a 1993 lincoln town car in excellen shape–has 90,000 original miles on it–after runing for awile the check engine light goes on --sometimes this takes a few miles before it goes on --other timees longer–different mechanics tell us different things are causing it–we dont know wo to believe–do you have an answer to this problem???
Some reasone --needs tune up – neeeds map sensor – needs new gas cap – is transmission problem
thank you for any help
Your Lincoln has the OBDI engine management system. Not todays OBDII system.
Take it to someone who has worked on and knows the Ford OBDI diagnostic system, and can pull the codes to determine why the light is coming on.
Tester
How long has it been (in terms of both odometer mileage and elapsed time) since the car had its spark plugs, air filter, fuel filter, distributor cap, etc replaced?
If you don’t recall when this last took place, then perhaps the car does need a “tune-up”.
As to what specifically is causing the CEL to light up, you need to have the stored trouble codes read. Since this car has the old OBD I system, some mechanics and auto parts stores may not be able to read the codes. I suggest making a few phone calls to ask, “Are you able to scan an OBD I system for trouble codes”? If the person on the other end of the phone has no clue as to what you are talking about, keep trying until you find a shop that can do this.
Until the codes are read and interpreted properly, any solution will likely involve a lot of expensive and random “throwing of parts” at the problem.