1996 Ford Crown Victoria: check engine light

7 of the 276 complaints about the 1996 Ford Crown Victoria describe check engine light.

owner complaints: 7
of this car's complaints: 3%
recalls: 0

Is there a fix? 19 service bulletins cover this area of the car. See below

Check engine light by model year

2005
1
2004
1
2003
4
2002
2
1999
2
1998
1
1997
2
1996
7
1995
1
1992
1

What owners say

Filed Oct 27, 2015 · Engine, Fuel system · MA

#1 - I constantly have my engine light on and during 2 inspections I received a safety/emissions recall printout, defect # dr-1209 for mass air flow sensors. Both times I have taken it to the local dealer and they claimed there's no recall for it. I just noticed on the federal safety agency site, that recalls only go back as far as 1999. They also said that since it's no longer a "police owned" vehicle, they wouldn't fix it. # 2 - I have been getting a constant severe fuel smell that permeates through the car which is exacerbated with warm weather and or when the car warms up. #3 - there's a constant issue of the car vibrating when being driven at 55 - 60 MPH.

Filed Jul 18, 2006 · Engine · 59,000 miles · IN

I have a 96 ford crown vic I drove it home from work fine with no problems then I drove it to take my son to work it started to overheat there was no indication something was wrong. Then the temp went up and check engine light came on. I have change the thermostat but it still is over heating and water is coming out the exhaust and seems to be spitting out from top of motor. This car has only 59,00 miles on it.

Filed Jul 9, 2002 · TX

The check engine light keeps coming on and dealer can't find problem. I found previous owner and he stated the check engine light constantly came on and his mechanic never found the problem either. It has come on for the 5th time and I have only owned the car less than 4 months!!!!! Previous owner stated that he did not have any engine failures or noticeable problems with the engine running; but the light is infuriating. It is obvious that dealer who sold me the car was aware of the problem and failed to correct it before selling it to me and made no disclosure of the defect to me. It is also obvious that this is a problem with many crown vics after reading previous notices on this site but ford has failed to do anything about it. I'd like to get class action proceedings started against ford...anyone up for it? Contact me at this email address [email protected].

Filed Jul 7, 2001 · Engine · VA

The first time we experienced that anything was wrong was when the yellow engine light on the dashboard show up. We immediately went to nearst ford dealar service dept. (purvis ford in fredericksburg, va. They place the automobile under a diagnosis test and told us they had to replace a mass airflow sensor assy. They told us it was safe to drive the ford car the incident happen to us again and we called the purvis service dept. They had the car tow back to their service shop. They again put the car under the diagnosis computer an after 2 days of having it at their shop told us they could not find any wrong with our car. It now happen to us again on a route 3 going 55 miles an hr.,on heavily traveled road. Now here is the scary part, route 3 is a curvy and winding road. No accident has occurred, as yet. But when it does we could be wrapped around a tree going at 55 miles per. So please help us. We have been dealing a ford dealer by the name of "purvis ford and have had no solution to our problem every time we have left our car with them. We had to pay for a rental every time we leave the car there. "the problem is when are driving the steering wheel locks up and the engine quits". We have had this car serviced every 3000 miles since the day we bought it and we have the records to prove it.

Filed Nov 6, 2000 · Engine · MA

On 10/26/2000, the mass air flow sensor was replaced due to the check engine light coming up and difficulty in starting the vehicle. After the replacement, these problems were solved. However, a new problem appeared. The vehicle stalled without any warning. It happened twice within a 24-hour period. In both incidents, it happened on a slow left turn after exiting an interstate highway. At the same time, the power steering was disabled. This created a major safety hazard since I had minimal control of the vehicle. In fact, I almost hit a lamppost. I contacted the dealer, but they could not identify the cause yet. In fact, they could not even reproduce the problem. I have a feeling that this is due to a defective mass air flow sensor, but the dealer does not agree. The dealer said that they are going to install a flight recorder on the vehicle to further investigate the cause of the problem.

Filed Oct 16, 2000 · Engine, Steering · NC

Whenever the vehicle is in low idle engine would stall. Problem is intermittent & would have no warning. Been to dealership 3 different times & mechanic can not locate cause of problem. Had air flow sensor replaced due to check engine light coming on.

Filed Feb 12, 1997 · CA

Engine warning light illuminated twice.