1993 Ford Crown Victoria LX from North America - Comments

Check engine light came on about 6 months ago and has not went out since, but does not affect the performance of the car in any way. Probably just another useless sensor of some kind :)

Muffler is starting to rust just a little bit.

This is the best car I have ever owned. It is very reliable and handles perfectly for its size.

Interior is soft, but very firm and comfortable.

I do get teased occasionally for driving a "granny car" (because I'm 23 I guess) but I never get tired of people getting out of my way on the interstates when I fly up on them!!!

I just wanted to say that I recently bought a '94 Crown Vic and its check engine light stays on all the time too. At first I thought it was the ERG valve, but it turns out that the transmission control switch was the problem. You might want to check that out.

The check engine light was on in my '93 LX for several months. It had bad valve chatter on heavy acceleration and recently on even light acceleration. I figured it was valve stem seals. I started tearing into it and found a couple of things to look at before going to the shop.

1) Replace the Mass Air Flow sensor near the air cleaner box. You'll be amazed at the increase in performance.

2) Take off the air box on top of the engine that say V8 on it. Now look at the throttle body. Does it need cleaned? It is easy to take off - 4 bolts and accelerator linkage. General parts cleaner or brake cleaner works pretty good.

3) If you feel ambitious take off the aluminum snorkel tube that runs down into the intake manifold. Here is the real culprit. Once you have the snorkel off you'll see your next to the EGR valve. When you remove the snorkel and gasket you'll see a hole that goes into the intake and along the perimeter of the hole you'll see a trough that allows the exhaust gasses from the EGR valve to flow back into the intake manifold to be mixed with fresh air. More than likely this trough is filled with carbon or black suit from the exhaust that needs to be cleaned out.

The oxygen sensor is connected to the exhaust pipes and sends the computer a signal to open the EGR valve. When the EGR valve opens the intake manifold creates a vacuum to suck in the exhaust gasses. When this is partially clogged the computer becomes confused and sends a signal that EGR flow is restricted or malfunctioning, hence the check engine light comes on.

It is quite simple to clean and reassemble the components. It took me a little while to build up the nerve to do it, but now I know it can be taken off, cleaned and put back together in an hour or less. While you are back there you should change out the DPFE sensor too. The hardest part is reconnecting the tube underneath, but just look at how it goes together and you'll be fine.

I had problems with my check engine light, it would start to flicker or go off then my car would die when you attempted to take off. The problem was the EEC power supply module, along with spark plugs and wires.