anybody have experience with this car? There is a 2000 ls for sale locally for what I think is a good price from what I researched on ebay and a couple other websites. Price is $4,000 obo and it has 70,000 miles. v8,3.9 engine,never heard of this one,is this a good,reliable engine? how is in the power department? thanks for any tips/suggestions.

 

Wow, that sounds like a deal. I noticed you are in the Midwest, does it have rust?

 

The only issues I've read or heard about with the 3.9L version is coil packs go out (8 of them), and window regulators. And if it has a loud droning noise and gets louder the faster you go it will need new halfshafts. They are worth $4000-$5000 depending on condition. I think it was the Jaguar s-type uses the same chassis.

 

haven't went to look at it yet,was looking for some opinions to see if they are good cars before I spend the time.

 

I have a 2004 LS V8 I bought used with 14,000 on it in 2005. I now have about 93,000. Be warned, I can be a whiner.

In one sentence, this car may have talked me out of buying Fords and definitely won't buy another Lincoln.

But to be fair, You are going to get the most responses from people with problems. Most people who are happy won't tell you.

For more detailed info goto ... Lincoln LS - Lincoln vs Cadillac

I had a 1996 Chebby Impala SS prior to this and an 89SHO before that and many other cars too. I would say the SHO was probably my worst problem car with the Lincoln coming next. Impala was somewhat better than average. I think the issue with the LS and SHO is that the engines are "Exotic", ie not normal engines and foreign based. The SHO was a Yammihopper and the LS engine shares common parts with the Jaguar and many parts, especially plastic coolin parts are made in the UK. In my opinion exotic engines cost too much for parts are are finicky thins.

Power wise, I believe the Impala would dust the LS off the line but the LS picks up at freeway speed. The LS IS NOT a Ricky Racer car. You will get dusted by some cheap imports and common mustangs etc. The LS V8 is about a 15 second car stock.

I liked my Impala much better and it had some nicer features than the LS. And it was bigger and more comfortable on long rides.

The good thing is the LS value drops like a rock so now it is cheap.

There was a significant power boost in 2003. Earlier V8s had something like 260hp. The 2003+ had 280. The cooling system is bizzare on this car, but pre 2003 were even stranger with hydraulically driven cooling fans.

My general opinion is this car has too many gee whiz design tricks and gizmos and so it is not as reliable as I would like.

V6s appear to be more reliable than the V8.

All model V8s appear to have coil failure sooner or later and if off warranty it can get expensive. It is often hard to diagnose a bad coil. My car was in the shop for 2 weeks as they changed one coil after another. Thankfully mine was under warranty. There is currently a program in place to replace bad coils up to certain age and miles. Older models like 2003- also had lots of problems with leaky valve cover gaskets which killed the coil. A problem is if they can't find the problem, guess who pays for diagnosis?

The following problems I had since I bought it used with 14000 miles...

Minor tranny rebuild 15,000 miles. A common problem with automatic. Fixed under customer satisfaction program.

Coils as mentioned.

Right front wheel bearing, 30,000 miles? Warranty. Lots of people with this and repeaters.
Differential pinion seal replacement. Warranty.

ABS error message, warranty. COMMON PROBLEM

Replaced broken seat back covers 2 of them. Broken center console face plate.
Replaced grille due to bubbling chrome plate. Warranty.

AFTER WARRANTY...

Replaced 2 front rotors. This car goes thru brakes or at least I do.

A grinding noise from differential since 50,000 miles. I suspect pinion bearing, gee didn't they do a service on that after I bought it? One of these days I will probably tear it down and fix it. BTW used diffs are $2-3,000 I have heard.

Maybe also a grinding sound from one of the rear axles/bearings.

Replaced Water outlet pipe and radiator hose. THese parts cost something like $170+ together. Plastic pos's. Other plastic cooling system parts are suspect. The plastic looks kind of brown and brittle where they contact hot water. Why in the heck is there a plastic Y in the middle of a simple rubber radiator hose? You cannot just replace the Y or the rubber, all one expensive assembly.

Need to replace cracked coolant bottle, about $120 in parts. COMMON PROBLEM

Need to fix or replace the dual climate control water valve that controls water flow to twin heater coils. About $150 in parts. All I get is hot air right now. Better fix it before summer. This is a COMMON PROBLEM.

Oh, and soon I think I will need to replace the thermostat, since I have intermittant HOT engine temps but OK water and it goes away if I turn it off a few minutes. I have the T stat, what a weird design. It is two piece and you need to put it together inside the housing. Costs I think $80, for a Tstat for pete's sake.

Need to replace antenna cable due to loose crimp at antenna end.

I probably missed a few minor ones.

