# Need to get the trouble codes off of an LTD **URL:** \ **Category:** Maintenance/Repairs\ **Tags:** ford\ **Created:** [April 18, 2010, 5:29pm UTC](https://community.cartalk.com/t/need-to-get-the-trouble-codes-off-of-an-ltd/47641 "2010-04-18T17:29:39Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 8\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![shadetreemech](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/f07891/32.png) [@shadetreemech](https://community.cartalk.com/u/shadetreemech)\ **Post date:** [April 18, 2010, 5:29pm UTC](https://community.cartalk.com/t/need-to-get-the-trouble-codes-off-of-an-ltd/47641/1 "2010-04-18T17:29:39Z")
Hey hows everybody? I have been online for over an hour trying to find a trouble code list for an 86 Crown Victoria… I am gettin nowhere. I need to know how to get the codes and then I need a trouble code list. Thanks BTW… this is my stupid Father-in-laws, stupid mothers, stupid car, and it won’t start, and he’s too cheap to pay somebody to work on it, and he thinks I’m a mechanic because I fix my own vehicles. But I’m not a mechanic I’m just too poor to pay anyone. So HELP me please! lol ---
**Author:** ![GreasyJack](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/g/df705f/32.png) [@GreasyJack](https://community.cartalk.com/u/GreasyJack)\ **Post date:** [April 18, 2010, 5:45pm UTC](https://community.cartalk.com/t/need-to-get-the-trouble-codes-off-of-an-ltd/47641/2 "2010-04-18T17:45:03Z")
Here’s the answer to your question: ([http://www.troublecodes.net/Ford/](http://www.troublecodes.net/Ford/)), but feel free to just tell him you need an expensive scan-tool and that he’s just going to have to take it to a mechanic who has one. ---
**Author:** ![Caddyman](https://sea1.discourse-cdn.com/cartalk/user_avatar/community.cartalk.com/caddyman/32/23_2.png) [@Caddyman](https://community.cartalk.com/u/Caddyman)\ **Post date:** [April 18, 2010, 5:46pm UTC](https://community.cartalk.com/t/need-to-get-the-trouble-codes-off-of-an-ltd/47641/3 "2010-04-18T17:46:03Z")
1986…The Dark Years…You can buy a '98 - 2002 Crown Vic cheaper than fixing this one…“Pulling the codes” can be very difficult on these prototype OBD cars. NOTHING was standardized. Everybody used different connectors, different codes, different formats…The only shops that could “read the codes” were the dealers. And even then, the codes seldom helped very much… Check for gas and spark, the basics…If it has one of those CV carburetors with the plastic sliders, forget about it. Time to move on… ---
**Author:** ![oldschool](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/o/e19adc/32.png) [@oldschool](https://community.cartalk.com/u/oldschool)\ **Post date:** [April 18, 2010, 6:43pm UTC](https://community.cartalk.com/t/need-to-get-the-trouble-codes-off-of-an-ltd/47641/4 "2010-04-18T18:43:16Z")
Even if you get the codes there won’t be one saying “here is why it doesn’t start” even if the car was a 2010 you would not get this kind of direction. ---
**Author:** ![shadetreemech](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/f07891/32.png) [@shadetreemech](https://community.cartalk.com/u/shadetreemech)\ **Post date:** [April 19, 2010, 1:52am UTC](https://community.cartalk.com/t/need-to-get-the-trouble-codes-off-of-an-ltd/47641/5 "2010-04-19T01:52:11Z")
OK thanks folks! I’ll tell him that he’s out of luck, it’s waaaaay over my head, and he better take it to the shop of his choosing! ---
**Author:** ![Caddyman](https://sea1.discourse-cdn.com/cartalk/user_avatar/community.cartalk.com/caddyman/32/23_2.png) [@Caddyman](https://community.cartalk.com/u/Caddyman)\ **Post date:** [April 19, 2010, 2:46am UTC](https://community.cartalk.com/t/need-to-get-the-trouble-codes-off-of-an-ltd/47641/6 "2010-04-19T02:46:26Z")
There is a Crown Vic net…Scroll down and you will find a topic heading “The Square Ones”. You may find some help there… ---
**Author:** ![oblivion](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/o/3ab097/32.png) [@oblivion](https://community.cartalk.com/u/oblivion)\ **Post date:** [April 19, 2010, 10:04am UTC](https://community.cartalk.com/t/need-to-get-the-trouble-codes-off-of-an-ltd/47641/7 "2010-04-19T10:04:17Z")
I had an 87. To pull the codes you had to connect an analog voltmeter under the hood, jumper another two wires, and count the ‘sweeps’ of the needle on the meter. A royal pain and the info gleaned was primitive compared to today. The links others have provided should get you started. Ford was a little behind the times in those days—another vehicle, a Chrysler I had, you’d just click the ignition on and off 3 times and read the codes on the check engine light. ---
**Author:** ![shadetreemech](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/f07891/32.png) [@shadetreemech](https://community.cartalk.com/u/shadetreemech)\ **Post date:** [April 20, 2010, 2:15am UTC](https://community.cartalk.com/t/need-to-get-the-trouble-codes-off-of-an-ltd/47641/8 "2010-04-20T02:15:07Z")
Yeah you can do that with my jeep. I think once i tell him how primitive the diagnostic procedure is he’ll probly just take it to somebody.