1978 Continental 4Dr Needs Technical Help

[Eric Chen]

Hi! Everyone,

I am one of the Lincoln lovers that just got a 3rd Lincoln. It's a 1978 Continental Town Car with 72000 miles. I paid less than 3K. The condition of the car is not the best with some rust, but it looks new. I have learned a lot from this forum about the 1995 to 2002 Lincoln 4.6 engine, but I have no ideas on what to do with this age of town car. It ran fine on my way home for 25 miles with 70 MPH on the interstate. But I have no idea about how the engine is running because there are only 2 gauges (speed & fuel).

Please help me with the following as there is no owners manual:

1. Motor oil weight(5w-30?) and quantity(5?) Can I use Synthetic?
2. ATF Fluid Type and quantity (Is this a 3 speed AT?)
3. Power Steering Fluid Type
4. Coolant capcity (Green)
5. Fuel Tank (20 Gal.?)
6. Expected miles per gallon?
7. Does my car have ABS?
8. How can I check if the engine has the right temperture? There is no temp guage. The Coolant looks OK.
9. How can I turn on the high beam lights?

The parts that do not work on this car:
1. Spare tire missing (where can I buy a used one?)
2. A Cartier digital clock will click but the numbers won't turn
3. AC compressor belt is missing. AC won't work.
4. Radio has been replaced with a cd/am/fm player
5. Some rust is forming at the bottom of the passenger door near the wheel well.
6. Gear shifting can get sticky from P to R when car is parked on a slope.

Sorry for so many questions. Just want to keep a piece of American history alive. I immigrated from TAIWAN to Chicago about 17 years ago. As much as I am from Asia, I love American cars. These are real cars.

Thanks a lot in advance.

Eric Chen

[pro-five-oh]

1. 10w30, probably 5 quarts. If you don't have an owners manual, get one from eBay. Synthetic may or may not cause oil leaks, its up to you.
2. Its 3 speed and takes whatever ATF Ford recommends (Mercon V should be fine).
3. Regular power steering fluid is fine. Check the cap, it might say use ATF.
6. 10mpg city, maybe a little more if you have the 6.6L engine.
7. If the brake pedal doesn't say "Sure Track" it doesn't have ABS.
8. Just make sure the bulb works with you twist the ignition on.
9. Press the metal stump on the floor near your left foot.

The parts that do not work on this car:
1. Junkyard is best.
2. Lincoln Parts International will rebuild the clock with a quartz motor.
3. Odds are the belt was taken off because of a bad AC leak, or a bad compressor. Have more money in your wallet when you put the belt back on.
4. Keep it, the old radio was a 2-shaft design, which will no longer work because the dash has been cut to fit a new radio.

Congrats on the car. ;)

[Dereck]

Hi Eric Chen

1 Yep 10/30 or 10/40, I used synthetic in mine. 4 quarts (400M)
2 Dexron II 11.8 quarts (dry)
3 Type G ATF
4 16.9 quarts total capacity
5 24 gallon
6, 7 , 8, 9 As Pro said

Regards

Dereck

[Eric Chen]

Dereck & Pro,

Thank you so much for the quick reply. You guys are the main reasons why so many Lincolns are still on the road.

1. I will put 5w-30 synthetic oil(I had them in my garage since 2006). 4 qts first, and measure with the dipstick.
2. ATF oil looks OK(reddish, no burn smell). If needed, I will find some Dextron II or III.
3. PS oil is not red, it is like power steering oil inside. I will look for Type G ATF to restore to factory spec. The cap says use Ford part number XXX I can not remember.
4. The Victory junkyard near Bensenville, Illinois has a few Continentals spare tires and wheels. The place is near my work.
5. The information mentioned by both of you is very very useful.

I am not sure what size engine it came with, 7.5 or 6.6. No sure where to check. I checked the brake padel and did not see any letters, so no ABS. There are no CB radio, leather seats, central lock, rear defrost, nor remote truck release. It has power windows, antenna, and power driver seat.

I drove 70 miles round trip to work today. I went to a brake shop. Car was on a lift for under body inspection. Front Wheel bearings needed re-pack. Front away bar brackets missing. Rear Drum brake needs shoes, hardware and both cylinders replaced. This will cost about $300. The rest of the car seems to be solid. Previous owner had put 4 new shocks, tires & new muffler for the car.

Thanks again for your help. I am excited and can't wait to enjoy this beauty!

Eric Chen

[pro-five-oh]

If the engine has a large blue air cleaner with something that looks like an oil filter on the side, its a 460. Post a picture if you not sure, we'll tell you for sure.

[Eric Chen]

Pro,

The engine has a big blue air filter box and that blue oil filter thing hang on the driver side. Also a big sticker on the passenger side engine cover says 466BB. Like you said, a 7.5L for real.