One of the guys on the website mentioned always says " If you can't afford the maintenance, you shouldn't buy the car". I always felt like if the car requires more maintenance than usual, you shouldn't buy the car.

Like I said I won't buy another Lincoln, any model. But many of the guys on the website love their cars. I am seriously thinking Hyundai or Chebby econo car next time with 100,000 mile warranties.

ON the plus side, the engine has been relatively reliable except for the issue with the coils. One thing I don't have enough miles yet is that the timing chain tensioner tends to fail after say about 120,000. But many people don't have that failure.

Ths LS is also a very safe car per NHTSA etc. The Advancetrac stability control is very good in my experience. Note that the Advancetrac is an option. Traction Control is standard. The Advancetrac button is in the center console with a car and skid marks. The Traction Control is in the overhead and looks like a wheel with skid marks.

Just my opinion,

Jim Henderson

 

By the way 2006 models can be had very cheap and even 2004's are well below $10000. Check the autotrader prices for your area.

Jim Henderson

 

We have a 2000 LS with the V6 engine. We keep it at our camp in Michigan so we don't have to rent a car when we fly there. We bought it mostly out of convenience. A friend in Illinois was selling it and we needed a car.

What I like about it is the memory seats and steering column and the rain sense wipers. Though I think the sensor on the wipers may be giving out. It has plenty of room for four adults to ride very comfortably. The seats are very comfortable and the trunk size is very adequate.

What I don't like about it is the DIC is much less sophicated than GM vehicles. For instance the driver's seat slides all the way back when you remove the key from the ignition. Nice feature for a long leg's like me. But the downside is that the front seat crushes your rear passenger. I have to ask a rear passenger behind me to get out of the car before I take out the key. You can't edit the DIC to stop this from happening. The manual says you have to return it to the dealer to make that edit.

The V6 engine has plenty of power for the kind of day trips we use it for. Even with four adults. It gets around 26 mpg.

 

thanks for the replies,maybe i will hold out for a 4.6 thunderbird/cougar or lincoln town car/crown vic.

 

i would hold out fot the 4.6 t-bird or crown vic.
cheap to maintain, and can be bought cheap due to their "gas guzzler" history.
if driven properly, 26-30 mpg is easily attainable on the highway.

 

to bad you weren't here today whilst i was doing the rear brakes on my 95 bird ..... it was one of those simple things that kept costing me more and more and aggravating me to the nth degree !!!!!!!!!!!! i'da sold her real cheap a couple of times today !!!!!!!Attachment 23557

 

If you sell real cheap,I'll buy real cheap!!

 

I'd love ot find a 4.6 T-bird. Those were good cars. They are next to impossible to find in my area now.

 

don't know where your from racer , but they're quite abundant here . working on a deal for another one a black 96 . kids having issues with a couple of things . may be getting it real cheap .... as in i'll steal it . $100 bucks type of stealing . i only paid $200 for the one in the pic .......problem 'round here is most of them are starting to rust out badly if they weren't looked after . mine is super clean save for some dents , and the other one im scoping out is the same way .

 

One of the coolest things about t he birds / cougars is that they shared the drive trains with the Lincolns. These drive trains are very expensive to produce so the lincoln owners absorbed the brunt of the costs. I loved my '95 T-bird 4.6L. It was a camelian (sp) blue that would flip flop in the light, very pretty. Ford just couldn't keep paint on her and when the did, the flip flop stopped. So, they had to paint her all over again. After the third complete repaint and over 45 days of body shop time, I gave up and bought my Taurus. Best car I've ever owned which brings me to my real point. Why buy a lincoln platform that has known issues when there are many other Ford / Mercury products that will do the same job with less hassles?

 

i won't pay 4,000 for anything i drive unless it's an old ford truck or car . the wife gets a new one every few , but not me . i'm a tight **** ! i wait and find something that , as mentioned before has " issues " that i know and can repair . the garnett red bird i know have 1,200 in , but that's because it has become another "project " along with the 53 and 52 .i had a 91 bird with a 5.0 given to me , and with some diligence and patch panels it could have easily been repaired and made a driver for nothing . just watch wait and listen , you'd be surprised what can pop up for nothing in outlay , and make you a sweet ride . her's a case in point : i just found a 96 lincoln mark 8 , with the 4 valve 4.6 , all aluminum rear irs , driveshaft , etc, air bagged suspension . black w/ tan int . it's wrecked in the left front fender and grille . no damage to the understructure . haven't caught the kid yet . yes it does run and drive , but the exhaust needs replaced . his girlfreind say's he want's 400 dollars for it ! i want it for the parts it can donate to my bird . as i say they are out there !!!!!!!!