88_vic

1988 Crown Vic LX. 5.0.

Ever since I got the car 4 months ago, every now and then on the highway, the car jerks a bit at 85-90km/h. Sort of feels like its missing or something. It feels almost like a tranny problem, but seeing its at such a precise speed could it be tires? The tires I have on there now are shit, so I'll be replacing them soon anyways, wanting to throw on some 235/60/15's. Anyways, anyone have any idea what this could be? It only does it sometimes, but its noticeable, and I want to keep my baby running forever. Thanks.

P.S.
Car has 226202 kms on her.

Darren

__________________
1988 Crown Vic LTD LX
5.0 FI - K&N, Accel 8.8mm wires
3.08 open diff :(
2.5% tint
Alpine CDA-9811, 800 watt MA Audio 2 ch, 2 12" Clarion ProAudios
Appliance 15x8/14x7 chrome mags

reman519

Give it a tune up change the plugs gap to .50 at least do that but you can change the cap and wires too.

lostinfordland

a fuel & tranny filter might not hurt either.

slowcrownvic

yeah mine does that too sometimes, only when gassing it. i usually ease off a bit when i reach 45mph or so and the shift goes really smooth

frankb

This caught my Eye.
When I first got my mercury marquis 2000 in April 2005. Did the same thing as you described. Did a search and than spoke to my mechanic who has 20+ years experience. He said you know I'll send you to my chum the tranny man.

Well the tranny man took a run up the road and back with me. Take the car to your dealer... its under warranty... get them to change the tranny fluid and he added "change in full" that means also the converter. Well, I did take it to the dealer at 08:00, and they said its done at 15:00.

My mechanic and the Tranny man said "Nope" just to drain the converter will take almost 8 hours. as it trickles out. Sure enough the jerking was still there.

I had my mechanic do it.
I dropped the car off at 16:00 and watched them remove the pan, and than open the plug for the converter.. and yes it trickled out slowly. Next morning at 07:30 I was back... and saw the oil that was collected in a pan.
They replaced with new Oil (12 Litres) and the jerking was 99.99% gone. While at it the also did the Differential fluids.
In checking further I learned that the tranny oil in these models requires to be changed "In Full" every 30,000 Miles.... or you get what you have now.

Happy with the car ever since... don't ask, I never went back to the dealer.

I got the car with 47,825 miles / 76,965 Km.
Car now has 66,791 miles 107,487 Km
18 965 Miles / 30,522 km Lately I get the same thing at 45/50 MI. range.
Mechanic said.... keep rolling, when you feel its due... come on in and we will repeat. Almost 2 years...
By the way these is an antifriction fluid used that does help..
I got that first cost was $15.00 but it lasted only a couple of months.

So went for the full treatment. Well worth it.

Do your own "snooping" for info.

Lambykin

I think waiting 8 hours for the fluid to drip out is overkill, but you ARE ensuring it all comes out. And yes, it does take a long time for it to drain.

Advice - if you're doing this yourself in the driveway, you've likely either jacked the car up, or put it on ramps. This is ok, and it's ok when you initially remove the converter drain plug, but the fluid won't completely drain out unless the car is on level ground. Before I sold my '85 Vic I changed the fluid in it, and I started by using the ramps. I drained all that I could while the car was on the ramps, and then I pushed it down, and allowed the remainder to drain into a pan. I think the whole process of draining took a good 1.5 to 2 hours. There was sufficient clearance when the car was off the ramps for me to crawl underneath & secure the converter drain plug when it was finished draining (and I'm not skinny). Can't really say if there is similar clearance on the newer models... Not a difficult job by any means.