Lincoln LS

nosho

The blend door is the symptom not necessarily the problem. The symptom acts like a vacuum leak. The brakes and vent valves/doors are vacuum actuated from a vacuum reservoir tank. Press the brakes and not enough vacuum to keep the blend door closed. After accelerating the higher engine RPM creates a higher vacuum that is strong enough to close (re-close) the blend door.

The blend door actuator could have a leak (not an uncommon failure) or there is a general hose leak (more common failure).

akirby

Rumor has it the last LS will roll off the assembly line in Wixom on Thursday at 2:30 pm.

The good ones die young........

Let's hope the MKS is a worthy successor.

cdnpinhead

Thanks for that, Allen.

Interesting, sad, appropriate, whatever. . .

If Lincoln thinks they're going to sell the MKS to any sort of an enthusiast market, I guess they're hoping none of the target demographic will have heard anything of the LS story.

However, if all they want is something larger than a Zephyr & smaller than a Town Car for their white-shod sales force to sell to the AARP crowd. . .

jerrym3

Uh.....

At age 63, I'm a proud member of the AARP crowd, and I still enjoy driving my wife's LS 8 Sport and all three of my TBirds and 64 Galaxie.

Just 'cause we're over the hill doesn't mean we're over the hill.

In my late 40s/50's, we wanted one luxury car with room for the kids, so we drove an 89 Towncar (along with an 85 TurboCoupe). Wouldn't touch an SUV with a ten foot pole. Now that we rarely have anyone in the back seat, we drive an LS (and the TBird).

Go figure.

displacedtexan

And you have the buying power. And, the fates willing, we'll all be part of the AARP crowd someday!

The AARP crowd is just as diverse as the 30/40 crowd. I'm 43 and, while I think it might be fun to drive a kick-butt sports car on occasion, for everyday driving I've always wanted what would probably be pegged as conventional luxury aimed at the stereotypical AARP crowd. My daily driver was a Volvo 850. Today it's an LS.

cdnpinhead

that the original intent of the LS (or so we were told) was to move the brand to a somewhat younger demographic.

Do you feel that the Lincoln demographic is similar to that of BMW or Audi? If you do, I think you're in the minority.

An enthusiast vehicle, with luxury, is what many seek. Fewer of them are over 60, based on what I see out here in the "East Valley," which is the southwestern answer to Boca Raton.

scootertrash

East Valley,huh?
I haven't seen any M5's or A6's with Vogue tyres and a "carriage roof" out on Apache Trail, have you?

displacedtexan

I haven't seen any M5's or A6's with Vogue tyres and a "carriage roof"

Now, those would be odd looking cars, indeed. I did see a Chrysler 300C done up like that, though. I suspect it was an after-market job, not from the dealership, and the drivers weren't of the AARP crowd. It didn't look good.

I remember reading somewhere that Lincoln pretty forcefully forbade their dealerships from putting those roofs on the LS when it came out, part of the attempt to move Lincoln into sportier realms and all. Surely they're not now putting them on the Zephyr.

scootertrash

"Surely they're not now putting them on the Zephyr. "

That's exactly what I saw.
It was that brown metallic color, tan fake-convertible top, Gold and White Vogue Tyres, and some, uh, fancy pinstriping with a lovely little Southwestern mountain scene painted at the end of each stripe.

It was so sporty,
I nearly went incontinent in my plaid slacks, but that would have messed up my white loafers.

desertguy

Here in the "west valley" when you see a BMW 5 or 7 series or an Audi A6 or A8, it is invariably driven by the over 60 crowd. Yesterday while sitting outside Einstein's bagels on Thunderbird Rd, a black Cadillac Escalade went by with the biggest, ugliest black pipe brush guard sticking out in front. It had a gold package with the addition of gold supports for the roof rack. It was a real beauty. Only thing missing was a light bar with 5 or 6 spotlights. Bet it's a great off roader.

displacedtexan

That's exactly what I saw.

I'm really hoping that was done after market and not by the dealership. There's no accounting for taste, and manufacturers can't control what people do to their cars once bought, like that 300C I saw pimped out. And, yes, I have seen BMWs pimped out, too, so it's not just the American-marque-buying crowd doing it!

"Little Southwestern mountian scene at the end of the stripes" That might be okay.

sellaturcica

So, I'm 29 and am driving a 13 year old Infiniti G20 that I got when I got out of school- the car is starting to nickel and dime me, not that many miles on it- only 85k, but it's also starting to feel a little tired. Have been browsing for a possible new car for months, and while I'm not exactly in Lincoln's demographic (I would probably lower the average age of buyers all by myself were I to buy one), I can't help but notice the fire sale pricing that is going on with this car.