I found a few strange things while looking under the air filter box. A ldisconnected small light green electronic connector with 2 wires next to the iginition coil. Do you know what it is for? I reconnected it. No difference.

Also, the oil filler cap is very loose with no gasket. Looks like the gap between the cap and the filler hole can take on any dust or water at any time. Should this side of the engine be sealed or it does not matter? It does not look tight at all.

Anyway, I am replacing the plug and wires as the engine is not as smooth as it should. I will use AUTOLITE plugs and Motorcraft wires per the recommendations by this forum.

Eric

[pro-five-oh]

Yup, its a 460 (not 466). Congrats, that's effortless power right there. :)

I know about the electrical connector but I can't remember what it did for the life of me. Maybe it was a noise supressor for the AM/FM radio.

Grab another oil filler cap from the junkyard, or get a fancy one from a catalog like Ford Motorsport or Summit Racing. But as long as it locks into the stamped notches on the valve cover I wouldn't be too worried about it.

When it comes to replacing the plugs and wires, any high quality brand will do. Ford isn't necessary, you got that bit of info from 95-02 Conti forum. ;)

[Dibly74]

Any autopart store can order the oil filler car for less than $10.00. It might run pretty funny without any gasket under it, making the car not get the vacuum from the right spots. Also check to make sure the EGR valve isnt stuck open, that will make it run like that, and if its original it might be. And I have a 79 which only came with 400's and I don't have the odd looking oil filter on the air cleaner, does anyone know what that is, breather filter maybe?

[pro-five-oh]

breather filter maybe?

That's what it looks like. Except there's no tube from it going back to the engine. Its the strangest thing I've ever seen...looks like they just took a FL-1A oil filter and screwed it into the air cleaner. The 1970s were a wierd time for engines, that's for sure. :eek:

[megaforcer]

Do not put 5W-30 synthetic oil in there, its waaaaay too thin. 20W-40 is more like it. And try to use a synthetic blend. This is not a modern car it was not designed for thin oils like that. Also, Do not put Mercon V in that transmission, it was designed to use Type F fluid which was superseded by Dextron III. If you look hard enough you can still locate Type F transmission fluid.

[Eric Chen]

Thanks for your suggestions. The oil cap costs less than $6 from Advance Auto. But the gasket is the paper type. Does not look like it is designed to be sealed.

5W-30 synthetic oil is in the engine. I will change it out to heavy weight oil when the weather gets warmer in Chicago.

Plugs was Bosch Platinum(looks new), I replaced all 8 with AUTOLITE Platinum. Not much improvement on idle. Does COPPER play better with this engine? I did find that the wires for 6,7 & 8 were not following the firing order 1-5-2-.... After the correction, it runs better, but still have room for improvement.

Also, the existing aftermarket wires have very high resistance at 6-8K ohms on most of them. The "internet" says if it is over 5k resistance, then it could be defective. Well, what is the OEM wire spec? Can I just use any wireset like Taylor? Or play safe and stay with Motorcraft.

Eric

[megaforcer]

Use Motorcraft wires, everything else is crap. This is a carbureted engine; it will never idle like fuel injection, there will always be a little jerk. Please try not to pursue the idea of getting your car to run as a 2008 model. It won’t.

[Dibly74]

These engines love copper plugs way better than platinum. With a full tune up and some time tweaking the idle mixture on the carb you should be able to get it runing pretty smooth. Mine still has the original cap and rotor, and a little scratching on the points on it and it starts right up with just a hit of turning the key, even after sitting for a few days, because I only drive it on the weekends. But I have the 2150 carb, not sure what your has, but being a 4V it got to be a bit more cmplicated than mine. Good luck on it and nice car by the way.

[Eric Chen]

Guys, I just received the Motorcraft plug wires WR4039 for this car from Rockauto. Guess what? The resistance on the wires are around 10K ohms or more. It is higher than my generic wires at 8K ohms. I researched the forum and found the BOSCH wires are at 1.9K ohms. Do I just get a bad set? Or this is the OE design for 78 Conti?

I did not plug the new wires in yet, the generic wires are working fine. Should I just return the wires? From the CHILTON's repair manual, it mentioned any wires over 7k ohms should be replaced. I can not imagine all 9 OE wires have high resistance to supress radio interference. It may still work, but what am I gaining here?

Does anyone ever measure the resistance on new Motorcraft wires?

[Steve Moran]

a little reading material for you.

http://www.magnecor.com/magnecor1/truth.htm

http://www.centuryperformance.com/spark.asp

[Hymer]

Dont' worry about the wires , like stated before, the car wont run like a 08! It's a different breed of engine. Best thing to do. Plugs , wires, cap, rotor, and possibly a carb rebuild. [kind of hard to find a good shop around that will still do it, at least here] Look for vacum leaks and such. Thats about it for the older cars.. It sounds like a pretty good runner, so I guess I would wait to rebuild the carb. at least until you notice stahling, or some BAD hesitation, not starting without flooding and such...

