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Comments
chartrand: Now you tell me! (fuel filter). Actually, under normal situations, I would have done this myself, or at least checked my Service CD to see how to do it. In general, Im finding the LS VERY easy to perform maintenance on. (spark plug replacement excepted). I've changed fuel filters before on my old BMW, but it was a hassle. Had to first remove the fuel pump fuse, then crank the car and let the engine slowly starve itself of fuel, while the engine shook like all be damned. (This was the recommended way to relieve the tremendous amounts of fuel pressure frm the system. No, removing the gas cap didnt work. If you didnt to it this way, the second you loosened up one of the "banjo" bolts that held the fuel lines to the fuel filter, you would get hit with a wild and steady spray of what seemed like a half-quart of fuel). This was after you crawled under the middle of the car to even get to the filter.
I was thinking that replacement of the fuel filter on the LS would be a similiar hassle, but obviously I was wrong. Live and learn.
Leadfoot4-Thanks for the tip. Im going to try the same Rockville bodyshop that I used last year. They were able to get to a serious crease-ding that was so far forward in my passenger side door, that Dentworks wouldnt touch it. Cost me $200, but they got it with no painting required. I HATE dings with a passion.
Final question: Can someone explain whats all involved when the dealer has to reprogram this processor? Apparantly it isnt as simple as pluggin something in and clicking "start". What does this processor in the trunk do? Is it the PCM?
http://www.canadiandriver.com/articles/jk/at_010515.htm
Brookstone tires? Do they come with heat and massage built in? I'm sure you meant Bridgestone Turanzas. I prefer the Michelins but I don't think the Bridgestones are bad. They were the OEM tire in between the Firestones and the now standard Michelins. Either should be ok but given a choice I would get the Michelins (personal choice).
Drive another car. Drive several. That way you can rule out a problem with one particular vehicle.
One if the biggest problems with the present 14V systems is the size and weight of the wires required to have acceptable voltage drop. With 48V you need 1/9 the copper in a wire saving a lot of weight and space (if anyone is intersted I'll post the math explaining why its 1/9 the copper not 1/3).
Here's a great question for one of the Ford people. How many lb. of wire is in a LS?
TO the poster who replied about a loud roaring sound from your rear end. (Ok, that one is TOO easy to go after).
Seriously, I would guess a bad wheel bearing. Those things can make a car sound like a truck on the highway. A bad, out of round tire can also make the sound, but usually its a wheel bearing. Not sure if you can replace it yourself, as they usually are pressed in these days.
One note - if you do notice slow shifting you can accelerate the learning curve by repeating the offending shift 3 or 4 times about 20 seconds apart. Same speed and throttle pattern. That will allow the computer to select the optimal pressure for that particular shift. Shouldn't need to do it but it's easy enough to try. At least it will tell you if it's an ongoing problem or not.
Scott
LLSOC Member
Currently, I get 24 mpg on prolonged highway cruising at 75-80 mph (reformulated gas). When using non-reformulated gas, I have gotten as high as 27 mpg for a whole tank. The computer is fairly acurate, differing from hand calculations by at most 0.5 mpg for a whole tankful (I always reset the fuel computer at each fill-up).
Lately, my driving keeps me very close to home with drives often less than 2 miles in duration, and very few opportunities to get out on the highway. My mileage has greatly suffered . . . often resulting in mileage as low as 16 mpg for a full tank. This is not the most economical "runabout" car I've ever owned, but it's still loads of FUN!!!!!
Now if you wanted to put that engine in a Sable....hmmm. What a sleeper that would make:)
- Brian
Lincoln is foolish. They spend all the money to put in a safety feature like seatbelt pretensioners and it is not mentioned anywhere in their new car brochure or advertising. A feature like that cannot sell a car if nobody knows it is there.
I wonder how many people have them as one of their top 10 requirements for a new car? I know that is the first thing I ask the salesman! I'll bet their true importance to the majority of consumers ranks right up there with DRLs. Yep, having those were the two main reasons I bought my LS.
I was asking the dealer if I could order the LS without the 5,000 worth of useless airbags.
