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Old 09-21-2006, 09:03 PM   #1
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Question 87 Lincoln Towncar Misfires after a few miles

I just wanted to ask if anyone else has had this problem.
My Lincoln runs fine at idle when i start it and when i first go down the road , but when it warms up anywhere from 3-5 miles it misfires and runs real rough. Feels like a jerking in between gears, studders and gets worse to an extreme shutter in the car.

I thought it might be the cats clogging up but i cleared those out, straight 2 inch pipes back. Changed the plugs with bosch plugs with the right gaps and the distribitor cap is new.

Think it might be the crank shaft position sensor????

Please help if you can

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Old 09-24-2006, 03:35 PM   #2
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Re: 87 Lincoln Towncar Misfires after a few miles

I looked to be sure but should have a 5.0l ford engine like a crown vic. This engine has a module on the side of the distributor which frequently goes bad.
I used a module tester and warmed them up with a hot air gun or hair blow dryer. Advance auto provides free module testing. The pickup is in the distributor and you need a thexton puller to change. Napa or quality parts stores sell rebuilt distributors. These can cause problems with shutdowns.
I use a 12v test light and if the light blinks on the neg. coil terminal it is firing the coil like points used to. You need a 7/32 socket to pull the module. They sell a cheap tool at the parts store,and you could price a puller at the parts store. If you have a crankshaft position center maybe you have a 97 town car.
A very frequent problem on these cars is a bad wire by the module wiggle the harness and see if it changes the engine speed. Also the wire to the pickup in the dist.
I would get the module checked first as it is free. An ohm meter should go from 0 to 1 at the pickup with the engine spinning. I could find no 1987 engine for a lincoln with a crankshaft position sensor.
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Old 09-25-2006, 06:06 AM   #3
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Arrow Re: 87 Lincoln Towncar Misfires after a few miles

Thanks for the reply , i will have to go there this week and check it out.
I will post again to tell the results i get from the test and such.
The car was garage kept for a long time, cant believe it will be 20 years old next year, ran perfect till now.
Thanks again
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Old 09-25-2006, 08:02 AM   #4
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Re: 87 Lincoln Towncar Misfires after a few miles

If you pull the distributor get some white out and roll the engine until the rotor tip is over a mark on the dist. base mark it with white out so you can transfer the mark to the rebuilt dist. as they want a core. Be very careful and exact otherwise you will have to retime the engine their should be a round single wire plug by the dist you unplug to set the timing.
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Old 09-26-2006, 07:47 AM   #5
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Post Re: 87 Lincoln Towncar Misfires after a few miles

Thanks agin for the info, will make sure if i need to put it to mark it,
I had a 89 Old cutlass the had a crank shaft position sensor go bad once.
This is my first lincoln (ford) i have owned. I am going to check the wires and get the distribtor check sometime this week and get back with the results.
Will have to post a pic of the car also.

Thanks again for all the info you are a big help
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Old 09-26-2006, 10:51 AM   #6
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Re: 87 Lincoln Towncar Misfires after a few miles

There are a lot of things that can be wrong with your townie, if you goto this site, www.lincolnsonline.com we can help you further First thing, replace teh TV brushing, its a dealership only part, and you really need to do that otherwise a $1500 tranny rebuild is in order
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Old 09-26-2006, 12:02 PM   #7
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Re: 87 Lincoln Towncar Misfires after a few miles

Thanks for the web site banned, will make sure i look into more items after i get the dist. checked out

Thanks again
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Old 09-29-2006, 03:00 PM   #8
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Re: 87 Lincoln Towncar Misfires after a few miles

Ok i took the dist control module out and had it tested 6 times , they said it was fine. I bought a new one anyways . timing back on, still has same problems . Someone mentioned that lives around me that this car has 4 cat converters, two underthe car and two next to the headers. Said that is what it sounded like was the cat was clogged near the motor side. Can i remove these and clean them out without taking the catalyst out of them.? Or maybe tap them on the ground after i remove them to remove any dust that has clogged it up. What about a high pressure cleaning solution etc... Car is very loud and i dont want it louder....LOL Thanks in advance.


Any other suggestion would be great.
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Old 09-29-2006, 03:27 PM   #9
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Re: 87 Lincoln Towncar Misfires after a few miles

Quote:
Originally Posted by 87 Lincoln Owner
Ok i took the dist control module out and had it tested 6 times , they said it was fine. I bought a new one anyways . timing back on, still has same problems . Someone mentioned that lives around me that this car has 4 cat converters, two underthe car and two next to the headers. Said that is what it sounded like was the cat was clogged near the motor side. Can i remove these and clean them out without taking the catalyst out of them.? Or maybe tap them on the ground after i remove them to remove any dust that has clogged it up. Car is very load and i dont want it louder....LOL Thanks in advance.


