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How-to

1990 Lincoln Town Car Height Sensor Repair

1990 Lincoln Town Car · Repair · Hard

Documented by SuperMotors from Sixlitre’s photos

The height sensor on this Town Car was jumping off one or both of its ball studs, which shuts the compressor down and leaves the car sitting low at that corner. Sixlitre first freshened the sensor's retaining spring and tie-wrapped the socket in place, then drilled and threaded the ball stud itself so the socket is captured by lock nuts and lock washers.

  1. Step 1

    Check the height sensor when the car sits low and the compressor stops working. Confirm whether one or both ends of the sensor have jumped off the ball studs they attach to.

    This is the height sensor. One or both ends start to jump off the ball studs it attaches to. This tells the comprssor to go on strike and y… (1990 Lincoln Town Car)

  2. Step 2

    Find the two ball studs the sensor rides on, one bracketed to the axle and one on the frame. Clean the studs, which collect dirt and rust.

    One ball stud is bracketed onto the axle and the other is on the frame. They get dirty and rusty too. These are the studs the height sensor… (1990 Lincoln Town Car)

  3. Step 3

    Examine the upper socket that pushes onto the ball stud and the shiny spring inside it, which is what holds pressure on the ball. Look at the back of the socket, where the spring is meant to be depressed with a thumbnail so the socket clicks onto the stud.

    Here's the upper socket that pushes onto the ball stud. The shiny spring is supposed to keep pressure on the ball and keep it from jumping… (1990 Lincoln Town Car) Here's the backview of the socket. In theory you're meant to deperss the spring with your thumbnail and allow the other side to click onto… (1990 Lincoln Town Car)

  4. Step 4

    Depress the detent that locks the metal spring into the plastic socket with a tiny screwdriver, and push the spring out. With the spring removed, inspect the cupped part that is supposed to hold the ball stud in place, which Sixlitre found rusty.

    Like anything set into plastic, the metal spring has a detent to allow removal of the spring. I used a tiny screwdriver to depress the tang… (1990 Lincoln Town Car) Once out you can see the cupped shaped part of the spring that is supposed to hold the ball stud in place (the rusty part). (1990 Lincoln Town Car)

  5. Step 5

    Stretch the spring apart to put tension back into it, then press it back into the plastic socket. Sixlitre reports the spring goes back in more easily than it came out.

    Once out the spring is helpless to your will. I stretched the spring apart to put some life/spring back into it. It goes back into the plas… (1990 Lincoln Town Car)

  6. Step 6

    Push the socket back onto the ball stud. Sixlitre added tie-wraps around the socket as insurance even though the stretched spring and cleaned parts already felt much tighter.

    Okay so I'm not the most trusting backyard mechanic. I tie-wrapped the crap out of it, even though it felt much tighter with the newly stre… (1990 Lincoln Town Car)

  7. Step 7

    For a permanent fix, drill through the ball stud and thread it to 1/4-UNC-20, leaving only the ball with internal threads so it can spin onto a 1/4 inch stud. Spin the ball out to 3/4 inch away from the bracket, then use two lock nuts to allow articulation and lock washers to keep the socket from jumping off the ball.

    The ultimate solution ! Drilled through the ball stud and threaded it to 1/4-UNC-20 and spun it out to 3/4" away from bracket. The two lock… (1990 Lincoln Town Car) Started drilling out the ball. Went all the way out to 1/4 UNC-20 so only the ball is left with internal threads to allow spinning it onto… (1990 Lincoln Town Car)

  8. Step 8

    The album's photos end with the threaded ball stud in place and show no further steps.

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