Help with 1999 Town Car

[Bullymom]

My Mom's 1999 town car keeps having problems with the lights (panel) and radio starting to go on and off and the car starting to cut out when she is driving it. Then it completely quits. The radio will be on but the car won't start back. After leaving it overnight, it then started with no problems. About a week before this happened, we had to have her battery replaced. What could be the problem? I have been told we need to disconnect the battery because the car got "confused" when the new one was put it.

Thanks for any help........

[Davescort97]

Whenever the battery is disconnected it erases the engine settings in the computer. Having the battery replaced wouldn't cause any noticable problems. It will "relearn" it's settings within a few miles and you shouldn't expect any drivability problems. The symptoms you describe indicate low voltage in the system. The panel lilghts and the taillights are on the same fuse so if your tail ights don't work you will know something is wrong by the panel lights being out. Check the tail light fuse. Most likely, you have a bad or loose connection on the battery terminals. Especially, if someone else put it in for you. Sometimes they smear the connections with grease to inhibit corrosion, but sometimes the grease works it's way between the connections and you don't have a good positive or ground.

[Bullymom]

Thanks Dave. That makes more sense. They replaced one battery connector because it was pretty corroded. We had to have the negative one replaced about a month before the battery died because it had corroded through. When they put the new one in, they put that grease on the terminal that they replaced (positive). I'll ask about the taillights, but she did say that she got out to open the hood and when she got back in and slammed the door the radio and panel lights all went out.

We'll clean the grease off and reconnect the connectors and also check the fuse and other battery connections. I'll let you know how it goes.

Thanks,
Terry