I recently bought a 2007 Lincoln MKX AWD with the 3.5L Duratec engine and about 113,000 miles on it. If you are not familiar, it is essentially a Ford Escape with more fancy stuff added on. I bought it cheap knowing it needs some major engine work. I bought it as a project and a spare vehicle as my oldest son has his temps now. I know these engines are infamous for their internal water pump which can leak coolant into the oil pan and is my guess for the problem. The engine oil definitely has a lot of coolant in it though! What is holding me off from jumping right into that is the back story... The car belonged to father of the lady I bought it from. He is in the early stages of dementia and can no longer drive so they are selling his vehicles. She told me he was driving it when it over-heated and he had it towed to a local Ford dealer. She said the Ford dealer told them it would need head gaskets or a new engine and would cost $5,000.00 to fix. She isn't a car person and does not have anything from the dealer, so what they told her and what she remembers / said may not be exactly the same. I don't think she was lying to me at all; she was just telling me what she heard and what she remembers them saying. If it was an independent shop I would probably go ahead tearing into the water pump, but if it went to a Ford dealer I would think they'd be intimately familiar with the water pump issue.

I'm wondering what tests I can or should do, things to look for, etc. Also, the car runs and can be started for a short time if needed.