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This shop has very tediously gone through all the wires and contacts in the harness and through the firewall which has taken considerable time. They found one or two slightly corroded but didn't seem to affect overall condition after they were cleaned. They said there were 16-20+ wires, so I imagine that is it. I did find a PROM. Plan to get the Van back next week, drive it and see. and only if it gives me problems, see what a replacement PROM will do.

Well, as I said, it's difficult to find a mechanic nowdays, particularly a Pontiac specific expert guru and for the 90s. It is what it is. My plate overfilled with non-1993 Van auto maintenance issues to try to dig into it. A shop seemed logical. It still seems logical. Choices are few an far between. There was no service manual with the van when I acquired it. I checked the internet, asked questions on forums, typed in key words, got feedback as to what was perceived the problem, followed through with those unsuccessfully and just had to leave in the hands of the shop. Suppose to get the Van back Monday using a new ECM with the old PROM given that there may still be some things show up on the readings. My sole interest is A to B and B to A. If they were able to get the Van to do that, then that's all I need. We'll see.

Yes old PROM being used. Just last night I found and ordered a replacement. I don't know if the shop could have done damage through static discharge. The shop is reputable. It just got to be the only thing left was the ECU and/or PROM as I understand it. Local place did not have the code readers for older than '95 so I had to take the Van to a place a little further away and I just cannot physically check on it every day. They tried everything I told them to try and the Van would still just be going along and quit running. Always restarted, but then it would occur again. Got to be a real nuisance. Finally I couldn't get out the driveway. Did everything I knew short of looking at the computer and prom. Three individuals all concluded the PROM was the culprit. That's all I know at this point. I believe I did see "somewhere" about some computer/prom recalls back when but I didn't own the Van back then, so total history of exactly what may have been done over the years and 138,000 miles I don't know. I can work on the old ones, but 80s and newer can't do it. The Van other than this problem is in excellent condition for the age and mileage. I am NOT discarding the old ECU or PROM during this investigation. It tool me a while to even find anyone that would at the Van. Just cannot find shops around anymore and certain things I found and learned after a dealer visit have me going elsewhere.....they're only going to service new stuff on the road. No one now days works on older vehicles.

Van was dying on me and it got more frequent. Changed out the crankshaft sensor, O2 sensor, et. al and car still produced a "Code 13" on the reader and the end results after literally svereal weeks now it was believed to be the ECM. But at least two we've replaced and they go out leading to the PROM as the culprit. Indeed, extremely difficult to locate that one little piece that has the Van immobilized....it's just rediculous.

Need a source for the prom. Been all over the internet, ebay, etc. Thanks

Need a source for a PROM for the '93 van, Computer appears to check out but the prom is bad.

1958 Edsel after sitting for a few days will start up ok but unable to engage any gears. The pushbuttons do not respond. What do I look for and where?<!-- google_ad_section_end -->

That's where we got the cap from; guess that's the only answer for the reservior as well. It is ONLY with ABS that is the problem; w/o ABS readily available. The '92 is different than the '95 and '96. But something as important as retaining brake fluid, I'm having much difficulty "adjusting" to no aftermarket available.

Yep, tried there w/o much success. Guess MC reservoirs for TCs are non-existent.

Unable to locate anywhere the Master Cylinder brake fluid reservoir cap for the 1992 Lincoln Towncar. None at the dealer and none of the aftermarket places like NAPA, AZ, O'Reilly's, etc, carry the cap used with the ABS, the difference being with the ABS there is a connector attached to the plastic cap itself for connecting to some wires that lead into the firewall. Finding it extremely fustrating that this simple part is not readily available. I've been all over the internet. Note: was able to locate a used cap from Lincoln Farm but still unable to locate a NEW cap or the plastic fluid RESERVOIR.

Jim your '58 Mercury, what did you use? I would be interested as well in a dual master cylinder set up for this Premier and since everything is good access in front of the firewall, wouldn't think the task would be too difficult. I see the latest catalog from Kanter shows COMPLETE kits for the '58-'62 Lincolns (but $1099) but only disc brake conversion kits for the wheels for '52-'57 and '63-'66. C/O www.kanter.com catalog page 1.

Well, I was 40 miles away where the car is today and only checked the Parking gear while checking the incident damage; will have to take some chocks over there because you back up about 10' and you immediately hit the hill. But, yes, we need to check that out. The car indeed will not be driven because the RF fender now rubs the RF tire any turning at all and there's just no taking chances again down the driveway hill.

Thanks!

