How to change car battery without lossing radio memory

You will probably have to set up the stations again as they will all be wiped from memory when you change the battery. Manually tune the radio to the station you want. Then press and hold the button you want for that station until you hear a chirp. That station and button are done

Hi,

Here is the link to the owners manual which you can download if you wish:

http://owner.ford.com/servlet/ContentServer?pagename=Owner/Page/OwnerGuidePage&year=1996&make=Lincoln&model=Continental

Here/below are the specific instructions on the radio programming (pg. 159 of above link).

Good luck & please flag if "HELPFUL". Thanks!

(from section) Luxury Audio System

Selecting the AM or FM frequency band

Push the "AM" or "FM1/FM2" button to select the desired frequency band. Pushing the "FM1/FM2" button more than once will alternate between FM1 and FM2. These functions are used with the station memory buttons described under How to tune radio stations.

HOW to tune radio stations

There are four ways for you to tune in a particular station. You can use the "TUNE", "SEEK", 'SCAN"or memory buttons.

• Using the "TUNE" function: You can change the frequency up or down one increment at a time by Pressing and releasing either the left (< arrow/up) or - right (> arrow/down) side of the "TUNE" or "TUNE DISCS" button. To change frequencies quickly, press and hold down either the right or left side of the button.

Manual tuning adjusts your radio to any allowable broadcast frequency, whether or not a station is present on that frequency. (See All About Radio Frequencies in this section.)

• Using the "SEEK" function: Press the right *) side of the "SEEK" button to select the next listenable station up the frequency band. Press the left (.4) side of the button to select the next listenable station down the frequency band. By holding the button down, listenable stations can be passed over to reach the desired station. Pressing the "SCAN" button will begin the scan mode up the frequency band, stopping on each listenable station for approximately five seconds. To stop the scan mode on the presently sampled station, press the "SCAN" button again.

Setting the station MEMORY PRESET buttons: Your radio is equipped with 6 station memory buttons. These buttons can be used to select up to 6 preset AM stations and 12 FM stations (6 in FMI and 6 in FM2)

1. Select a band, then select a frequency.

2. Press one of the memory buttons and hold until the sound returns and the lamp above the memory button lights up. That
memory button is now set.

3. Follow the above steps for each memory preset button.

NOTE: Custom memory presets can be recalled using the keyless entry system. See Memory Profile System in the Features chapter.

Using the Automatic Memory Store feature ("AUTOSET"): If the memory buttons have been set, either by using the Auto Memory Load feature or if you have set them manually, the system is prepared tolet you use a convenient feature called Automatic Memory Store.

With Auto Memory Store, you can continually set strong stations into your memory buttons without losing your originally set stations. Your radio will automatically set your memory buttons to the strong local stations.

Activate Auto Memory Store by pushing the "AUTOSET" button once. Your radio will set the first six strong stations of the band you are in (AM, FMI or FM2) into the memory buttons. The display will flash "AUTO" and display the autoset icon "A" while the stations are being set in the memory buttons.

NOTE: If there are less than six strong stations in the frequency band, the remaining unfilled buttons will store the last strong station detected on the band. After all stations have been filled, the radio will begin playing the station stored on memory button 1.

To deactivate the Auto Memory Store mode and return to the manually-set memory button stations, simply push the "AUTOSET" button. Display will show "AUTO" then "OFF". The next time Auto Memory Store is activated on that band, the radio will store the next set of six strong stations.

1. Connect the FM antenna and the AM loopantenna at the back of the unit. Rotate the AM loop for better reception.
2. Press AM/FM.
3. Tune a station by pressing TUNER+/-repeatedly until the desired station is found.Alternatively, you can press and hold thesame buttons down for about one second toactivate the automatic search function. Inthis mode the unit will automatically tunefrequencies until it finds a station.
4. Repeat step 3 to tune to another radio station.
5. Press AM/FMto select between FM and AM.Storing Radio Stations

The unit can store up to 40 radio stations (30 preset stations for FM and 10 preset stations for AM) in its memory. You can enter every single radio station yourself or the unit can store all available radio stations automatically in ascending order

Automatic Preset Programming
1. Press AM/FM to enter the AM/FM mode.
2. Press and hold AM/FM for two seconds to start automatic preset programming.
3. Radio frequencies will be browsed and radiostations stored automatically. When all the available radio stations are stored or all 40(30 preset stations for FM and 10 preset stations for AM) memory locations are full,the auto preset programming function will stop.

Manual Preset
1. Tune to a radio station (see "Manual tuning"for details).
2. Press MEMORY. While the Program Preset number is still flashing, input your desired preset number using the numeric buttons or press CH+/-, then press MEMORY to store it.

Retrieving Preset Stations
1. Press AM/FM to enter the Tuner mode.
2. Press CH +/- to search up or down for thepreset stations or directly press the numeric buttons.

It is supposed to change the radio settings to what ever was programmed at the time the program was set. Your van has settings that can be programmed to personalize more than just the seat. It stores the programmed radio station the seat settings and on some vans that have the power tilt steering it changes that too. If you do not want it change the radio settings you will need to store a new setup for the number that you use with the radio station you want.

it sounds like the memory wire isnt connected to the correct position the memory wire on the stereo needs to go to b+ also a faulty battery can cause this even if the battery can still start the car. an auto electrician should be able to test the battery for free to eliminate that as the problem