I always really liked the S-Type from new (I am definitely a Jaguar person in general except for X-Type), and I know the Lincoln and the Jag are platform mates. The Jag's reliability rep is not so good, and I think the Lincoln is still quite a bit cheaper, just from browsing- would people generally recommend this car at this point? I would either be going for a heavily discounted new car or a late model used car- I have seen 2005 V-8s dealer advertised in the paper for $22K when MSRP on a 2006 is 39K, which is just amazing.

Any real serious issues with this car other than FoMoCo running Lincoln into the ground?

I think I am going to be a car keeper kind of person, so I have a little trepidation about what will happen if Ford goes bankrupt, which I think is quite possible...

akirby

I'm really hoping that was done after market and not by the dealership.

As hard as Jim Rogers tried, the mfr simply can't control what the dealers do with the cars any more than they control what buyers do with them.

Certain dealers will do it and certain buyers will buy it. It's a market thing.

akirby

If you like the car I wouldn't hesitate to get one considering the screaming bargains that are available. Reliability isn't a major concern.

displacedtexan

so I have a little trepidation about what will happen if Ford goes bankrupt, which I think is quite possible...

That might be a little premature for Ford, less so for GM.

As for the LS, I've really enjoyed mine for the 21000 miles I've put on it. Nice balance between ride and handling (much more balanced IMO than an Acura TL or Lexus ES330 - both opposite ends of the spectrum). The interior build isn't up to $39K standards, but it is up to the discounted price standards. Decent room up front; a little tight in back, but our dogs don't care; trunk could be deeper.

The only thing that might give me pause in buying an LS now is the trend in reliability shown in Consumer Reports, but you have to take those with the understanding that there's no weighting of problems - in other words, two owners might report "body integrity" issues, where one might be complaining about a minor squeak and another might be complaining about a major failure. They both get counted as a problem.

However, in 21000 miles I've had no issues with the car other than a recall for the transmission fluid. At 20000 miles the dealer noted some unusual wear on the factory-installed Continental tires and replaced them with Michelins (part of a tech service bulletin)!

Absolutely no regrets thus far with my purchase.

displacedtexan

Certain dealers will do it and certain buyers will buy it. It's a market thing.

You're right.

And, people's tastes change. The other day I saw a Grand Marquis with the half carriage roof. A decade ago I would have said "ugh." This time I thought "In that color, it's not a bad looking car. Very traditional." Then I thought "ugh" because I suddenly felt old! :mad:

ezaircon4jc

My 2000 V6 has almost 125K miles on it. I had some early, first year teething pains, but nothing the warranty didn't cover. I did have the solenoid pack in the trans fail at ~90K miles. That would have been covered by my Ford ESP had I realized the problem I was having was "mechanical". I waited until 105K miles before acting, so had to pay for it. The part was ~$200 and I did the labor. The trans flush after was ~$150. The car just keeps getting better and better! We had an '01 for almost 3 years with only oil changes, brakes and the usual stuff. We traded that one in on an '06, as my '00 with over 100K miles isn't worth much on a trade-in. So far, the '06 has 4K miles and just needs the dealer for an oil change.

IMHO, you can't go wrong with the LS. Take care of it like you would any machine, and realize that it is just a machine and parts will at times break. No manufacturer is immune. Heck, Lexus just had a recall. Anyone hear about it? I doubt it.

http://money.cnn.com/2006/04/13/Autos/toyota_lexus.reut/index.htm">link title

cwz

I had an 00 V8 Sport with the normal issues and J.Rodgers did me well with them. I just traded it in at 90K miles for an 06 LS (3 weeks old now). With the $8K kickbacks the dealer was giving it is the best value in the market for the amount of car you get. I checked the CTS, BMW, MB and for what you get for the very low $30's it can not be beat. I am not a Japanese car lover so did not look to their offerings. BTW, paid the same amt for the 06 as I did six years earlier for the 00.

jerrym3

Back in Feb, I took the LS for a NJ/Mass/NJ road trip and got about 23.6. Yesterday, I took another trip (snows off, NJ/PA/NJ) and got over 26 including a nasty ten mile stretch of stop/go on the PA turnpike due to an accident. (I had been getting 27.9/28.1 up till then, and then it dropped quickly to 25 plus.)

Most driving, except for the accident area, was done at 70-80 mph. Not bad at all.

Steering column rubbing sound came back.

bigo08

I have a 2000 LS V8, with 80k miles on it and im thinking of getting a new car, i was thinking of a O6 LS, but the the CTS is also a car that i would not mind driving, I dont really know what to do... can you guys help me out???? how do these 2 stack up to eachother

qbrozen

cool thing with the CTS is that you can get a stick. But the LS is DEEPLY discounted, so you'll get more car for the money, I think. Not to mention a V8.

heyjewel

I agree. Unless you want a stik shift, the LS is a much better buy. Is it the better car? That's debatable. They're both great American sport sedans.

cdnpinhead

"Does Lincoln and the LS receive the distinct (extinct!) award for being the manufacturer/model to go from a Motor Trend Car of the Year award winner in its debute to being only a memory in 6 years? Has any manufacturer/model done it in less than 6 model years?"

