What can cause my 1995 Lincoln TC to stall and die while driving with no warning, it wasn't idling rough, or overheating, I wouldn't of even noticed if I hadn't lost my steering.

155

Asked by Jenn7324 Dec 30, 2013 at 06:09 PM about the 1995 Lincoln Town Car Executive

Question type: Maintenance & Repair

My 1995 TC has 248,xxx miles on it. The last couple months it has been running
rough and losing power, I thought it was possibly the slow oil leak I have been unable
to find, but I live in a place with a lot of hill so I contributed part of it to that. I knew I had
been leaking anti freeze somewhere and realized today its my heater core. The main
problem is  today I left to go to work and while turning right at a stop light my car just
died and I had no steering. I put it in park turned it off and it wouldn't start. I gave it a
few minutes and after a few times it started again when I pumped the gas. It has
started every time since then. I came home and put anti freeze in it and took it for a
drive around town.. it had its power back and drove better than when I bought it.  I
wasn't overheating when I died, I was about a mile from my house so I wasn't even up
to operating temperature yet. I have a bad heater core that leaks into my floorboard so I
have been keeping my anti freeze topped off, and it wasn't empty. I put some bars leak
that is made for heater cores today. The spark plugs and wires and fuel filter were
changed a few months ago. My serpentine belt was also changed and I thought that
may have been some of the noise.

Could my car dying be due to the heater core or could it be an entirely separate issue?
It has never died or not started before the one time today!

12 Answers

2,905

It has nothing to do with your heater core. It has only stalled on you once? And you said you loose power?

15 people found this helpful.
155

Thank you for responding, and ideas or advice, especially from people who know anything about town cars! A couple weeks ago when I was low on anti freeze I would keep stalling and dying when I put it in drive and tried to go, I knew I was low and my temp gauge said I was about to overheat but trying to get to the store up the road.. I used water and it stopped immediately,( then had my fiancee empty out the water and anti freeze that was in there and put new anti freeze in the system). It has been losing power on the hills for a couple months now, almost like it was missing but the plugs wires and fuel filter were all changed when I bought the car in May, but today after it died and started again when I pumped the gas (took about 5 minutes for it to start again) I drove the mile home and checked put more anti freeze in it and it ran fine, I only put anti freeze because we were already under the hood and could see it was low again. But we drove it around town to try it out and it ran better than ever, no problem on the hills, no hesitation at all. Ever since it has started back up every time. I got home about 7 hours ago and havent tried it since then, but Im sure if I went and tried it that it would start. But I am worried about it because it was scary having it die in a busy intersection, and I dont want it to die on me somewhere or just not start one day. I tried to do some research but found nothing helpful. My sister in law suggested bad gas, but I havent got gas in about 2 days before the incident ( i did get some while driving around town after it started doing better) and I only use two gas stations in town, both conoco. I don't know a lot about cars, it could be bad gas I guess, but from what I read after she suggested it, it doesn't sound like to me like its my problem.

9 people found this helpful.
2,905

When you loose power do you hear lifter nice in other words kind like a diesel engine and also do you know where the water leak is at?

8 people found this helpful.
270

I have a similar situation with my 95 Town Car....It runs fine but if I make a stop on the way home from work and only have it sit for 30 minutes or less most times it will not start. I leave it and return a few hours later and it starts like it never had a problem. It has on occasion stalled as I was driving. I feel it lose power and give it gas but gas doesn't flow. I usually stay in right lane and travel only on roads with shoulder so I can pull over. It takes about 45 seconds to actually stall and I lose power steering and such.Car starts after a few tries and runs fine. Fuel pump has been changed along with relays and heat sensor but problem continues. It has been scanned several times and shows nothing.I feel like there is some sort of kill switch that engages when something gets hot. Not to say it overheats but something triggers it to shut down.I love the car and it rides like a rocking chair but one of these days it is going to happen at the wrong time and I fear it may end up with bigger troubles. All suggestions welcomed.

20 people found this helpful.

I am curious to find out if the problem was resolved. I have a 96 town car that started with those exact symptoms, now it has escalated to only starting at full throttle and a very fast idle. Several sensors i have tested and replaced for various reasons all which could have caused the concerns. Now i am replacing the evap purge canisters due charcoal being expelled from it. The car will start and idle fine for an hour or more before i am riding the brakes and only getting 15 miles per gallon. Please let me know what repair consisted of.

8 people found this helpful.
270

IAC valve was replaced and throttle body was cleaned out of all gunk. Seemed to make a difference but my husband got disgusted and we went out and leased a new Chrysler 200. Lincoln sits in driveway and I did not drive it enough after repair to say if it corrected problem.

7 people found this helpful.
120

Not answer but question...last night I was driving my 1995 lincoln continental at 55mph, it just suddening started to slow down making me take the nearest exit. My husband had to come get me and push the car home with the SUV. Lights were still on the car, so not battery. Just suddenly started to lose power no matter how hard I stepped on the gas.

12 people found this helpful.
20

Had the same problem where the engine died and power loss making a left turn, narrow missing a fire hydrant and dead in the house front yard. Engine restarted but died when putting it in gear.Found that the + connection on the battery was loose. Later tighten and the problem has not recurred. (Lin- TC with only 73 K miles and a newlly installed battery

2 people found this helpful.
30

This is very common with Lincoln's, volvo's and a couple other vehicals. When they reach high milage and have multiple leaks that arnt taken care of it puts stress on the ECM (Electrical control module) or also known as ECU (Electrical control unit) this is basically the brain of anything electric in the vehical. I've had these issues with both my 93 Lincoln and 97 volvo. But Lincoln's in particular have a security mode on them so they will shut down when any malfunction or error is sent to the ECM causing the vehicle to lock up and shit down. All the issues listed from multiple people all link to the ECM. Im not sure if certain years of vehicals are able to have it tested but if Ithe can be I'd have it looked at or just replaced. Either the ECM is malfunctioning and the vehical can't get the proper fuel to are ratio causing it to go into security mode or its just automatically shutting down from the malfunction. But to sum it up you more then likely need to replace your ECM/ECU

3 people found this helpful.
30

When this happened in another type of car, symptoms were this: started fine when cold, got me down the road, when completely warmed up, it does at stops or when engine was under load and no power. I replaced the fuel pressure regulator on the fuel rail, it takes about 20 mins and two hand tools, this fixed the problem. Trust me, I had to replace quite a few things before figuring this out. This should be a serviceable part (replace at 100k, 200k miles) not sure why the dealership doesn't put that into the maintenance schedule.

85

Ok yea...you don't need a new computer. There are lots of other things you can check that will cause it to do that. All cars have that security mode these days that shut the engine off under certain conditions. Good god don't listen to him. You should check out your mass air flow sensor, your IAC valve, your vacuum hoses...read online before you buy a new computer. Dude seriously you need to stop posting stuff like that unless you offer alternatives first. Computers are expensive unless you buy one at a junk yard. I managed an auto parts store for 4 years and I've seen people just throw their money away on these 4.6 engines based off of a hunch. That's all that post is. Just because he had that problem with other year models which before 95 are almost entirely different especially electronically. Again, you need to give alternatives because some people who are desperate may think you absolutely have solved their problem, only to end up in a total mess and money blown that they don't have to spend in the first place. It really irritates me to see posts like this. You have no way of knowing for sure what the problem is and you're basically saying go buy a computer but don't try anything else first! Jesus

8 people found this helpful.

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