1997 Lincoln Town Car (2nd Owner) Surging Idle and Delayed/Hard shifting Transmission-SOLVED 131k

[JoeyInVegas]

Early 2017, I bought a 97 Lincoln Town Car Signature Series (The car on my banner) for a back up 3rd vehicle to have while I'm servicing the other 2 Ford vehicles. This is the 2nd Town Car I've owned. My previous was a 2003, but I sold it after hitting 245k miles. Now this 1997 Town Car had 102k miles on it when I bought it and with a bad alternator. It now has 131k miles and still runs strong. I was recently experiencing a surging-idle while the transmission was in 'Drive' while stopped at traffic lights, and this would happen ONLY after the vehicle got up to normal operating temperature, and rarely stalled (2 times), but would quickly start back up. My immediate thought was a vacuum leak and being a pessimist, I worried it was due to a faulty intake gasket. Also what accompanied the surging-idle problem was a transmission issue. The transmission issue was a delayed shift from take off and followed-up with a hard shift into the next gear. Thankfully, I was able to easily correct all of these issues yesterday (3-25). I started by removing and inspecting the idle control valve. It was a bit crusty and black inside. I cleaned it well with carburetor cleaner, let it sit and repeated. Then cleaned its electrical connections and inspected all hoses leading to it, looking good. Next thing I did was clean the mass airflow sensor and the additional sensor with MAF sensor spray cleaner and cleaned all electrical connectors, then wiped the entire inside of the air filter housing clean. Installed a new air filter even though the old one still looked fairly good and took it on its usual routes. No more surging-idle and no more transmission issues. Now I need to fix this pesky windshield wiper issue. Every time the engine is started, the wipers turn on and wipe 3 times. Very annoying. I had to change the multi-function switch (turn signal switch) by removing the steering wheel because of intermittently failing brake lights. I did think this would also correct the wiper issue, but no. I've never experienced this wiper issue before on a vehicle and I've yet to delve into this problem. Any info on this would be great. Joey

 

[Jaskim06]

Early 2017, I bought a 97 Lincoln Town Car Signature Series (The car on my banner) for a back up 3rd vehicle to have while I'm servicing the other 2 Ford vehicles. This is the 2nd Town Car I've owned. My previous was a 2003, but I sold it after hitting 245k miles. Now this 1997 Town Car had 102k miles on it when I bought it and with a bad alternator. It now has 131k miles and still runs strong. I was recently experiencing a surging-idle while the transmission was in 'Drive' while stopped at traffic lights, and this would happen ONLY after the vehicle got up to normal operating temperature, and rarely stalled (2 times), but would quickly start back up. My immediate thought was a vacuum leak and being a pessimist, I worried it was due to a faulty intake gasket. Also what accompanied the surging-idle problem was a transmission issue. The transmission issue was a delayed shift from take off and followed-up with a hard shift into the next gear. Thankfully, I was able to easily correct all of these issues yesterday (3-25). I started by removing and inspecting the idle control valve. It was a bit crusty and black inside. I cleaned it well with carburetor cleaner, let it sit and repeated. Then cleaned its electrical connections and inspected all hoses leading to it, looking good. Next thing I did was clean the mass airflow sensor and the additional sensor with MAF sensor spray cleaner and cleaned all electrical connectors, then wiped the entire inside of the air filter housing clean. Installed a new air filter even though the old one still looked fairly good and took it on its usual routes. No more surging-idle and no more transmission issues. Now I need to fix this pesky windshield wiper issue. Every time the engine is started, the wipers turn on and wipe 3 times. Very annoying. I had to change the multi-function switch (turn signal switch) by removing the steering wheel because of intermittently failing brake lights. I did think this would also correct the wiper issue, but no. I've never experienced this wiper issue before on a vehicle and I've yet to delve into this problem. Any info on this would be great. Joey

Spray your air filter with silicone spray. It will get dirtier sooner but it will keep so much junk out of your engine a few bucks is worth it.

 

[JoeyInVegas]

Spray your air filter with silicone spray. It will get dirtier sooner but it will keep so much junk out of your engine a few bucks is worth it.

Never heard of that....Won't it be harder for the engine to breathe though?

 

[Jaskim06]

Never heard of that....Won't it be harder for the engine to breathe though?

No. Just a light coat. I saw it on sweet project cars. Awsome air filter hack. Watch and see the difference. Classic cars used a oil bath filter in the 30s-50s. Just spray a light coat. It'll stick to the paper and not the holes. Been using it for a few months. Traps alot of dust.

______________________________

 

[Towncarlimoguy]

IF YOUR WIPER position is off and still does the 3 swipes thing, and I don't remember any of my Lincolns ever doing that, You might jut need a new switch. If you already did that, which I think I read that you did, perhaps there's a relay somewhere that went bad.

 

[Jaskim06]

Spray your air filter with silicone spray. It will get dirtier sooner but it will keep so much junk out of your engine a few bucks is worth it.

Reason why I say this is try it and compare a regular filter to one lightly sprayed with silicone. I was shocked when I compared the 2 so all this time so much dirt was getting into my engine. Microscopic almost but still. Alot. Just use your favorite silicone dry lube type spray and hold out a foot and just spray a light layer all over. I think sweet project cars shows the filter after using this compared to usual. If I was a member here I'd taken a pic. From now on I will snap a pic of all these tips and chap tricks and how well they work. Have no idea about the wiper issue. Sounds computer electrinic issue. You can cemetery drain the memory by unhooked your neg bat terminal, pull off to side so it will NOT touch, hook up a jumper between the neg cable and the positive. That will drain the remaining juice from the pcm and you can start over fresh. But you gotta redo your radio, memory seats, mirrors and set that all up.