Prudence, my 87 Town Car

[GM_Guy]

One thing I've noticed long before this rattle appeared is a soft scraping sound when spinning the front wheels. For most of their 'orbit' they spin silently, but there's about a 30 degree stretch where it sounds like there's light contact between the pads and rotor. I assume this is because the rotors are warped, but I doubt that's the source of the rattle.

Keep in mind anytime you stop the car, where the pads are its going to "cook" a bit more for lack of proper terminolgy. Spinning it by hand, you are probably hearing, and feeling the orientation the rotor was in when it was last parked and left to cool down. Nothing to be concerned about.

[Lutrova]

The rubber the caliper pins sit in are in good shape. Wheel bearings also appear to be right, at least as best I can tell.

When I pulled the caliper off the inner brake pad fell out. I used a pliers to push the retaining clips out so they made contact when I pushed the pad back in. It's not snug, but there's a lot less play now than before. No idea whether that was the right thing to do. I'll know tomorrow when I take the car for a drive. This brake pad has been the most plausible source of the rattle so far, so I'm hopeful.

[gadget73]

do the clips look like they were made to fit into a much smaller hole than whats in your caliper? If so, fair bet its the wrong pads for the caliper. The phenolic pistons have about a 3/4" hole, the steels are something like 1 1/4". The inner pad clip is the only difference between the two. You can use the phenolic pads with a steel caliper but the pad will not stay in place correctly.

[Lutrova]

That's interesting. So the inner pad should fit snugly in the piston with no side to side play? The brakes were done almost four years ago, so if they used the wrong pads then I'm surprised it took a couple years before they started to rattle - assuming this is the source of the noise.

[gadget73]

yes, the pad should sit in the piston tightly without falling out. There should be noticeable resistance putting it in place too.

the pads really can't fall out once the caliper is in place but if the clip is wrong it definitely can rattle around.

[Lutrova]

Looks like the inner brake pad was the source of the rattle. After two hours of driving today I couldn't recreate the noise. Whether my fix will last remains to be seen. I'm also wondering whether I have the right pads for the calipers, and why they didn't rattle for the first two years. But now that the car's a little quieter I can fixate on the next loudest noise.

The misfire also seems to be better after new plugs and wires. It's smooth in gear, apart from the occasional deceleration jerk, but maybe that is just the trans. What isn't the trans is the engine vibration while in park. Not sure what would cause it to idle smoothly in gear but not in park, or maybe that's normal.

***

A funny thing happened today. As I was heading down the driveway I heard a metallic ping. I thought maybe one of the brake pad clips I had bent out decided to give up the ghost, but the brakes felt the same so I carried on. Once I got to my destination though I realized the hood ornament was missing. Sure enough, when I returned home it was sitting in the middle of the driveway.

The ornament is held by a spring, which I suppose means it's always in tension. And the little loop of metal on the bottom seems to have opened or snapped in such a way that the spring was able to pop out. So now I have to find a way to rescure it to the car. But at least I still have the largest part.

[DerekTheGreat]

A Lincoln without it's hood ornament is like a party without booze.

[Arquemann]

My MGM's hood ornament broke the same way, the little loop gives out. I've just used urethane glue to attach it straight to the base, the urethane stuff is a bit flexible so it won't vibrate.

[gadget73]

tired motor mounts maybe? Put some load on and it may load it down a bit so it can't shake. I have the opposite problem on the Continental, the motor mounts are definitely wasted, but it vibrates sometimes in reverse only, probably because its loading in the opposite direction and it isn't happy. Can't get those motor mounts, so at some point I'll have to figure out how to modify 302 mounts or cast my own.

[Lutrova]

After sitting for most of July and August, I've been driving the Lincoln more over the past couple weeks. The suspension rattle hasn't come back, so bending the brake pad retainer seems to have done the trick.

I'm still chasing the vibration at idle, which might be tied to the jerk when letting off the accelerator, and a vague feeling that the car isn't making the power it should be. Since I did motor mounts a couple years ago and plugs and wires at the start of the summer, my current theory is it could be the fuel injectors.

If the injectors are dirty, it could also explain why the message center fuel economy estimate is always low. I got 19.7 mpg the last time I got gas, but the computer was figuring 17.3 mpg. The tank before that it was 16.4 mpg actual to 14.9 mpg est, which included some towing.

Now getting nearly 20 mpg across a full tank of mostly highway driving would seem to suggest the engine can't be doing too bad. But across the past 1,500 miles of driving, and the previous four years of ownership, the trip computer has almost always underestimated fuel economy by at least 0.7 mpg, but sometimes as much as 4 mpg. Maybe twice has the computer ever overestimated the actual fuel economy.

I figure the trip computer is getting fuel usage figures from the ECU, but the ECU can only track how often it's calling for the injectors to open, not the amount of fuel that's actually been injected. So if a clog or otherwise malfunctioning injector(s) is reducing the amount of gas sent, the computer will overestimate the fuel used and then underestimate the miles per gallon.

If that sounds plausible to anyone else, I'm thinking I'll pull the injectors and send them off for cleaning. I could run some cleaner through the tank, but I'd like to be sure and not string this out.

[gadget73]

probably makes more sense to just pick up a replacement set. There are places that rebuild them on an exchange basis. No specific recs, last set I got were from some shop on ebay. Some of them don't even have a core charge.

[Lutrova]

Well I redid all the externals on the injectors back in 2020. Does a rebuild touch anything internal? I'm looking at $120 for cleaning or around $200 to replace, but long term I'm still imagining I'll do an HO or Explorer swap.

My bigger question is whether I'm barking up the right tree. Does this sound like it could be fuel related? Do injectors tend to cause problems on these cars?

[gadget73]

usually it replaces the little filter screen in the back, the plastic cap on the pintle, and an ultrasonic clean to jar loose any garbage stuck inside that messes up the spray pattern. Places that don't suck also will flow test them to verify they flow what they should, the spray pattern is good, and that all 8 in the set match reasonably well. they can't really be opened though.

[Lutrova]

My wife and I recently watched The Lincoln Lawyer - the film that began Matthew McConaughey's Lincoln phase. It was a good film in its own right, but the main attraction for me was the main character's '87 Town Car, featured prominently throughout the movie. The car is a close match to my own, apart from the wheels and interior. The seats look like those from the '87 Cartiers, but the black exterior and vinyl top made me question whether it was a highly optioned base model or some kind of special order.

I know it's been said the Beastie Boys' Sabotage music video could be the unofficial music video of this forum, but I'd counter that the title sequence from this film could give it a run for its money.

[sly]

More like for Lincolns on-line. Too many beaters around this place. Beater gonna beat.