Lincoln/Mercury Repair: 98 Lincoln Contintenal Check Transmission, contintenal, free diagnosis

Question
Hello and thank you! I have just purchased a 1998 lincoln contintenal with 115,000 miles, this baby is a beauty but after the engine warms up, the check transmission light comes on and the service engine soon light. I brought it back to the dealer and they ran a diagnostic test which they say, came up clean. The car runs beautifully without any evidence of transmission problems. Would they lie? What could it be? Thank you for any help you can offer.

Answer
Hi Cyndi,

I just love these cars. I was originally from New Hampshire and you can't live without front wheel drive luxury! Ok, have you heard the term "where there's smoke..." The check engine and check transmission lights come on when the onboard computer sees a problem. What too many shops will do is clear the codes and drive it a short distance and say "looks ok". When in reality the computer has to see the failure 5 times before it sets a diagnostic trouble code and turns on the warning lights. I will bet when you got it back the lights were out. When the warning lights come back on, I suggest you take it to a Cottman Transmission shop for a free diagnosis. They will scan for codes and then ask them for the code numbers. Resubmit to me what the code numbers are and I will tell you what is going on. These codes are meant to be an early warning sign and ignoring them will end up costing you a lot of money. They use to be "idiot" lights and come on when it was too late. Hope this helps. What color is your car? Lincoln has the finest cars on the road today.