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Buying a Used Lincoln LS
Hey guys, Well iam looking to purchase a used 2003 or 2004 lincoln LS. Iam looking to get the 3.0L v6 to save some gas money but I heard that the 3.0L v6 experiances more problems then the 3.6L v8, could this be true?
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Would you guys mind providing your opinions? Thanks!
Consider making an offer on the car. You would not go the full asking price, but after you do your homework you could consider making an offer.
I passed up a stick shift 2000 with 90K for $7K and have been kicking myself ever since. Your 2001 is a better car, without the 2000's startup problems. But for that kind of money it must be in good cosmetic and mechanical shape. There is no room $$-wise to put in more money AFTER purchase. Carfax and Autocheck are obvious must-haves as a precursor to your purchase. Get the dealer to pay for them if you can.
Good luck.
The V8 tends to have "issues" with the valve cover gaskets and/or COP's (coil-on-plug); one appears to be associated with the other. Either way, I haven't heard of it on the 6.
The '03 & later cars have a lot of nice little touches mine doesn't have. Hope you enjoy yours, if you get one.
Actually it's a 3.9L and while the block is a Jaguar AJV8 the pistons, heads, intake etc. are unique to Lincoln. It's an unbelievably smooth engine but as Steve noted it is prone to leaking valve cover gaskets and COP failures.
The only downside to the V6 is that it's not available with the Sport package (unless you're in Canada).
But the V6 most certainly IS available with the sport package. In fact in the first 3 years, it was available with a sport package which could have an auto-stick or what is known as a "stick shift" transmission with an actual clutch. I dont think you'll EVER see that in a Lincoln again.
If you're talking later years, the V6 may have been dropped from the sports package, I dunno. In 2006 I believe, the V6 was dropped altogether and only V8 LSes were built.
The sport and base packages were available on both V6 and V8 models for 00-02 including a manual for the V6. They planned the same packages (minus the manual) for the 03 models but the dealers complained about too many unique models so they only made base V6 models and sport V8 models for 03-05 and then they dropped the V6 models altogether for 06. Although in Canada you could still get a V6 sport or V8 base model.
I live in Canada and am considering buying a used 2000 Lincoln LS V8 with 254,000 KM which is almost 125,000 miles. I know the KMs for this car are really high but I am getting a really good deal. I will be getting this car for $5000 canadian including taxes.
Is this a good deal? The car is fully loaded with all options!
I test drove the car and it drove amazing like my friends benz or audi. Also, the exterior is perfect plus or minus a couple of dings. The car has been in no accidents and is being bought from a dealers auction.
Remember, FoMoCo builds the cars that many use for taxis & limos, and they do last a long time.
The only thing I can think of that Allen didn't mention is the window regulators. For the first few years rear windows fell down regularly (the fronts sometimes, too) & it took a couple of tries before a sufficiently robust replacement design was developed & installed. Your car is old enough to have probably already had the ones replaced that were going to break.
Good luck! I think you'll enjoy the car if you end up getting it.
I bought my 2000 LS for close to 13,000 in 2004. It only had 64,000 miles. I have only put 20,000 miles on the car since I got it because I have had so many problems with it. I would be very careful with the choice you make. Think it over. My father told me this car is like the Titanic, it just keeps going down down down!
Sorry to hear of your troubles with yours. Some of em are pretty reliable, some not so much I guess. Used cars are pretty much a crapshoot.
There were a couple of TSBs for the PCM that were performed early in the car's life but otherwise mine has exceeded expectations. I know from reading all of the posts that this is not always the case so I am not trying to convince anyone to buy or not buy a used LS.
If I recall correctly, someone long ago posted some data showing the most problematic LSs were built early in the 2000 calendar year. The really early ones like mine tended to be pretty decent and the '01s were much better. Window regulators, heated seat elements, and leaking valve covers were well known issues in the early days. I really haven't heard of any common flaws in the 2003s or newer.
Jeyhoe will jump in here and talk about his V6 but I think he has one of those rare birds where you actually push in a clutch pedal and move a lever around to change gears. Rather quaint......
