00 Town Car air suspension too high at times

Asked by ayejay May 04, 2009 at 10:30 PM about the 2000 Lincoln Town Car

Question type: Maintenance & Repair

Suspension problem
2000 Lincoln Town Car V8 Two Wheel Drive Automatic 104000 miles

Hello! I have a 2000 Lincoln Town Car Signature and recently had the two rear air shocks replaced. The suspension levels fine until there is a load in the trunk or 2 or 3 people sit in the back seat. The suspension over inflates (the back is jacked up) after this takes place and remains that way for at least 24 hours after the load or people have been removed and higher so on the passenger side. I have taken the car back to the original mechanic who said it has been fixed but I no longer have any faith in them. I would like to you get your opinions before I spend a lot of $ at the dealer. I hate to go there but think they may know what they are doing. Thanks in advance.

27 Answers

335

I think it might be the problem of the sensor of the airbag suspension system which is leading you to this. Go through some magazine or check through internet to find experts dealing with this problems in your area.

5 people found this helpful.
240

Hi. You may have a pricey situation on your hands. I would suggest checking out Strutmasters.com. You can save a lot of time and money.Air systems can be so frustrating to figure out the true cause of your air ride not working. My moms Lincoln went down during a trip to the beach a year ago. We ordered a non air conversion kit from Strutmasters and the ride is great. No more air to worry about at all. Its worth it!

4 people found this helpful.

In my opinion you may want to save money and check that conversion kit out for your ride. This non air system seams to be the best way to go. I bought a kit for my own vehicle and loved it. My mom had a Deville that we added a non air conversion kit to. She commented on how sweet the ride was. If my little old momma likes it, I'm sure you would!

30

It is sad to hear that Lincoln town cars are not durable. The price is not worthy.

3 people found this helpful.
10

The sound of the brand Lincoln Town Car is quite nice, but I hope its motor is in good shape.

1 people found this helpful.
30

The Lincoln Town Car do not justify its name. After hearing such incident, I am dubious about the brand.

1 people found this helpful.
30

What a bad thing. The price you spent is worthless. did you check thorough the car?

2 people found this helpful.
40

Hey. It sounds like you have a leak somewhere. Man these cars are such a problem with this air ride stuff. If one things goes the rest is not long to follow. When my ride went down, I called Strutmasters. I bought a non air conversion kit for the front and rear and got rid of all the air on my car. I will never buy an air spring again!!! I love my ride and I love what Strutmasters has done to fix my car and keep me riding.

2 people found this helpful.
20

I bought a Town Car from my aunt a while back just to field bob in. I decided to fix it up a little bit to make it drivable down the road. Little did I know to get it road ready it was going to cost me about a grand. I called Strutmasters and converted this air ride to a coil spring kit and I have to say I saved a lot of money and I was impressed by the quality of this stuff! Made in USA too.. Now that rocks!!

2 people found this helpful.
1,230

HOLY COW, how many IDIOTS are on this chat!? Hope the motor is good?, look in magazines for an expert!??!?, brand dubious now?!?, a WARRANTY on a 2000! are you all kidding me. If you don't have any pertinant applicable advice, keep your illierate fingers away from the keyboard. The people commenting on this have no knowledge and are quite ignorant! My 2000 TC has 600,000miles with the same air suspension, 4 airbag changes and 2 compressor changes. This cost is WAY worth keeping my air ride! If you ever put people in the back seat or stuff in the trunk it will look like a 'dubious' coil sprung jalopy crouching low in the rear end. For all those scared to replace parts in the air system, maybe get a bit of knowledge first before you chuck it out. I have never in my life had a car that I didn't have to replace something...it's called car ownership. Not every part lasts forever!!! If you know what your doing the air susp. is basic. It is made up of 2 air springs & solenoids, 1 level sensor, air lines and 1 compressor. THATS IT! You can buy these all seperate for reasonable prices (I can replace my WHOLE system (airlines and ALL) for about $650. I found it ALL online. If you think that is expensive, maybe quit MacDonalds and buy a Honda. It's a $60,000 car new, not every part is going to be $5 to replace. It's way worth keeping the air ride! Why do you think all the aftermarket tuners, cruisers, show cars, tow vehicles, customs and many others are all turning to air rides!? Cause they are much better than coil sprung rides! K, if you want to fix it, here it is.... If one side is higher than the other, you may want to replace the solenoids. If it stays up or doesn't go up, it could be the level sensor or the compressor. If the compressor is always coming on the bags could have a hole in them or the air line could have a hole in it(not likely). The compressor will burn out if it has to work too often. So, don't leave these systems working less than 100% for long. If you don't like the ride height the car is at, you can bend the level sensor bracket to change the height slightly. It is that basic. All you other idiots, maybe go comment on barbie dolls or something.

112 people found this helpful.

strutmasters are ok if you dont mind a non performance mushy ride, put em on a mark viii and took it on the highway -boy was that a let down. If you like performance get an aftermarket air ride system. You can even control the ride height and firmness inside the car.

3 people found this helpful.

I bought a conversion kit from Strutmasters.com for my Lincoln Town Car and now i have no air suspension problems with it anymore. I got a life time warranty as well! i highly recommend them!

