The contact owns a 1979 Lincoln Continental. The contact stated while the vehicle was parked and turned off, there was smoke coming from the vehicle. The contact stated that the rear end near the driver's side of the vehicle had caught on fire. The vehicle was extinguished by the Fire Department. A fire report was filed, and a fire report number was provided; however, the cause for the failure was not yet determined. A Police report was not filed. No injuries were sustained. The dealer was not contacted. The vehicle was not diagnosed or repaired. The vehicle was towed to an impound lot. The manufacturer was not made aware of the failure. The failure mileage was approximately 137,070. The VIN was invalid.
Lincoln Continental fire or smoke problems
36 of the 1,387 owner complaints about the Lincoln Continental describe fire, smoke or burning smell, most of them for the 1991 model year.
- owner complaints
- 36
- worst model year
- 1991
- typical mileage
- 120,000
Is there a fix? No recall or service bulletin covers this area of the car yet.
By model year
Often reported together
Power steering loss 1Screen failure 1Headlights 1Fuel leak 1Engine failure 1Airbag light 1
What owners say
Tl* the contact owns a 2000 lincoln continental. The contact stated that smoke emitted from under the hood while the vehicle was parked. The contact attempted to open the hood to inspect the vehicle and found that the engine was on fire. The fire department was called to assist. The manufacturer was not made aware of the failure. The vehicle was not inspected to determine the cause of the failure. The VIN was not available. The approximate failure and current mileage was 106,000.
After driving for 200 miles the right electric radiator cooling fan caught on fire and had to be put out.
My car caught on fire under the hood and had to be junked.
While driving, the consumer saw smoke coming from under the steering column. The driver pulled over and let the vehicle cool down. The vehicle was taken to the dealer who could not find a problem. Please provide further details.
I purchased a 1990 lincoln continental in december 2002, and noticed that driving on the highway, the engine revs very high and the transmission does not engage the overdrive. I also noticed that shifting from reverse to drive or drive to rverse, there is a delay in the transmission engaging the appropriate gear. Before I decided to take my car to a dealer to get the transmission repaired, I checked the fluid to ensure that the level was correct, and to check the color of the transmission fluid. Both were found to be in good order. Then I checked www.alldata.com and found that ford was aware of the transmission problems through a check of the following service bulletins: atratb331; atratb267; 94247; atratb029; and 89225. Because of the service bulletins mentioned above, ford was aware of the problems and failed to take corrective actions. As a consumer, I would like ford to correct the problem with the transmission at no cost to myself. The other problem is the engine cooling fan. On 12 december 2002 while sitting in traffic, I noticed smoke coming from under the hood and smelled wires burning. I pulled over in a parking lot of a shopping center right when the computer signaled that the engine temperature was higher than normal. I turned the engine off and open the hood to look for the burned wired. The electric engine fan had seized up and started to melt the wires. The fuse had failed to blow, and I had to unplug the fan from the wiring harness to keep the wires from burning more.
Without warning the vehicle caught on fire while parked. *nlm
The heated seat caught on fire. *jb scc
While driving, noticed smoke coming from under the hood. Driver pulled over/ popped hood, and saw wires burning. Driver felt this was unsafe because there was no smoke coming from underhood. *ak
Emperature needle goes to hot, and consumer can smell coolant/ white smoke coming from exhaust. Took vehicle to dealer, and they said they did not machine the gaskets. Any kind of heat will warp gaskets. Consumer felt dealer should have machined the gaskets before, and they wsould not have not warped that soon. Please provide any further infomation.
Related recalls
No recalls on record for this model year.
Questions about the Lincoln Continental fire or smoke
Which Lincoln Continental years have fire, smoke or burning smell problems?
The model years with the most reports are 1991 (10 complaints), 1990 (8 complaints) and 1994 (4 complaints).
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