1 mm shorter IIRC (85mm vs. 86mm).
I remember when Chris Wardlaw was Editor-in-Chief here at Edmunds and wrote that Ford couldn't even figure out the displacement on the AJ V8 with Jag calling it a 4.0 and Lincoln a 3.9. I wrote and tried to explain that the stroke was different which made the displacement different between the two engines. His reply? What does stroke have to do with displacement? Gee, I don't know - which glass holds the most water: the tall one or the short one (same diameter)?
And this was the so-called Editor-in-Chief of an automotive website. There were other issues with that bozo but that's my favorite one.
Then again, if these guys were really good automotive journalist they wouldn't be working for edmunds.com, would they?
I don't know how long you have had your car or what your relationship is with the dealer but if it had problems when you bought it, couldn't you have had them fix it before accepting the vehicle? I can understand that you wouldn't know if the valve covers were leaking onto the COPs but if there was a misfire when you bought the car, or the temp indicator was incorrect, why not say, "I will buy it for $XXXXX subject to you repairing the items we have found." Of course, if you bought from a private party, all of that goes out the window.
Also, there is nothing wrong with politely asking for some "help" from Ford or the dealer when a pricey service item is discovered - particularly when you are just a few thousand miles out of warranty. Dealers vary but some will go to bat for you.
I hope my comments didn't add insult to injury.
I bought the car site unseen from a friend of my brothers after his brother died, estate car. Drove 700 miles to Key Largo in a rental, fished and dove for the weekend, and drove back, great trip, awesome car. Got an 01 LS V8 in early 06 with 58K for $8500, too good of a deal to pass up, AC didn't work at the time, bad coolant control valve, no other problems. Then I bought it, lol... I should of bought an extended waranty after I purchased it, but didn't.
I bought the two LS maintenance books from Helm & they cost a fortune. However, they saved me multiples of their price as I evaluated what I'd do myself vs. what I'd farm out to the dealer as my car piled up the miles.
At the moment I'm contemplating replacing all four shocks & farming out some odd engine/system stuff (cooling fan running way too fast for the ambient temp, heater takes forever to warm up) to an independent shop I've come to trust over the years. This is the shop that found an $86 valve on our Pathfinder that was broken when the Nissan dealer wanted to do a $385 "fuel system maintenance" that wouldn't have fixed the problem at all.
My car will hit 125K miles in the next couple of weeks, and I drove it to Alaska & all over the Yukon last July, without a bit of trouble. Yours is likely to last you another 50-150K miles.
Enjoy.
Good to hear from ya. I remember your Yukon trip desc. I took my LS to LA last month. Not exactly the wilderness, but just as exciting in its way. I was surprised to get 28 mpg over the 800 mile trip. That's best I've ever seen! I remember you saying that's what you got on your trip.
Knock wood, no troubles at 91K.
need to know because im faced with the opportunity to get one thats been well cared for and reads 112k but for $1000-$1500 less than listed kbb private party value if it should make it to somewhere near 200k i like the car so much that 90k mi of driving left for me might be worth it to me. but if they usually dont see the 200k mi. marker than i probably no longer want one with 112k mi.
You can get just the regulator for $30 new and you reuse the motor.
I was pondering this the other day, as I've gone on a "cleaning blitz", clearing out a ton of old paperwork in my files. I've kept all of the dealer repair orders for this car, and was looking through them as I cleaned. I have to say that there were a lot more of them than I remembered. Fortunately, I still enjoy the car, and fortunately the dealer made the service experience as painless as possible, and fortunately the car hasn't left us stranded. However, it hasn't been the most trouble free car I've ever owned.
I just hope that I don't encounter anything major, as I'm now out of warranty.
Serious question: anyone hazard a guess as to why the LS generated such interest yet the mks, mkz, mkx etc have not?
