My car has started to idle roughly off and on. It'll run smooth for a minute, then the next minute it'll run rough again. The check engine light comes off and on as well. I borrowed a scan decoder to check the computer for this, but have no idea where to plug it in, if there is one. Any thoughts on what this problem might be?
1992 Lincoln Continental rough Idle
- Thread starter dartswgr
- Start date
MooJohn
Well-Known LVC Member
Your car isn't OBDII so the common scanners won't work with it.
You'll need to find the test connector under the hood. I shamelessly stole this pic from a Bronco website:
Connect a short piece of wire between Self Test Input and Signal Return Ground. Turn the ignition to ON (not start) and wait until the CEL light starts to flash any stored codes. They can be 2 or 3 digits so have pencil and paper ready. Then just google the resulting codes for more info.
You'll need to find the test connector under the hood. I shamelessly stole this pic from a Bronco website:
Connect a short piece of wire between Self Test Input and Signal Return Ground. Turn the ignition to ON (not start) and wait until the CEL light starts to flash any stored codes. They can be 2 or 3 digits so have pencil and paper ready. Then just google the resulting codes for more info.
MooJohn
Well-Known LVC Member
This is the closest list of codes I could find. I'm surprised you got two of the same codes -- you sure one of those isn't a 3-digit code?
http://www.troublecodes.net/Ford/
http://www.troublecodes.net/Ford/
bradyelich
Well-Known LVC Member
It is your idle air control i bet. My next guess would be intake vacuum leak.
You know it is a 3 digit code because you got 3 sets of numbers - the pause indicates the next digit or supposed to.
You should be able to buy a code reader for your car, as I bought one for my 1988 F150 for $30.00. You can get a whole code reader kit that does lots of obd 1 vehicles as well as obd 2 for around $150.00.
(pause - went to moojohn's link)
With those codes I would say your battery needs to be replaced, then check idle air control and so on. those same codes come up on my 1997 Conti when the battery was no good....
You know it is a 3 digit code because you got 3 sets of numbers - the pause indicates the next digit or supposed to.
You should be able to buy a code reader for your car, as I bought one for my 1988 F150 for $30.00. You can get a whole code reader kit that does lots of obd 1 vehicles as well as obd 2 for around $150.00.
(pause - went to moojohn's link)
With those codes I would say your battery needs to be replaced, then check idle air control and so on. those same codes come up on my 1997 Conti when the battery was no good....