1997 Town Car Start Up Problems

Dear Bill,
My question concerns startup problems. Recently, after sitting overnight or even for an hour or two, My 1997 Lincoln Town Car is very sluggish, a lot of hesitation as I try to accelerate. After a period of warm-up it goes away and seems fine. This problem is ongoing. Maybe related, one time after driving about 400 miles to Baltimore the car all of a sudden shut down in heavy stall and crawl traffic. It started right up again and has not done this since. I am a bit reluctant to take it on long trips now with these carb issues. Any thoughts?
Thanks so much,
Jim
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Jim –
Without knowing the mileage on your car or any history of what service you have done to it so far, I would advise first to consider the normal maintenance items such as spark plugs, wiring, air filter and fuel filter etc. If the above is in good order the next step is to have a technician try to pull a diagnostic code from the car’s computer. The engine management on the 97 is a fairly sophisticated computerized system and will store problem codes to be retieved by a code reader. I understand that many local Autoparts Stores will retrieve codes for customers at no charge with their code readers but all of the stores do not have experienced employees. All Lincoln dealers should have the latest equipment with trained employees. Accurate and timely diagnosis in these cases always proves to be more than half the battle! Again though I strongly advise to first make sure that the basic tune up items are in good order. Please keep us posted with the results.
Good luck –
Bill