The Lincoln brand was generally viewed in a more favorable light by the public and by the press in those days. They were outselling Cadillac. The LS got great press from both the enthusiast and consumer mags. The LS was the first credible attempt to compete with the Europeans at their own game - sport/luxury. Some Lincoln management participated in our discussions. The LS was not a badge engineered Ford. The LS was extremely competitive in it's market segment.
None of the above apply to the offerings today.
The LS was the first credible domestic sports sedan and there were big plans for the future - European sales, a 330i competitor, 2 door coupe, etc. Then the Firestone fiasco destroyed the budget, management couldn't figure out what to do with Lincoln and they just sort of drifted along on a life raft until a couple of years ago. Based on the new management and the new vehicles and concepts I think they'll get back to the former glory of the LS and far surpass it. But it won't happen overnight.
And, if it came down to it, and we get a serious blizzard, the LS stays home. My wife, the primary driver, is a school teacher, and the schools would probably be closed. Therefore, that last little bit of extra snow traction a FWD might provide would become a non-issue. I have a 4x4 for the winter.
The other cars that Lincoln markets now are just FWD people movers, although I understand the MKX, or whatever they call it now, can be had as an AWDer.
Actually, they all (mk s, x, z) can be had with AWD. While that's nice, and I certainly would not buy something like the X without it, it's still not RWD.
I agree with all the comments answering my question. I cant even recall how I stumbled upon this site and discussion about 7 yers ago. But a lot of the excitement here contributed to my purchasing a 2001 LS. I loved that the VP of marketing and a couple of engineers were here to answer questions. And then they hosted several LS events. It was great.
akirby - yeah, I dislike those trolls too ... :shades: I should rejoin the other site, but I'm too cheap to pay my way in anymore.
One other very positive thing: Ford quality has gone waaaay up in the past few years. The model launches have been nearly flawless. Let's face it - some of the early LSs had some teething problems and it turned off some owners. The fit and finish was generally good but the quality of interior materials could have been better. The TSBs for transmission shift quality didn't bother me but could have been a nuisance for some. Other things like window regulators, moisture in the headlamps, failed seat elements, etc. were detrimental to the ownership experience.
I am expecting the MKS to be vastly superior to the LS in terms of overall quality.
Lots of people disagree with me on this but I consider AWD on a FWD car to just be a crutch. The only reason I would consider it would be if the power is so great that the FWD would be overwhelmed by traction loss or understeer. RWD can handle a lot more power without the need for additional complexity and weight of AWD.
I left an anniversary message in the general LS board most years about this time, reprising the current situation vs. the "good ol' days." Not this year -- there's just no point. It's clear that most of the people making fresh posts bought the car for a song and are looking for the easy way out when something goes wrong. The LS demographic has finally shifted the way Lincoln wanted it to, but I don't think they wanted the vehicle (sorry) to be cheap used cars.
I have a dimmer view of FoMoCo & Lincoln than almost anyone, yet I drive one, while several of the fanpeople don't.
Go figure.
Not necessarily true..... I've lived in the Rochester,NY area since January of 1958. My father was transferred to this area by his employer, and the local GM plants were among the companies he sold equipment to. At the time we came here, we had a 1955 Ford Country Squire station wagon. The GM people at Rochester Products and Delco gave him some grief about owning a Ford, so shortly thereafter, we became a GM family. I continued that tradition until 2000, when my wife and I bought the LS.
However, I don't necessarily think that I'll purchase another Ford. As I mentioned, I'm a strong RWDer, and there's nothing in the Ford line that at this time. Actually, GM has nothing at this time either, as the Cadillac CTS' styling just doesn't appeal to us, no matter how good the reviews of the car are. Personally, I think the upcoming Pontiac G8 has promise, but my wife doesn't care for what's been shown so far.
Fortunately, I think the LS still has a little life left, but having been through 7 road salt filled winters is what concerns me the most. The car has low mileage and is still running well. But as we all know, corrosion will get at the dozens of electrical connections that today's cars have, and before you know it, the car is getting all sorts of weird, due to bad electronics. Then you have to decide whether to keep putting money in a car that's depreciating like a rock in the ocean, or bite the bullet and get something new.