1979 Town Coupe Steering Wheel Off Center – Light Issues

Hi Bill –
I have a 1979 Lincoln Continental Town Car (Coupe) with a 400 V8. It has 2 issues at the moment that both bother me quite a bit. The first is the steering wheel. It is on at least an 8th turn to the right when I’m driving straight, so I was wondering 2 things about it. One is does it have a clockspring? And if so, would I be able to simply park straight, remove the steering wheel and put it back on straight? The other is does this car have an adjustable drag link? I’m unable to take this car to a garage so I want to try to fix it myself. My other concern is my cornering light. When my headlights are on, my right cornering light is on…..always. When I turn on the left signal, however, it goes off while the left one goes on, and when the signal cancels after the turn and the left one goes off, the right one goes back on? I’ve ran up and down the wires several times and changed the bulb. What could be causing this issue? Thanks
Tanner
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Hello Tanner –
Your steering wheel should be able to be centered by repositioning it as you suggest and the tie rods are adjustable under the vehicle at the steering linkage. This tie rod adjustment should only be performed by a front end shop in order to maintain the critical alignment of the front end geometry. This car does not have a clockspring.
The cornering lights should only operate with the light switch in the on position. The power to the cornering light bulbs originates at the turn signal switch when it is activated and if all of your car’s wiring appears intact this sw. could be your problem. To prove this out you should unplug the turn signal connector while the cornering light is on when it should in fact be off (as you describe). If it goes off when the sw. is unplugged it would then appear that the ts. sw. has an internal short and would need to be replaced. After you check this out contact us as we have these available if needed.
Sincerely,
Bill