Good garage in the Huntsville/Madison area for my problem. (Lincoln: home, floor)

[Conner97]

I drive a 1987 Lincoln Town car and unknowingly put the car into a gear other than drive and drove to work (the gears aren’t what they say when you shift them and I forgot about that). Not sure what gear it actually was since I was able to get to around 35mph before it started to sound like it was running hard. I even reached speeds of around 50mph without much resistance but a harsher sound. After work, I was driving home at around 40mph and thin smoke came from vents on top of the dashboard that are closer to the windshield wipers. It wasn’t like normal smoke, but similar to fumes you see when a fuse is blown and not much of a smell to it either. I pulled over and looked under the hood and it wasn’t even hot under there. When I got back in the car, that’s when I realized I hadn’t been in drive all this time and the ride home was smooth and smokeless.

This morning it drove fine, but when I got on the parkway, that thin smoke started coming from the dash again. Does anyone know what this could be or what could have happened. Do you think that driving out of gear is related to the smoke or two problems just occurred at once and they’re unrelated since it’s a 33 year old car. All Interior lights also stopped working a week before all of this so maybe the thin smoke is caused by electric issues?

[dijkstra]

Sounds coincidental to me. It sounds more like you have an electrical short and insulation is melting off of some wiring or a component is going bad....perhaps the radio.

[Conner97]

Originally Posted by dijkstra

Sounds coincidental to me. It sounds more like you have an electrical short and insulation is melting off of some wiring or a component is going bad....perhaps the radio.

Thanks, I’ll try and drive it with the radio off and see what happens.

[harry chickpea]

Agree that it is coincidental and electrical, possibly rodent related. Mouse. Chew chew chew. Zap!

[Conner97]

Originally Posted by harry chickpea

Agree that it is coincidental and electrical, possibly rodent related. Mouse. Chew chew chew. Zap!

Oh boy! I did a duty for the household huh?

[nalabama]

For anything electrical, I use the shop at the top of the hill on Washington Street between Pratt Avenue and Oakwood and across the street from the the Battery Shop. Owner’s name is Dale.

[Conner97]

Originally Posted by nalabama

For anything electrical, I use the shop at the top of the hill on Washington Street between Pratt Avenue and Oakwood and across the street from the the Battery Shop. Owner’s name is Dale.

Thanks for the tip.

[demtion35]

You would know if it was electrical, as anything electrical has a very distinct odor.

[Conner97]

Originally Posted by demtion35

You would know if it was electrical, as anything electrical has a very distinct odor.

It’s real thin, almost like steam and doesn’t have much of a smell.

[demtion35]

Originally Posted by Conner97

It’s real thin, almost like steam and doesn’t have much of a smell.

radiator fluid smell when hot is distinct odor, like when engine is overheated and full of steam, there is that hot radiator smell, so it is not that,

oil smell has a distinct odor, like when the engine has oil dripped onto a hot pipe or section, after for example after an oil change, sometimes a bit of oil will be dripped on the hot manifold, that has a very distinct odor,

tranny fluid has a distinct odor as well, especially when the tranny is hot and or overworked, you may get that hot tranny oil smell very noticeable. It also has a very distinct odor, so it sounds like it is not that either,

The other thing to maybe check, is what was the humidity like at that time of day or morning? Was a warmer day or morning with high humid?, or was it cooler out with humid? Sometimes when it is humid and on the cooler side, when starting the engine, and having the defroster on will get a sort of damp type of smell. Also that may have a part to play in an engine running rough at first when there is a lot of humid in the air. Sometimes turning on the heat can cause some sort of heat type smell , not much just a bit, if the air conditions are correct.

I would say it is not a rodent nest, or not burnt wiring, as you would it seems for sure be able to identify those odors, the rodent nest would more than likely smell like burnt grass smell. And as we know, electric smell as in wiring has a electric smell and or burnt plastic or rubber type of smell.

What was the atmosphere conditions like when incident was happening> Perhaps raining with high humidity and defrosters on?

It could also be perhaps a crack in the head, or manifold and some radiator fluid is getting in there. If you can put some cardboard down on the floor for several days and see if any drip spots occor after the car has been parked, start with a clean piece of cardboard and then you can see if anything is dripping or not.