88' Lincoln Town Car problems

[little physician]

I have a 1988 Lincoln Town Car. I have two problems.

1. Towards the back of the car I hear a thudding or thumping noise when I go down the road faster than 20 mph. I first re-balanced the tires. Then I replaced the rear tires. Then I replaced the rear wheel bearings. Then I replaced the nearly non-existent shoes and replaced the wheel cylinders. The studs are good and the lug nuts are good. There is no play in the driveshaft, and nor is there a vibration. The shocks are nearly new.

2. When I start the car in the morning I have to warm it up for nearly a minute before I can put it in drive or the engine dies when I go to accelerate. It always immediately restarts but then there is a hesitation until the engine is operating temperature before the hesitation goes away completely.

Any ideas would be appreciated.

 

[red91sit]

I have a 1988 Lincoln Town Car. I have two problems.

1. Towards the back of the car I hear a thudding or thumping noise when I go down the road faster than 20 mph. I first re-balanced the tires. Then I replaced the rear tires. Then I replaced the rear wheel bearings. Then I replaced the nearly non-existent shoes and replaced the wheel cylinders. The studs are good and the lug nuts are good. There is no play in the driveshaft, and nor is there a vibration. The shocks are nearly new.

2. When I start the car in the morning I have to warm it up for nearly a minute before I can put it in drive or the engine dies when I go to accelerate. It always immediately restarts but then there is a hesitation until the engine is operating temperature before the hesitation goes away completely.

Any ideas would be appreciated.

how bad of a thudding is this? do you feel it? or is it just noise?

 

[Conti94]

The thudding kinda sounds like it may be sway bar end links. May want to check on those, If they are missing or corroded real bad, the sway bar can be bouncing around and causing the thud you are hearing.

 

[MechanizedMedic]

i had the same problem with my '88 TC stalling just how you described it. i ran some injector cleaner fuel addative for about 3-4 tanks and it helped out a ton. i'm pretty sure it's just the old injectors being gummed up. i'll still give my TC a full tune up when i get the money/time and i'm sure it'll pur like a kitten after that.

about the "thud"... other than going faster than 20mph, what causes the thump? bumps, dips, corners, ect... have you checked to see if your spare tire is firmly secured? you might try checking that all of the rubber bushings in the rear suspension are intact too. that's just a few ideas. good luck!

 

[little physician]

88 Problem Resolved

I did not get a response for a while and then I forgot about this post. I was just now researching for problems with my 1992 Town Car when I noticed this old question.

I had paid a garage to replace the rear wheel bearings on the 88. He told me that my shafts were nearly worn out. I had a 1985 that I was hit in. I pulled the shafts from the 85 and was about to replace the 88's with the 85's when I noticed that the one of the spider gears was missing. That was the cause for the excessive left shaft play. The noise was the brake drum beating up against the backing plate. I found the missing gear in the bottom of the axle housing. The mechanic told me that it must have just fell out. I knew that story was ridiculous because with the gears in proper sync and the diff pin in place there is no way for it to just fall out. I believe it was a matter of an inexperienced mechanic in a hurry.

The problem with my 92 is a mystery to me. I have noticed lately that the brakes are not releasing when I slow down. I believe that it is the front. I thought that I had a bad transmission because I could not get the car to upshift until I made a complete stop and then started up again. This problem is intermittent but is happening more often lately. I have never had a car with ABS before, but I believe that it is nothing to do with the ABS. What do you think? I know, now, that this is a brake problem and not a transmission problem.