As I was backing the car up the tie rod/steering assembly disengaged (unscrewed) from the rack&pinyon (passenger side) causing loss of steering. The tie rod I stress again unscrewed from the rack. I was fortunate this took place at a slow speed. I feel that if this occurred at highway speeds it could have resulted in a serious or fatal crash. My mechanic replaced the tie rods on both sides with new ones and I have the old part on hand. Looks like the safety pin that holds the tie rod to the rack wore and allowed the tie rod to unscrew its self from the rack.
Lincoln Continental power steering loss problems
12 of the 1,387 owner complaints about the Lincoln Continental describe loss of power steering, most of them for the 1997 model year.
- owner complaints
- 12
- worst model year
- 1997
Is there a fix? No recall or service bulletin covers this area of the car yet.
By model year
- 20001
- 19981
- 19973
- 19941
- 19931
- 19921
- 19912
- 19902
Often reported together
What owners say
Power steering failure, motor mount failure, head gasket leak and the transmission seals leak. Car has 75000 miles.
While driving struts/ shocks went out, causing levelers not to work properly. Vehicle would pull to the right, and steering became very hard. Had taken to dealership, and mechanic indicated rear shocks/struts would need to be replaced as soon as possible.
Steering wheel continued turning left, unassisted, instead of returning to tdc when grip pressure on the steering wheel is relaxed. Examination determined corrosion had created a hole in the left rear corner cowel panel in spit of rust undercoating. Additional rust covered an area of the underbody. Advise that the reason the loss of steering control was attributed to the corrosion damaged left rear corner cowell panel causing the engine to lurch to the left when making a 90 degree left turn.
While starting vehicle dashboard indication lights/ air conditioner/ radio, and power windows worked intermittently due to an electrical short. After turning vehicle off and restarting, all function returned to normal. Dealer has been contacted. *ak there was no lights at dashboard and no auto lamp. The power window and A/C failed. Am radio was inoperative. The power steering was very hard to turn.
While in "reverse only" power steering assist "sometimes" is lost. If I stop, turn off the ignition, restart and go forward the problem goes away. The dealer has tried several times to fix the problem to no avail.
My car has stalled on me and others at least 15 times .I have stalled in intersections .I have no steering or brakes when this happenes. The dealer has had many many times to fix the car and has not. We have asked for a lincoln rep and have been refused. I was almost killed in this car and I am getting no help. The dealer will not help. Ford will not talk to us. Someone needs to help before there is a death from this car.
While the vehicle was parked the horn started blowing for no apparent reason. The dealer/manufacturer are aware of the problem. The problem has not been corrected. The motor stopped no power steering, no power brakes. Also the lights went out completely. The vehicle has been in the shop 5 times for this problem. Owner has not driven the vehicle since.
The consumer has experienced a problem with power steering. While driving heard a pop, power steering went out, and vehicle caught on fire. The fire department had to put the fire out. The manufacturer has yet to be contacted.
Power steering failure.
Related recalls
No recalls on record for this model year.
Questions about the Lincoln Continental power steering loss
Which Lincoln Continental years have loss of power steering problems?
The model years with the most reports are 1997 (3 complaints), 1990 (2 complaints) and 1991 (2 complaints).
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