The first thing I look at is how the car handles and the performance.
I know this is not Politically Correct but I grew up without all the overpriced safety equipment and am still here to write about it.
I am now going to put on my Kevlar vest but I could not resist.
Scott
LLSOC Charter Member
Of course now they are saying they are going to sell the car. IIRC, the price is going to be around $200,000?
Geez, BMW, why not just admit that you took advantage of a gray area in the rule book and leave it at that?
There's a financial component as well. The increase in my insurance premium was very small when I stepped up from a '95 Subaru Legacy LSi to the '00 LS. According to my agent, this is due to the safety features built into the LS.
Scott
(ditto)
On a related note, can I safely remove the drivers side rear door panel to look and see if the regulator did fail without worrying about the window falling down?
Chrysler and GM got caught doing this back in the 70's and paid a huge fine. GM was turning back the speedometers of slightly used police vehicles and they were found out by the maintenace folks for the PD.
I really do not think Lincoln would ever do such a thing.
Look at the nylon "D" guide. As it wears, the side lips of the guide wear out/wear off, or the cable cuts such a deep groove in the nylon that there is no tension on the cable and it comes off and therefore the "explosion in the speghetti factory" look.
Without cable tension, the black "trolley" that holds the bottom of the window glass succumbs to gravity and the window "crashes" down. You can also have a failure of the plastic "plug" that retains the glass to the trolley. A little silicone seal here would ensure against that problem, although I'm pretty sure a redesigned "plug" is available and used on all operator R&R's.
Being politically incorrect, I care very little about seat belt pretensioners (my airbag light has been on continuously for over two months now). I like the feature but I think more about the need for LSD, especially since it rained today and I squirreled around every turn in an unpredictable manner. Of course, I enjoy redlining in first without really much forward movement. I can have the delusion that I have such a powerful car I can break the tires loose at will. You know, chirp the tires going into second and third (if the rain is sufficient). I usually have to wait until I exit the car wash to do that (it rarely rains here or I would have killed myself years ago). Stanny1 -just enjoying my second adolescence with my Manual LS.
BTW-Have you ever had an airbag go off in your car?
It is a real unique experience. You get bruises all over your body and the powder they pack the bag with renders you blind for about 5 minutes. Hopefully, when all this happens you have come to a stop because you cannot control the car because the bag is obstructing your view of the road.
I just wish they were optional and were not forced down the throat of people that do not want them. When I said 5,ooo for the bags, I was being conservative.
I never said I wanted to get rid of the legitimate safety features of the car like the structural crush zone and belts.
There is no doubt that I would have at least lost most of my teeth on the steering wheel if I had not had an airbag equipped car. I am a believer. I have to believe that the scenario of not being able to manuever the vehicle due to the airbag being inflated is bogus. One of the things most people don't seem to understand is that one of the limitations of airbags is that since they deploy and deflate so fast, they are useless against a secondary collision. That is a major reason that seat belts remain the primary safety device, but in my opinion, air bags are great. I love my teeth, I can live with a rug burn on my chest and face.
Brian
I believe it was Mercedes who first introduced this feature back in the days before the North American market had been flooded with all the "cheap Mercedes". It was a feature that only very high-end vehicles had, however, the average person on the street (several people I talked to personally at that time, and one lady) thought that if they wore their seatbelt loose that it would retract tight against their chest automatically in a collision!!! (boy, now that's what I call FAITH).
It's a feature found only on upscale vehicles, and not found on low-end vehicles ; let's say it could be used, among many other features, as a bellwether of the quality and attention to detail of the vehicle. Consumer Reports considers it to be such a significant feature that they chose to mention it (albeit incorrectly) in a magazine which simply cannot devote precious space to trivial items.
