Hey Scotty! I just recently bought a 2001 Lincoln town car. I am in the middle of replacing the front end suspension and steering components. It has 247,xxx miles. The engine has a slight knocking noise after it warms up, but other than that it performs great! Got any tips for this 20 yr old boat?
A little ticking or clatter is one thing, but knocking? That could be serious - like rod knock from worn bearings. Does you oil pressure light come on when its hot and you're idling?
Record and post it here, and the folks on the forum should be able to tell you how serious it is.
Ok so the front suspension replacement went fine. But I’m on to some new problems now. I had a service code pop up for coolant temp. Replaced the ect and it fixed it. I also changed the oil and cleaned the throttle body with some spray. Took it for a road test and it was running great. Fuel mileage was getting better. Then later we were driving and noticed some smoke coming from the back. The car is still running fine. The coolant seemed to have dropped about a 1/4” in the reservoir but had not dropped anymore. Checked the oil dipstick and was fine. The smoke has died down now. I’m just confused.
Hard to tell what may have caused the brief smoking - possibly previous owner didn't drive much/fast the engine was running to rich, and the cat finally lit up and burned clean? But that's only a possibility. I'd monitor the oil and coolant really closely for the next 1-2K miles (not a bad idea for any new to you 20 year old car,) A compression check a is pretty cheap and easy way to see if another 250k is left in the engine .
I’ve been driving it for a couple weeks now. I’m pretty sure it sat for a while before I bought it. Do you think maybe the synthetic oil is cleaning the engine out? I took it up to about 80-85. That’s the fastest I’ve went since I’ve had it.
Any fresh oil will tend to dissolve a lot of internal crud. Watch if it gets dark fast and change it then. Lots of Town Cars are driven gently/conservatively, and maybe you just performed an "Italian tune up".
I really hope that’s what happen! I’ll keep an eye on everything and write back if anything changes. Thank you for the help!
The knocking is more of a clatter. Does it mostly at a certain rpm. I don’t have a tachometer so I can’t tell you the rpm. But slightly over idle. Also does it more when I’ve been driving it and it’s hot out. Would a thicker oil help with that?
Possibly - any chance it could be a stuck hydraulic lifter?
How would I go about checking and or fixing that?
The brief smoke was probably some crud loosened by the cleaning of the throttle body, hopefully.
That would make sense! I’m keeping my fingers crossed for that!
I wouldn't worry much about the smoke, especially if it hasn't been recurring.
The the knocking could be serious. I would keep an eye on it and check your oil regularly for a bit just to be safe.
The knocking is more of a clatter. I can’t tell if it’s a loose timing chain tensioner or a lifter. I don’t think it’s coming from the crank.