Description & Operation
The Electronic Instrument Panel is standard on the Continental and Mark VII, and optional on Cougar, Town Car, LTD, Marquis and Thunderbird. On Continental and Mark VII, the system includes digital speedometer, odometer and fuel gauge. On Cougar, LTD, Grand Marquis and Thunderbird, the system includes electronic speedometer, fuel gauge and lamp out warning system. On Town Car, the system includes an electronic speedometer, fuel gauge, message center, keyboard, control module, tone generator and various sensors.
The speedometer is driven by a conventional cable. The cable is attached to a slotted wheel to provide a signal to the optical sensor. It can indicate speed in miles-per-hour or kilometers-per- hour. It also provides a speed reading for vehicles equipped with cruise control.
The fuel gauge, for all models except Continental and Mark VII, displays a bar graph which indicates fuel level. The graph is divided into 32 divisions on Lincoln Town Car (20 on all others) which represent a percentage of fuel in the tank. Fuel pump symbol flashes when fuel level is down to the last division on gauge. The Continental and Mark VII models have a digital readout that indicates the amount of fuel remaining in either gallons or liters. This unit presents a flashing display when fuel level reaches 1/8 of a tank. The Continental and Mark VII digital fuel display is also capable of self diagnosing open and short circuits between the sending unit and digital display.
The message center displays warning for low oil pressure, engine temperature, ammeter, etc. In addition, it has a computer which can calculate fuel consumption, distance traveled, distance to destination, average speed, estimated time of arrival and elapsed time. The message center keyboard is used to enter trip data for computer calculations.
Thunderbird, Cougar, LTD and Marquis models have an optional tripminder that includes a digital clock. Along with month, date and time functions, the tripminder provides displays for miles traveled, average trip speed, instantaneous fuel economy, trip average fuel economy, elapsed time and fuel used. These displays may be selected in either gallons or liters.
The lamp out warning system monitors the headlights, tail lights and brake lights. If a lamp goes out in one of these areas, a change in voltage drop across a special section of the wiring harness provides a signal to the indicator light of the appropriate system.
All sensors used with the electronic instrument panel (except fuel sending unit) are the same as used on conventional systems. Sensor inputs go to the control module and are converted to written messages on the message center.