[Eric Chen]

Guys,

Thanks for your guidance. I learned a lot from you. The existing wires tested out fine and have a bit lower resistance than the Motorcraft. I did replaced the CAP and Rotor this Sunday. Engine starts fine with no difference. Well, Here is how I have to start the car in a cold day: (Let me know if this is different than how you do it.)
1.) Turn key to on 2.) Press the gas pedal all the way once or twice to close the choke and give gas 3.) Start the engine 4.) Hold the pedal 1/3 down for 30 secs 5.) Once engine is warm, then the idle will be set. (I think the TSP is bad, this is the reason I had to hold the pedal for 30 sec?)

I still have some intermittent engine miss that the engine will vibrate every few seconds. It is apparent during stopped at the red light. Not bad, but I can feel it.

Just got the car all polished up this weekend, she is a looker!!

Eric

[Hymer]

sounds like your due for a carb rebuild after reading that.. Floats may be sticking and stuff is probably full of crap.. You probably want to check out the timing also, I don't know the spec on it but if it's missing , it very well could be a bit out or a streched chain.

[Steve Moran]

I wonder if the fast idle solenoid is working too?
Yes Carb rebuild time. Check the bushings at the pivot points for the butterflies on the lower throttle plate.

[Eric Chen]

Hi! Guys, I have been out of town for a week. Just got back and checked the vacuum and found it to be OK. It is steady at 21.5 in. And on WOT, it will jump between 5 and 25 in. So the pulse of the engine is good. The small vibration is due to my sensitivity spoiled by my two other fine Town Cars. The fast idle solenoid (Throttle Position Solenoid) does not move in or out during start up. I have not checked the voltage on it yet. This is just like the AC clutch broken / Tranny seal leak that needed to be replaced. I will take my time to check and replace these parts. It starts and runs fine. Thanks for you help again.

Eric

[LSRX101]

That's what it looks like. Except there's no tube from it going back to the engine. Its the strangest thing I've ever seen...looks like they just took a FL-1A oil filter and screwed it into the air cleaner. The 1970s were a wierd time for engines, that's for sure. :eek:

That was actually a silencer or muffler. The purpose was to reduce the air intake noise under heavy acceleration. IIRC, they were hollow.

[LSRX101]

Guys,

1.) Turn key to on 2.) Press the gas pedal all the way once or twice to close the choke and give gas 3.) Start the engine 4.) Hold the pedal 1/3 down for 30 secs 5.) Once engine is warm, then the idle will be set. (I think the TSP is bad, this is the reason I had to hold the pedal for 30 sec?)


That is a problem with the choke. Having worked on these cars, I'll bet the heater in the choke spring is bad and the choke has been backed way off. When you do steps 1, 2 and 3 the engine should start and run at a high idle for a minute or so. You then tap the gas pedal and the idle will drop down. The lack of fast idle indicates to me that the choke isn't closing. Check to see if the choke plate closes after sitting over night.
Here's the likely culprit: http://tinyurl.com/37k9a3

[LSRX101]

Hi! Guys, I have been out of town for a week. Just got back and checked the vacuum and found it to be OK. It is steady at 21.5 in. And on WOT, it will jump between 5 and 25 in. So the pulse of the engine is good. The small vibration is due to my sensitivity spoiled by my two other fine Town Cars. The fast idle solenoid (Throttle Position Solenoid) does not move in or out during start up. I have not checked the voltage on it yet.
Eric

IIRC, the solenoid is for AC load compensation and will only extend when the AC is on.
The way to tell is to check the voltage at the connector when the engine is running with the AC turned off (working or not). If there is no power, turn the ac on. If there is power then, the solenoid is an AC compensator.
If there is power with the AC off, the solenoid is for anti-dieseling. The solenoid should hold the curb idle speed when the engine is running, then retract to allow the throttle plates to close fully when the engine is turned off. It is real common to see them fail and many people just set the idle speed with the base idle adjustment on the carb.
Your vacuum readings look like the engine is in really good shape. :cool:

[Eric Chen]

LSRX101,

Thanks for pointing out these common issues. I had read 3 Chiltons manual and could not figure out what all these components are for. But you were so accurate on the symptoms of my issues.

To answer your question about the choke, my choke plate stays open the next morning and must be closed by pressing down the gas padel once. After 1 min start with high idle, a light touch of the gas padel will bring the rpm down to a normal idle. I guess I will need to order the choke control spring soon.

The TSP for the A/C? It was unplugged when I bought the car, it is also without an A/C belt. Later I found out that the A/C cluth is loose/bad and making a big noise as soon as I put the belt on. I have ordered the AC clutch and plan to get the A/C system working before it gets real hot.

Thanks again for your help.

Eric