1996 Lincoln Continental conversion to springs

[Jeff in MI]

I converted my 1996 Lincoln Continental to springs with conversion kit. Does Anyone know how to deactivate the "Check Ride Control" alert light?

thanks, Jeff

[Towncar]

Hey Jeff..
Your conversion kit should have detailed instruction for your '96.. you can contact the supplier to be sure.

The Town Car forum has some recent activity on this issue too, Mike replies there saying unplug the air-ride module and tape it off. The poster had instruction to cut a wire... which I hear is the simplest method.

[khansen46]

I recently converted the front of my Continental to springs. I found the instructions to disable the ride control error on another forum. The instructions were from Strutmasters. I followed them, and it works perfectly.

In order to disarm the air ride suspension warning lights you must bypass the VDM (Vehicle Dynamic Module) that controls air ride functions. To accomplish this you will need to tap into the wiring harness under the rear seat and make several modifications.

The first step is to remove the rear seat.
The wiring harness is located on the (drivers side)under the foam insulating pad.

Separate the wires from the plastic shielding.
Locate the following wires within the bundle:

-Pink with a light blue stripe (PK/LB)
-Tan with an Orange stripe (T/O)

On some models these wires are twisted around each other making them easier to identify.
Cut both wires and tape the ends with electrical tape.

Next locate the following wires:

-Light blue with a Yellow stripe (LB/Y)
-Light green with a black stripe (LG/BK) do not use if twisted w/(LG/R) there will be another (LG/BK) that is a larger gauge!!! Use it!!

On some models these wires are twisted around each other making them easier to identify.
Cut both wires and tape the ends leading to the trunk area.

Make the following modifications to the wire ends leading to the front of the car.

Take the light green wire with a black stripe (LG/BK) and ground it to the body of the car. (Make sure you get a good ground, if not your power steering effort will be hard)
Now take the Light blue wire with a yellow stripe (LB/Y) and splice it with the 10-amp VDM ignition power wire. (ignition power source) This will be one of the following:

-Purple wire with an orange stripe (P/O) on the 95-97
-Light green wire with a purple stripe (LG/P) on the 98-newer.

Let me know if I can help further.
Ken

[deluxreverb]

I don't get any error codes or messages about ride control. The display gives the choices of firm, normal ect. but they seem to not make any difference. The variable assist power steering is stuck with little assist. When parking it takes more effort then it should to turn the wheel.Can a spring conversion have anything to do with the steering assist?

[HaroldEP]

I have confirmed with a Federal Mogul technical specialist that their instructions with the coil conversion kit are NOT correct for 1998 Lincoln Town Cars and later models. Because the air suspension system is now linked with the Electronic Variable Orifice Power Steering and data is sent from the Air Suspension/EVO Steering Module over the Multiplex Communication Network there is now NO WAY to shut off the air suspension warning message after converting from rear air springs to coil springs. He assured me that the coils work well after the conversion, but one has to be willing to live with the warning message. He also told me that they have requested the coil manufacturer (Moog) to correct their instruction sheet to reflect this reality on the newer models, but so far they have chosen to continue with the old instruction sheet.

[abt122]

I have a 2001 Lincoln Continental that I am converting to rear coil springs. Is it impossible to deactivate the ride control warning on this year vehicle?

[Rookie#1]

I'm thinking of doing the conversion on a 1999 Lincoln Continental. Will Khansen's
procedure work to disable the warning lite?