175

Menace, I had some of the same thoughts while reading these posts. The air suspension is one of the things that make a Lincoln Town Car a Lincoln Town Car. Just like any system on any car, maintenance needs to be performed from time to time. If the transmission fails, you don't install an alternative, but you get it fixed or replaced with another transmission. Alternatives are never exactly the same... Over the Thanksgiving holiday, I started a 1991 Lincoln Town Car [originally owned by my father] that was sitting in the garage for 5 or more years. After several days preparing to restart the engine, I was able to successfully get it running. The engine sounds very good, but there are some issues, for example, ABS, Air Suspension, Transmission, etc. that I need to address. I am in the process of researching the mechanics of the air suspension [which led me to this post] and your post helped to shed some light on possible solutions and costs. I have made the decision to repair / replace the factory air suspension and not install one of the aftermarket conversion kits. These conversion kits in my opinion are converting the ride of a Lincoln Town Car to that of say a Ford Taurus. I am not saying anything bad about a Ford Taurus, but it is not a Lincoln Town Car. I am not an auto mechanic, but I have some mechanical ability. The back of the 1991 TC is very low. It is inches from the ground. When I start the car I can hear something running under the hood [other than the engine] which I believe is the compressor for the air suspension. After a few minutes, it turns off and the Air Suspension light comes on the dash. While the compressor is running, I could hear something that sounds like air leaking coming from under the rear of the car. I haven't had a chance to put the back of the car on jack stands, so I can get under it to see where the air hissing sound is coming. First I was hoping to find a service manual which shows me a schematic of the air suspension system, but have not been successful in locating a service manual. Based on the information you provided in your post, I now know what I need to locate on the TC. If I am able to isolate the source of the leak, I will try to replace the necessary parts myself. If I am unable, I have a very good and honest mechanic that I think will be able to help me out. I may start another post in this forum regarding my progress, so others may be able to learn from my experience. Menace, thank you for the information and if you have some resources that you think could be helpful to me, I would greatly appreciate it, if you would share them with me. Thanks everyone for listening. I hope you will reconsider repairing / replacing your Lincoln Town Car's factory air suspension and it keep it riding like a Lincoln Town Car, instead of using one of the aftermarket conversion kits.

11 people found this helpful.
95

I think you should contact with http://www.strutmasters.com/lincoln-town-car-suspension-parts-s/37.htm they will help you regarding to you problem Cheers!!!

1 people found this helpful.
40

hey i love the lincs i have a town , mark8 and contn. have your sensors check at the dealer it will be worth it and leave the other mech alone they guess alot with lincolns

2 people found this helpful.
40

hey i love the lincs i have a town , mark8 and contn. have your sensors check at the dealer it will be worth it and leave the other mech alone they guess alot with lincolns

2 people found this helpful.
70

I have had many 6 towncars and have changed the air bags in 3 of them no problems. I now have a 2005 Towncar the air bags went out leaking so I changed the air bags from a after market company in Florida, since I was doing that I went ahead and change the shocks also to the Gabriel shocks made for the 2005 Town car. The compressor filled the new air bags all the way up and the ride is horrible because the air shocks wont adjust to the correct ride., So I replace the Compressor, the right Height adjustment and the CPU to the car!! That's all of the parts to the suspension system, well the car is still bouncing around and has a horrible ride! So I bought the factory air shocks from ford the firestone air shocks/ Air bags. Installed them and It still blows the air shocks all the way to high and my ride still sucks!! Can anybody help me please PLEASE!! 504 559-1129 Karl

7 people found this helpful.
375

Hey Karl. I own a 1998 Lincoln TC Signature and have been checking around this site for some answers. It sounds like a height sensor problem from the sound of it. Someone even mentioned about bending the bracket that this sensor is mounted to in order to do some fine tweaking on the height adjustment. This sounds like the direction you need to go in. Paul

1 people found this helpful.
20

Check the fuses. I had the same problem and was told by the dealer that It could be anything from a switch to a computer and they wanted to start with the computer. I check the fuses, (I have found that this fixes a LOT of my issues on my 97 TC Limo) I have not had the issue again and that was 3 years ago.

2 people found this helpful.
20

After reading all of the above, I have decided I should replace my dry rotted bags in our 2000 TC Executive because I don't want a lot of probs. But my husband and I are mechanic idiots. Can't afford Licoln Dealership $2000 fix. How do I find someone in my area that could do the air bag swap reasonably and do a great job?

2 people found this helpful.

spool man their is a arm and switch that tell the solenoids to open or close. If you run over something that kicked up. It can bend that arm and or break the switch.

10

My town car is 17 years old with 167000 miles. It still runs well with no problems with the engine-engine never touched. Uses no oil, burns no oil. Every wearing part last an unusually long time. I can recommend the 2000-2011 years for someone looing for a good used car. Stopped making it after 2011. The replacement(MKS) is no longer being made as of 2018. Cleve

1 people found this helpful.

Bought a near mint condition 2000 signature town car that had the rear bags taken out and coils put in instead, YUCK !!! i ordered a new entire compressor and Arnott air bags, replaced the ride sensor that been disconnected and replaced the air solenoids on each bag. YEAH BABY IT RIDES GREAT ! its not a LINCLON without air ride in the rear, no way ! its also not a LINCLON without the chrome hood mounted ornament which for some reason was not on 98 to 02 TOWN CARS...YUCK !!! had to have it ! Ordered a nice used one on EBAY and had it installed...NOW THE CAR IS COMPLETE !!! Total cost for all the above ? Parts were around $700. labor, well i did it all in 4 hrs...

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