This is an excellent question, one that I didn't fully appreciate until I was going back over some of this stuff & read it again.

Problem is, you're asking it in a forum with somewhere between 3 and 7 people who regularly participate.

Post it where some people might actually read it.

It's an interesting question, though MT COTY has been shown to be something less than prescient. Others have listed the COTY's that ended up being dogs, but I can't list them now.

Not that the LS is a dog, but some of the other candidates may have been on the market for less time. That said, I doubt that many (or any) of them was introduced with as much fanfare.

It's all part of the joy.

leadfoot4

Another real "winner" of a COTY was the Chevy Vega in 1971.

(posted by someone who hasn't been here too often, lately, but still has the LS. 6 years old, 42,000 miles.)

displacedtexan

The Vega was a COTY?

Your 6 YO LS only has 42,000 miles? Wow.

heyjewel

Here's another real winner of MT COY:

1984 Renault Alliance.

mwdream

How many miles would the LS or the CTS go for that matter before all the monsters started coming out? 100K 125K ???

Compared to a [non-permissible content removed] car.... 150 , 175K I don't know.

All I'm saying is in 4 years at 100k miles you may be wanting to trade out of that American sedan because this and then you'll feel a huge depreciation kick to the gut.

I'm considering LS, but leaning toward Maxima if I plan on going 150k miles on a 2004 model year car.

CTS is also an option, but considering Maxima for same reasons over CTS. Reliability, depreciation, etc. etc.

Any thoughts?

cdnpinhead

If you're planning to buy used, the huge depreciation hit will have already been absorbed by the first owner (probably a third party, given that so many lease). If you're planning to buy new, you'll get a huge discount -- early adopters weren't so lucky.

Regarding what happens after 100K, there aren't many in the sample -- even the oldest LS's are only coming up on 7 years, so at 12K/yr, you've got 84K. Certainly some of us have gone farther, but I haven't heard from very many LS owners over 100K, let alone 150. I'm at 94K, expecting to hit 100 this year. The vast majority of the white-haired Lincoln faithful don't even drive 10K/yr, let alone 15 or 20.

Even though American vehicle residuals (especially the LS) are in the toilet (what would you expect, given $10K off sticker?), after that initial hit is absorbed, the long-term outlook may not be too bad. The LS is made by the same outfit that makes police cars, taxis & limos. Little stuff may break, but the overall vehicle may run well past 200K.

I don't intend to find out, but have some confidence that I won't be left beside the road dead.

Stay tuned & good luck.

displacedtexan

Can't say for the LS - I'm only at 23K miles, but I hope to hold onto the car for 10 years, so we'll see.

I can say that my Volvo 850 needed about $700 in tranny work at around 100K miles. Nothing major since then. With 176K, we're still going strong.

mwdream

The prices I'm seeing are $17,000 for 2004 V6 LS. I also found $17k for a 2003 V8 LS. All around 30,000 miles.

Does this seem like reasonable prices to you? Considering what a new 2004 LS could have been had for after rebates, etc, I'm not sure enough depreciation was knocked off - regardless of what the MSRP says. In 4 years, I'd expect that 2004 LS to have a value around $6,000 - $7,000.

akirby

A new 2004 V6 would have gone for $25K-$27K depending on options. More importantly - you can't buy a new V6 today for comparison. $17K sounds ok if it's in really good shape.

displacedtexan

I recently priced my 2004 LS V6 on Kelly Blue Book - 22,200 miles. The private party price came out to about $19,000. I said my car's condition was good, not excellent.

heyjewel

At 71000 miles, I put my third set of tires on my hard-driven LS Sport. All Firestones. These new ones are Firestone Wide Ovals and man do they ride and handle nice. And they were just over 1/2 the price of Michelins.

koury

I haven't been here in a very long time but will chime in at 110K miles on one of the original LS V8's (build date October 99, delivery date Jan 2000).

For the first 4 years, it was a dream. Then things started to go wrong. Since then, SO many things have gone wrong it's depressing (do a search on my name for a detailed list of problems). The sad thing is, the car still rides like a dream - it's too bad so many things have stopped working or have needed repairs. I've easily sunk between $4K - $5K in repairs over the past two years. The latest problems (key fob doesn't unlock rear door, rattle in muffler, heated drivers seat and auto-dimming rear view mirror stopped working) actually prompted my original sales rep to suggest junking it and starting over.

