gas pedal so that's why I'm saying it must be bad gas, this tells me to check the injectors too. What do you think?.

As soon as I get some free time I will work on the car and will post any results here.

Best regards...

Steven is correct, when I put a Advance Auto Alt on my car, I must have gone threw 5 of them to get one that didn't tell me I was going 120 mph, 99 mpg, and the odometer was racking up mileage in PARK position.

Hello people, I'm back... Today I was working on this car, I changed the engine's oil, oil filter, air filter, fuel filter, spark plugs and wires and finally the DPFE sensor

The DTC P1401 seems to be gone, the car stats much faster actually as soon as I turn the key, which is very good. I revved up the engine, but when I step on the gas the car seems to miss for a second, revs up and holds; but if I step too much (all the way down) the car won't accelerate at all even when the engine is cold. The travel on the gas pedal seems to be working this way:

0-50% the car revs fine.
51% to 100% the car won't accelerate and the RPM's will drop, in addition the car will backfire like once every 5 seconds...

Thanks in advance for your help.

Clean your MAF sensor with CRC MAF Cleaner. Check the TPS sensor for proper resistance. Check the HO2 sensors for switching from lean to rich when at operating temperature. You can use a data logging device and program or a multimeter for those two tests.

Replace the spark plugs with the proper Motorcraft or Autolite plugs. Avoid Bosch plugs and O2 sensors - they don't play nice with these cars.

You might want to try a Seafoam treatment, too. If the TC was driven by an old couple to go get the groceries, you may have a ton of carbon in the cylinders. Do half the bottle through the PCV valve and the other half in the gas tank. Never put it in the oil as it thins it out and I never trust that.

Here's a Seafoam howto video on a Crown Vic which is same platform and engine as your TC, so it should be a good help.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=yibMhMADJV8

Hello thanks for your help. I solved the problem by cleaning the EGR channels under the intake elbow it was full of crap and I was reading that this is a common problem in this type of cars; now the car runs great, the engine starts immediately and revs up very good the shuddering seems to be gone, I guess it had to do with the EGR too, the only thing left is my flickering lights which might be the cause for battery drain, at the moment that's not a big problem I will change it maybe in a week or two. The TPS is OK I didn't have any jump on the reading while I was testing it with the multimeter, the only problem is the retaining clip is broken but I fixed it by holding the TPS with a plastic belt. I will post back when I have more news.

About the spark plugs I used NGK's platinum.

I noticed my hand brake pedal going all the way down, will tightening this fixes it?

http://img243.imageshack.us/img243/1265/img00395201006291654.th.jpg (http://img243.imageshack.us/i/img00395201006291654.jpg/)

One more question: Is there any way to keep the EGR channels from getting blocked again or will I have to deal with that from time to time?

Thanks for your help...

Here are some pictures of the EGR channels before and after cleaning:

Before:
http://img203.imageshack.us/img203/3598/img00389201006291419.th.jpg (http://img203.imageshack.us/i/img00389201006291419.jpg/)

After:
http://img84.imageshack.us/img84/5818/img00391201006291435.th.jpg (http://img84.imageshack.us/i/img00391201006291435.jpg/)

While you're down there you should be able to adjust the TV cable which links the shift lever to the transmission to tighten it up.

I wanted to ask you how should I adjust that cable, what does it looks like? Where is it connected?.

Thanks for your help...

Today I bought a new battery for the car, everything works fine and the headlights don't turn unexpectedly off anymore, I guess the problem was a bad battery, however the dome lights still flicker not too much, but enough to be noticeable so I grabbed my multimeter and measured voltage on the battery clamps:

12.6V with engine off (battery voltage actually)
14.7V with engine idling and high beams on.
14.65V with engine running at about 2000RPM's and high beams on.

Also I tested for current draw to find the parasitic battery drain but I'm not sure if it's still present, the current flowing with the key off and the light bulb under the hood disconnected is 0.35A I'm not sure if this is a good value or it's too much and definitely there's something draining the battery.

Are these voltage and current values OK or should I go on and replace the alternator or regulator for the voltage and check all fuses for the current drain?.

Thanks in advance.

The voltages are within spec. The draw with key out I'm not sure about. I never measured mine, but I'd suspect it shouldn't be more than a few hundred mA to ECU, radio and clock keep alive memory, and the PATS system if installed.

Thanks for your time!.

I haven't had enough time to check the fuses under the dashboard but so far I've checked only the fuses under the hood and the current draw will drop about 10 mA when I remove the fuse labeled as I/P fuses, I will check the rest tomorrow.

I have an aftermarket radio (kenwood) and the clock doesn't works, is there any way to make it work without the OEM radio?.

I read in another forum that when the clock is disconnected it will create a larger amount of current draw, it sounds weird but could this be true?.

Finally is it normal for the car to make a clicking sound coming from the back after I turn the engine off?. I suppose it must be the air suspension, the system clicks once every 10 seconds for about 2 minutes I believe. I don't think there is a leak on the airbags since the compressor has come on only two times in one week and only for 30 seconds or less.

Thanks in advance for your help.

I don't know why but the engine has hesitated twice in these days after a cold start, it only happens once everyday and only when the engine is cold causing a lack of power for a second, besides that the engine works great. Any thoughts?

Thanks in advance.

I'm sorry to keep bothering but does anyone have any idea about my last two posts? Thanks in advance for any help provided.

have you tried changing or cleaning the Mass Air Flow Sensor? I'm sorry to keep bothering but does anyone have any idea about my last two posts? Thanks in advance for any help provided.

Hi thanks.

Yes, I cleaned the MAF already but after changing the same sensor in other two cars I don't think the symptom is the same, on the other two they were, but none of both hesitated and stalled ever, they only kept revving up. I was thinking that maybe the IAC valve is dirty, but right now I'm a bit lazy to take it off to clean since I did nearly the same thing to clean the EGR channels under the intake elbow, maybe next week I'll give it a try. Any other ideas?.

Thank you very much for your help...

Hello people, after a long time and some work the car is back to proper operation, I have updated the original post with a solution to each of the problems. Thanks to everyone who contributed on this thread.

Best regards,

Oscar