Off topic. I just bought the last great American made luxury land yacht

[mixfinder]

Idiot Lights

The Lincoln has a temp gauge, but no oil or amp indicator other than lights. I hate the cheesy look of the cheap aftermarket add ons and if it isn't all orginal and factory stock, even to the radio and knobs, I'm not interested.
Kelly

 

[hydralique]

Car A/C

Very possibly the reason that the A/C repairman didn't charge the system is the cost of Freon-12. This is what old automotive systems use, and it isn't made anymore due to environmental issues. Thus,the price is now high for remaining stock. In addition, A/C repairmen now face expensive licensing issues and standards, and are loathe to just recharge a slightly leaky system.

If the system has issues, then after fixing it you can either fork out for real Freon-12, convert it to R-134a, or use a "replacement" refrigerant. R-134a is a more modern refrigerant, and does work on older systems providing that the entire system is evacuated first, and all the oil removed. This is hard to do, but essential as the oiling requirements are different for the systems. It also isn't as efficient, so the final result may not cool as well. The replacement refrigerants vary, but many are based on propane. That is a great refrigerant, but of course there is always the issue of what happens if you have a wreck and the propane escapes near an open flame. I have no idea if this is just scare-mongering or if there have been documented issues here. All of this is why people don't jerry-rig leaky old A/C systems like they use to.

 

[tolivac]

I beleive in Florida-under a law passed there its illegal to use propane based refrigereants in car or home AC systems-A car accident there resulted some years ago-the propane charged car EXPLODED in the wreck-needless to say all involved were killed.Florida members may want to check on this.Propane should be used as a fuel not a coolant.also a good freind of mine had an older Cadillac that had the "Frigedaire" AC system in it-the compressor seized up while we were riding along-wouldn't you know it on a 95 degree Wash DC day.This happened to some friends of my dads that had Cadillacs.Sometimes that powerful V8 motor will "free" the seized compressor to cause further damage under the hood!Fortunately my friend and I were able to disconnect the belt to the unit.The car was OK-but we had to roll the windows down for air.If you have an older Cadillac system-you should have a good automative AC tech check it out before you use it or buy the car.

 

[hydralique]

Usually compressors seize up because they have been run low on oil. The most common cause of that is frequent topping off of the refrigerant without adding oil. Of course, topping off doesn't need to be done frequently unless the system leaks.

The old Frigidaire compressors are great units. Crushingly heavy, but they really put out and are very smooth. Rolls Royce and Mercedes use to use 'em too, although even through the '70s Merecedes never managed to match GM at A/C . . . actually probably no one did.

The York compressors used by Ford and lots of aftermarket installations can also cool well, but have high cyclical loads and just aren't as smooth. Years ago I remember my Dad and I charging the York on my sister's old Pantera and watching the idle speed drop 200 rpm when the compressor cut in. And that on a 5.7 liter engine! Yorks don't like high revs either, but for big engine, low-revvers like Lincolns they work just fine.

 

[58limited]

My Lincoln has an A-6 compressor, which I understand the previous owner has replaced three times in the 13 years he owned the car. While I have worked on A/C systems numerous times in the past, and still have a few pounds of R-12 left, I no longer have a gauge set. I'm having my friend's son look at it this weekend, he is a certified mechanic and has all the necessary tools. We will probably convert it to a different refrigerant because I'm trying to keep the R-12 for the '58 Buick.

The seller made it sound like the compressor was noisy, so he unplugged it. The compressor was quiet, but they can make noise when freon is low. The high pressure line leaving the compressor was hot and it was only a little warm on the other side of the condensor - so that seems to be working. The lines on the other side of the expansion valve never got cool. We'll check pressures - its either low on froen or maybe the expansion valve is bad.

The seller made it a point to explain that he had to very carefully posistion the dash control to A/C to get the vents to blow. I toyed with the dash control panel and it works fine. I can't understand why he was putting the switch in the A/C position with the compressor disconnected when the "economy vent" function works fine. These old Ford dash units are vacuum operated and are prone to breaking and having vacuum leaks, but this unit feels nice and tight, the air flow changes from dash to floor to top of dash as it should when I move the lever. Basically, after this issue and his less than stellar "repair" of the ignition switch ( besides the backward installed ingition switch, the tilt doesn't lock in place anymore and the shift knob doesn't lock in park), I have decided to never let him work on my home A/C and heating system. You just had to be there and deal with him, but he didn't leave a good impression on me.

 

[chromacolor]

I had a 78 Lincoln Town Car with the "Opera" windows. It even had the original window sticker and was $13400 new. Quite a bit in 1978 dollars.
I loved mine for the ride and people got out of your way with that grill comin down on em'... LOL!!!
My main complaint on that car was that it SUCKED in winter driving. I even nicknamed it "the spinning car of death". If the tires even thought they were coming close to moisture that thing would go into a spin.
Mine had the 400, and gas mileage was awful. 7 MPG in town and 11 MPG on the highway. I sold mine in 1998 when gas was around $1.20 a gallon. I could not imagine driving around in it today with the cost at almost $3.00. I sold it and got a 1966 Plymouth Valient with a Slant 6. That was the best car I've ever owned. Never shoulda gotten rid of that one. My car prior to the Lincoln was a 1975 Olds Delta 98 with a 455. That car was an underpowered POS. It also sucked in winter driving. It also couldn't get out of its own way. The Lincoln with a 400 had wayyyy more power than the GM 455. I suspect the GM was underpowered because of all the pollution crap. I had a 1972 Olds Toranado that was the fastest thing on the road when I was in high school. Front wheel drive was not common when I was in high-school and it used to freak people out when I could make the front tires smoke.....

 

[58limited]

Those '72 Toranados are cool!

My '78 Mercury wasn't the best wet weather driver, but it actually did well in ice. We had an ice storm in Dallas in the mid 80's during work hours. On the way home, there is a fairly steep hill. When I got there, there were a bunch of cars all over the road that tried to go up and failed. I put the Merc in low and let it go at idle speed (which I had set a little high) and it went straight up with no problems. This car would go 20-25mph at idle on a flat road. Braking on ice was another matter: the front disks would grab before the rear drums. The rear tires would continue to spin and fishtail the car. Solution? Put the car in neutral while braking - it took the engine load off of the drive train and the car stopped fine.

 

[58limited]

A/C update

Well, here's a pic of the high pressure side coming off of the compressor. The seller (remember, he's an A/C guy) has a hose with two hose clamps on each end here. This is supposed to be a crimped fitting - have to go to a hydralic hose shop to have it made or buy a replacement from O'Rielly.

I couldn't get a good picture, but the mounting block that goes on the back of the compressor was also damaged - its a wonder it wasn't leaking here too.

I also found one schraeder valve leaking on the low pressure side. I'm just going to replace all of the hoses and completely flush the system. My friend's son the mechanic is going to evacuate the system and charge it for me.