Do the '56 Premiere rear brakes require a hub puller?

This Treadlevac was indeed rebuilt over ten years ago. But at least on the '56 Premiere there is accessibility for changeout unlike on my '55 and '56 Packards where they are a real pain accessed through the floorboard. We'll look into that after we address the rear bumper and right front fender damage after the car rolled unexpectedly on a hill into a tree. Not my car, so I don't know yet why the emergency brake did not work. I know of a number of Packard guys who have abandoned the T/V for something else.

'56 Premiere brakes failed backing up. Was backing up and characteristicly pumped the brakes a few times since the car had not been driven in a few weeks. Brakes seemed ok on level ground for a couple of applications. Master Cylinder fluid full. No signs of vacuum hose leak to power Treadlevac. When the car got onto a slope, it rook of down the hill and no amount of brake pedalling could stop the car and the emergency brake did not work either. Was able to drive the car back up the hill with the brakes seemingly working. Don't understand why, even if a problem with the rear brakes, why the front wouldn't hold the car. This is not my car, so I'm just trying to get some ideas for someone else nearby. Apparently this case of no brakes in reverse happened at least one other time but the car was subsequently driven a number of miles afterward although never put into reverse.

Indeed. Enjoy the Christmas season.

Some of the cylinder head bolts do indeed go into the water jacket. I think the manifold studs do too.

Good question. This engine was rebuilt by the same place AFTER a previous one had the head gasket fail and I know on the second time around that one had sealer applied. Will try to determine that when we get back into this one. It wasn't easy to check on the rebuild because it happened over a period of months off and on at a shop over 40 miles away.

33 of them at 3/8" -16 x 2 3/4"

Oil all drained out. Coolant will be next. Just hope I'll be able to recognize just where the problem originated.

The engine I believe does not have bolts into the water jacket but I will need to confirm that and will do that ASAP. Yes, my Hudson 6-cylinder engine requires 75-80 ft-lbs but the Kaiser/Frazer Service Manual indeed specifies just 35 ft-lbs for this engine. To that I must say that the rear most head bolts (5 of them) are not accessible by a torque wrench and I was unsuccessful in trying to adapt a crows foot, so the 5 bolts at the rear I could not retorque.

Freshly rebuilt carburetor from Kanter and the auto choke does exactly what it is supposed to do. This is the third carburetor on the car over the past two years, but this one we know was rebuilt and if it works anything like it looks, it should be A-OK. Carburetor is a 2-bbl WGD. Got as far as draining the oil this evening and indeed about 1/2 quart of coolant in the oil pan. But the car was not run for more than a moment or so after the catastrophic event occurred. It'll be a while at least before any motion to remove the head. So I've noted everything folks have posted here.

Yes, it is the Continental Motors 226 with Autolite distributor that has been disassembled and the weights/springs addressed. Easy enough to check the tailpipe/muffler and can do that but this car sits in the garage by the house and along wiht other cars and I'm working on it or around it all the time, so it's not like it's just sitting isolated somewhere. The white smoke only appeared this past Saturday, never before and the engine was not run more than a minute or two. I check the radiator often so this happened all at once. Also check the oil often and only today was it appearing dirty and just over the full mark. I will say last week the car would start up instantly and idle very smoothly. The only reason I went to the timing again was because I could not apply a load to the engine and have it run w/o shutting off or at least hesitating and everything else imaginable had been checked and tested and that's all I could come up with. Been doing this for two years now and many things bene done many times.

Thought this was Technical Section. This will be the second one of these engines that very quickly developed a head gasket leak. Head bolts on this engine torqued to just 35 ft-lbs and were done after the rebuild in 2009. No bolts into the water jacket on this one. This coolant leak problem was certainly unexpected while trying to troubleshoot the on again off again running situation. Since the engine has less than 10 miles on it (if that) since the rebuild with all new components, we have not looked at the timing chain. Timing light on the marker on the damper across from the pointer but also when the timing was per specification, the vacuum gauge was in the 18-19" area and the car sounded good, so both those together should have confirmed correct setting. It's the intermittence that is baffling. Even if teeth missing, compression bad, etc. I have no explanation of why one day it would run ok but two days later not so. We have done the TDC thing I don't knw how many times and it's ok for awhile and then goes right back to running poorly. But the head gasket (assumed for now) situation has just put this on hold. It'll be a long time before we get back to this one as we have another car almost identical (but with stick shift) that is running and driving that will now take priority. It needed extreme body work, but having that done, we'll move it to the front. Thanks for the help.