The pretensioners, BTW , are a feature of significance only to those who wear seatbelts; over 90% of the population up here in Canada, and about 70% of the population in the USA (shame on you guys!) ; )
lobsensa - break, oops, brake rotor warping and pad life is one of my points of interest in vehicles. The two cars I had before the LS were both rotor warp-free for a long time as well. Every fall and spring while I was changing the winter to summer wheels (torqued by hand) I would also remove the rust from the areas immediately outside and inside of the swept area on the rotor. Buildup of rust here can cause a pulsing in the brake pedal similar to rotor warp. I've been successful in minimizing having to turn down rotors to get rid of glazing by carefully scuffing both the rotor and the pad surface with a piece of coarse coated abrasive which I glued to a flat face of an aluminum plate. This deglazes the rotor and takes down any of the higher spots and ridges and I just use the brakes easier for 50 miles or so after doing this to give them time to re-set themselves. Takes only a couple of minutes since the wheels are already off anyway. Like you I prefer to have my rotors turned as infrequently as possible to maintain braking effectivenes as long as possible with a little extra preventive maintenance.
I could be wrong, but rotor warp is caused by other things as well as incorrect lug torque. Uneven cooling after hard braking, riding the brake pedal, metalurgical inconsistencies in the cast iron, and failures in the wheel bearing or caliper assembly come to mind.
sclark8 - the performance and handling aspects were the main reason I chose the LS too, but all things were considered. We on this board represent a unique segment of LS owners, and are not at all an accurate cross-section of the pool of LS owners. I have noticed, as have others here, that the majority of LS owners I meet on the street have NO idea of the handling vitues of the LS. Some have merely bought a "pretty cute little Lincoln". One guy was even surprised when I demonstrated the "global opening" feature on his car! But I think that all the correct information on features (such as pretensioners) should be readily available to a person who wants to research the finer points to make a more informed decision.
Joe166 - wow, what an experience.
Scott - The white dust around the airbag is in fact non-toxic and something most people have in their kitchen - corn starch! They use it to reduce friction when the bag opens.
My 75 yr old mother walked away from their '99 Town Car which was a total write-off and caused so much damage to a concrete block building that they didn't remove the car until the roof was braced. No rug burn, no injury, no bruising, and she couldn't recall hearing or seeing the airbag go off (she remembered everything else quite well).
I wouldn't smoke a pipe or drive with one hand at the 12 o'clock position in an airbag-equiped car, but some people do, is that the airbag's fault?
Scott what's your airbag experience?
Regards - Brian.
The only reason I was out driving tonight is because the cell phone service at my home (my only phone), which has been flawless for over 2 years, crapped out.
To top it all off, I get home, come into my office (so I can log on to LLSOC.com to get a copy of the window TSB), turn on the light...and my 2-year-guaranteed lightbulb blows out, after 13 months.
But, cheer up. It sounds like the final version of the regulator is in stock at most dealers, so you'll only have to fix it once. And be real careful the rest of the weekend.
Scott
LLSOC Member
everywhere. I'm sure they are not thrown away either.
I do, however, TOTALLY believe in large, 4 piston brake calipers that squeeze 12-13 inch rotors, which in turn are connected to 8.5-9.5 inch wide rims that are shod with 9 inch tread with tires(in the summer), which are driven by limited slip differentials, and grudgingly, assisted by anti-lock brakes.
The driver is able to control this operation because the seat has high side bolsters that hold him/her firmly, but comfortably in place, allowing him/her to easily concentrate on the job at hand, and the steering gear is a quick ratio, but not overly assisted unit. That's my idea of safety equipment, politicaly correct or not.
Airbags are expensive to replace and can cost more than the damage to the vehicle. I just don't want to see them used or deployed unnecessarily. I do agree with mandating them as long as they're proven to prevent injuries without otherwise causing harm. If someone doesn't want to wear seatbelts or helmets or use *any* airbags then that's fine - just have them sign a waiver that they're 100% responsible for any injuries they receive as a result of their choice and I'm happy. Just don't make me pay for your choice with higher insurance rates.
Joe166 - given that you were wearing your seatbelt and the seat, belt and steering wheel remained in position (I'm assuming here, correct me if I'm wrong), do you think you would have hit the steering wheel without an airbag? Again I'm not arguing against driver's airbags here. There are obviously crashes where they will help but I think they're deployed too often in crashes where they don't help and, in some cases, can do more harm than good. I think there is a perception that they help more than they really do.