Any other suggestion would be great.

well if you keep the car under 5000 a year take them off and leave them off haha. but usually with the older cars you can take them off and shove a pipe through them but not too hard and it will shove any gunk out.
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Old 09-29-2006, 03:52 PM   #10
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Re: 87 Lincoln Towncar Misfires after a few miles

Quote:
Originally Posted by sreilly77
well if you keep the car under 5000 a year take them off and leave them off haha. but usually with the older cars you can take them off and shove a pipe through them but not too hard and it will shove any gunk out.
I dont want to clear them out with a pipe will make it way too loud like a dragster. it already sounds like a mafia race car...hehhehe, second set already hollowed out , was wondering if degreaser or some sort of cleaner could be ran through them backwards, removed from the car of course. To clean them out some. Or would this just make them worse.
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Old 09-29-2006, 04:11 PM   #11
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Re: 87 Lincoln Towncar Misfires after a few miles

side and frontend pic , tell me what you think of the car. Trying to get it back to 100% original.......








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Old 09-29-2006, 04:30 PM   #12
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Re: 87 Lincoln Towncar Misfires after a few miles

You can disconnect the converters by unbolting the flange in front if it works good buy new ones. In my area you will flunk emission test without them.
If it has full power when it is cold your converter isn't plugged. You are running in open loop with a rich mixture when cold if this happens just after it warms up. I would spray along the intake manifold with carb cleaner as a large vacuum leak will effect idle.I mean run rough maybe stall. Also pinch off the hose to the vacuum booster.
Air leaks lean out the fuel mixture. Each symtom is different and I'm not sure exactly what is happening.
A bad pickup in the dist acts like the engine shuts off momentarily. I noticed a couple of things to clean in the link forwarded to you.
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Old 09-30-2006, 05:10 AM   #13
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Re: 87 Lincoln Towncar Misfires after a few miles

Quote:
Originally Posted by 87 Lincoln Owner
I dont want to clear them out with a pipe will make it way too loud like a dragster. it already sounds like a mafia race car...hehhehe, second set already hollowed out , was wondering if degreaser or some sort of cleaner could be ran through them backwards, removed from the car of course. To clean them out some. Or would this just make them worse.
i have an idea that MIGHT work but im not sure. there is a product out there called Seafoam that you drizzle down the throttle body while the car is running (follow the instructions carefully on the back of the bottle, you want the liquid form not the spray). It cleans out your exhaust chambers of all carbon build up and other junk. make sure that when you are SLOWLY drizzling down the throttle body (with the engine running reved slightly, to about 2000 rpms) that when the engine starts to choke, rev it up real good id say to around 3000-3500 rpms (approximately). you will know it is working when you see a mix of gray and blue smoke start to billow out the exhaust pipes. once you've used about half the bottle, pour the rest into the gas tank. now like I said, you can give it a try and see if it unplugs your CATs. its the most inexpensive way and the Seafoam costs less that $10.


i love that model town car from the 80s. my dad used to have one and i miss it. i love my 95 but still, they were AWESOME town cars back in the late 80s.
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Old 09-30-2006, 07:26 AM   #14
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Re: 87 Lincoln Towncar Misfires after a few miles

Quote:
Originally Posted by sreilly77
i have an idea that MIGHT work but im not sure. there is a product out there called Seafoam that you drizzle down the throttle body while the car is running (follow the instructions carefully on the back of the bottle, you want the liquid form not the spray). It cleans out your exhaust chambers of all carbon build up and other junk. make sure that when you are SLOWLY drizzling down the throttle body (with the engine running reved slightly, to about 2000 rpms) that when the engine starts to choke, rev it up real good id say to around 3000-3500 rpms (approximately). you will know it is working when you see a mix of gray and blue smoke start to billow out the exhaust pipes. once you've used about half the bottle, pour the rest into the gas tank. now like I said, you can give it a try and see if it unplugs your CATs. its the most inexpensive way and the Seafoam costs less that $10.


i love that model town car from the 80s. my dad used to have one and i miss it. i love my 95 but still, they were AWESOME town cars back in the late 80s.
Thanks for the input will look into it and see what i can find on Seafoam.
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Old 09-30-2006, 03:56 PM   #15
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Re: 87 Lincoln Towncar Misfires after a few miles

Be very careful using intake cleaners as it can damage your mass air flow sensor. I had a 1997 ford 5.4 pickup. There was a small tube between the air flow sensor and the motor in the duck. I used engine vacuum to pull it in the cleaner. But my engine wasn't stalling.
And had a small valve to control the flow. It really helped but I think your vehicle has an intake leak. If the carb cleaner makes the engine run smooth after spraying it along the edges try tightening the bolts if this doesn't work install a new gasket.
On your age vehicle this is a common problem.
Another problem I had with these engines was a leaking egr valve rough idle esp when coming to a stop sign. Normally you can clean them good and they will work properly for a couple of weeks. You can use your fingers and open it when the car is running and it will probably stall.
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