Cruise doesn't engage right away. Drops 6mph

[ctw23308]

New member. I'm not having any luck searching the forum. My 2003 Lincoln Town Car Cruise doesn't engage until it drops about five or six miles an hour. After you re-engage it a couple times it drops only two or three miles an hour before engaging. Once in a great while after you set the cruise three or four times on the same trip without turning the key off, it will engage immediately, but that's pretty rare. I bought a used servo and it only dropped two or three, which was much better than my first one dropping 8 mph, but that is the one that now drops five or six miles an hour. It got worse over the past year. It's solid state. Has a cable. Can't find any articles regarding this drop in mph before engaging. This cruise servo is very specific to the Town Car, and only 2003 and 2004

 

[Action]

There isn't much out there about the speed control system.
There may be something in the factory shop manual.

Action

 

[ctw23308]

There isn't much out there about the speed control system.
There may be something in the factory shop manual.

Action

I'm wondering if it's specific to my car (engine computer, speed sensor), despite everything else working perfect, not just the servo. Nothing online. I'll ask the local dealer service desk

 

[Action]

In that bad old days the throttle was engaged by the speed control servo with a chain.
If there was too much slack in the chain it would prodice exactly the issue you are having.
This system has a cable with no chain.

I would want to go though the diagnositic routines in the shop manual.

Action

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[ctw23308]

I was thinking vacuum servo not "strong" enough, but my cousin (retired mechanic from years past; can't diagnose this) bluntly and accurately stated it was electronic. Slack chain; leaky vacuum.. those would explain as you said in the bad old days, but not this. Haven't had time to look at the manual. Will do. Thx

 

[ctw23308]

In that bad old days the throttle was engaged by the speed control servo with a chain.
If there was too much slack in the chain it would prodice exactly the issue you are having.
This system has a cable with no chain.

I would want to go though the diagnositic routines in the shop manual.

Action

Your mention of the bad old days with the loose chain, finally triggered in my mind to look if the cable somehow was loose. You can't see it inside the cable housing, but when I disconnected it, it was loose. The cable pulled out about a half an inch beyond where it's supposed to connect. When they installed the new engine before I bought it they clearly did not adjust the cruise cable. Simple fix. Metal clip with different slots. $155 for dealer diagnosis which I didn't do. They said that if different servos dropped different speeds, that was probably the servo. It wasn't the servo though. It was the cable mis-adjusted. I'm putting all this information in here in case someone has the same problem, and they can find it now. I kept swapping servos with slightly differing bad results, but never thought to change the cable, or check if there was a cable adjustment. Thank you so so much!

 

[Action]

If you can, post a picture of where or how the adjustment is made.

I have not worked on the newer speed control systems. Mostly because the speed control works well in all of my newer vehicles.

Action

 

[ctw23308]

If you can, post a picture of where or how the adjustment is made.

I have not worked on the newer speed control systems. Mostly because the speed control works well in all of my newer vehicles.

Action

If you can, post a picture of where or how the adjustment is made.

I have not worked on the newer speed control systems. Mostly because the speed control works well in all of my newer vehicles.

Action

Not sure what years Lincoln used this style of cable and adjuster for the cruise. Simply pull out the metal clip (faces the front so you have to remove one bolt and lift up that black object in front of the throttle body) and slide it to a different notch to tighten it up push the clip back in.

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[Action]

Very nice!!!!

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[ctw23308]

New member. I'm not having any luck searching the forum. My 2003 Lincoln Town Car Cruise doesn't engage until it drops about five or six miles an hour. After you re-engage it a couple times it drops only two or three miles an hour before engaging. Once in a great while after you set the cruise three or four times on the same trip without turning the key off, it will engage immediately, but that's pretty rare. I bought a used servo and it only dropped two or three, which was much better than my first one dropping 8 mph, but that is the one that now drops five or six miles an hour. It got worse over the past year. It's solid state. Has a cable. Can't find any articles regarding this drop in mph before engaging. This cruise servo is very specific to the Town Car, and only 2003 and 2004

I couldn't edit my post, or question, so I'll reply to it as an edit. The cruise cable for this generation of Town Car is adjustable. Look at my last message below for the pictures that I posted on where it is, and how to adjust..