1962 Lincoln Mercury Trouble Shooting Handbook Diagnosis Manual Reprint

This is a page-for page reproduction of a book written by Lincoln-Mercury for mechanics at the dealer.

You get a list of symptoms.  Each symptom has its own page (or a few pages) with a diagnostic flow chart followed by notes.  The tree does not give you instructions for performing repairs after diagnosis.  You are referred to the shop manual for repair instructions.

• 1. Brakes:  chatter, drag, fade, grabbing, parking brake failure, pedal action, pulling to one side, noise, and wheel lock
  2. Steering:  quick checks, road test, abnormal or irregular tire wear, excessive steering effort, rough ride, leads to one side, noise, sag at one wheel, shimmy or vibration, side to side wander, power steering power loss, power steering oil leakage
  3. Engine: poor acceleration, compression loss, coolant loss, overheating, excessive fuel consumption, rough idle, inconsistent idle speed, misfiring, noise complaints, oil consumption, poor high speed performance, engine sluggish at low speeds, overall power loss, stalling when cold or hot, starts but fails to keep running, stalling when starting out or decelerating, hard start, non-start, and surging
  4. Clutch and standard transmission:  chatter, drags, noises (when engine stopped, when floored, outside of free travel), slippage, road test, jumping out of gear, leaking oil, noisy, hard shift
  5. Overdrive transmission:  road test, control handle clearance, control lever position, pawl engagement, governor circuit, solenoid circuit, interruptor circuit
  6. Electrical system:  alternator charging system, low battery charge (with many options as to which devices are on or not), noisy generator, gauges max out or go low at ignition, some gauges functioning and others not, erratic gauge indicator, dome and courtesy lamps off, headlamps (just one, just highbeams or lowbeams, all, or premature burnout), horn fails or is intermittent, instrument panel lights fail, parking lamps (one or both fail), rear lamps (one or all) fail, speedometer (inoperative, noisy, sticking, or inaccurate), starter (failure or inadequacy), turn signals (one fails, all fail, or premature turning off)
  7. Accessories
  1. Air conditioning: insufficient, low or high discharge pressure, low suction pressure, high suction pressure, no blower operation
  2. Automatic headlight dimmer: tips, preliminary checks, locked on low or high beam, no override
  3. Cigar lighter:  inoperative or premature release
  4. Heater: no heat, insufficient, no blower, blower only at certain speeds
  5. Power antenna:  inoperative, intermittent, operates in one direction, poor radio reception
  6. Radio: no reception, noisy reception, distorted sound, weak reception
  7. Speed control:  blown fuse, non-responsive, constant pressure regardless of setting, pulsating accelerator pedal, speedometer does not register, speedometer noise
  8. Windshield washers and wipers:  electric or vacuum, washer inoperative, wipers inoperative, wipers arms move out and stop.
  8. Body: 
  1. Lincoln rear door window lowering system: operation, description, window up and down cycles, troubleshooting, adjustments, and switches
  2. Lincoln convertible top:  operation, description, retract and erect cycles, troubleshooting, emergency procedures, adjustments, limit switches, and mechanical
  3. Mercury convertible top:  no pump motor operation, top does not rise from the stacked position, sluggish action, uneven sides operation, side rail misfit, top can’t be latched
  4. Power seats: motor not working, seat not working but motor ok, seat will not move in one direction.
  5. Power windows: one or all windows don’t work, windows only work one direction, master switch operation
  6. Lincoln rear door open warning system:  description, troubleshooting, lamp does not light or flash, or lights too much
  7. Water and dust leaks: visual inspection, water test, powder test

These sections are often just a single page of step-by-step instructions without diagnostic trees:

• tire wear:  explanations for underinflation, overinflation, toe-in, toe-out, camber, cornering, cup, and flat spot wear
• suspension: written paragraphs explaining how suspension issues overlap with other problems
• rear axle and driveline: written descriptions of road testing, and troubleshooting external noises or rear axle assembly noise, along with vibration and backlash
• exhaust:  diagnosing vibration

Each page has a watermark in the background (see sample images). New condition. Find out the best way to diagnose your car.