I'll drive it until either my wife's Navi is paid off (2 more years), or it just completely breaks down (if it lasts that long).

So sad. I still love the car.....

mrjwk

Does anybody read the consumer "reviews" on the Edmunds site? Does it bother you that two of the recent "reviewers" have rated the LS as a 1 on a scale of 1 to 10. I mean, I can understand not liking the car or thinking that there are areas where it needs improvement--but a 1? Is it worse than a Chevy Cobalt? A Ford Focus? Of course not. I know that you have to take these consumer opinions with a grain of salt, but I don't like the fact that these "1s" drag down the average score for what is a pretty decent automobile. Okay--end of rant.

desertguy

Well any idiot can get on the Edmunds Consumer Reviews and post what they think. I have never heard of California Cars Org. and I'm a 25 year resident. Sounds made up to me and if real, why are they posting as a consumer? Why don't you do your own review and rate it a 10. That will bring up the average. The Emunds average is actually higher than the consumer. I rate the car a 9 at least and IMO, I can't be that far off.

ezaircon4jc

I just did a Dogpile search. Nothing came up on them. My guess is some fart-can, 4-banger type.

leadfoot4

The moderators will love that one.....

Overall, I'm still satisfied with my 2000 LS, although its only showing 45,000 miles on the clock. I decided to put in fresh plugs a couple of weeks ago, as I'm going on a trip next month. I found so much oil in the pass. side plug wells, I thought I was JR Ewing! It's going to the dealer next week for repairs...

leadfoot4

Is the LS portion of Lincoln's website "out of business"? I tried accessing it from several places, including here, and all I get is an error message....

mrgdr

I had no problem jumping right to it from the Lincoln banner ad right here on Edmumds. The "LS" selection on the "Vehicles" drop down menu at the Lincoln site works fine too.

jerseyguy1

My wife has an '04 LS V-6. Nice car, rather reliable (so far). Just got a call form my local Lincoln dealer. time to blow out the remaining '06 LS' that he has. Window stickers on them hover in the $44,500 - -$45,500 range. Pick any one you want for $30,300.

Was not even remotely thinking about getting myself a new car but at 30k it becomes attractive.

displacedtexan

I'd be really tempted. At 24,000 miles my '04 V-6 has been very reliable, too, enough so that I'd have to give serious thought to turning it over to my wife for an '06 V-8!

leadfoot4

"mrg"...I've tried both "Lincoln.com", and the link to the left of this discussion. Either way, I get an error message. Possibly, it's some sort of filter or firewall on my employer's computer system.

However, I've also tried "FordPartners.com", as we're "X" plan eligible, and I can't link up there, either. Something's strange...

nogtyet

New here: had to share my experiences common to so many. Might be most intense love/hate relationship in history. Car has some positives but lousy mechanicals. Worst trans ever made that continued to function (albeit poorly): had it back 3x under warranty and Ford would not recognize its problems even after Edmunds long-term test LS had its trans replaced. Lug nuts left wife stranded at night, 3 headlamps replaced, 3 windows ($300 ea), A/C in & out for 3 years (can't afford to fix), $2k for front susp (struts, sway bar, etc), $2k for engine manifold work. Bye bye LS!

onlyfords

Recently purchased used LS w/72000 mi. Loved the car for the first few months and now having probs starting in the mornings, alarm indicator on dash blinks rapidly and codes indicated pats transiever. Same probs after replacing pats - early in am car will not start - gauges move, radio works, lights, but no start. While no rhyme or reason -after the sun comes up after a while the car will start and have no problems the rest of the day, until the next morning when I go to work, (luckily we have other vehicles).

Yesterday - after getting the car to start mid morning and driving about 1 hr, the ac air on the passenger side was not as cool as the drivers side and then within a few more minutes both sides blowing warm air. Tried adjusting temp, turning ac off/on but still no COOL air.

We are in CA with mild winters but 100 degree temps right now.

I know I've seen a few posts re: pats/starting probs but any suggestions or fix?

slick713

I have 02 Lincoln LS V8. Just had 4 coils for the spark plugs replaced and it ran fine. Couple weeks after and now the car shakes a few times at idle, but on occasion... it's driving me nutts! Oh yeah another thing when I hit about 40-60 mph on it starts stuttering like it's misfiring or something, took it to the dealer again, they checked it out, but told me they couldn't get it diagnosed because the computer wasn't picking up anything. Im thinking spark plugs, but not sure... any feedback?

akirby

Check the fuel filter and the fuel pump. Might still be the other 4 coils - they need to test each one under load.

jodar96

It sounds like you could have a problem with transmission overdrive/torque convertor. Drive 40-60 without overdrive and see if it acts up.

Joe

offdachain229

I have a 2000 Lincoln LS, I got a Pioneer AVIC-N1 and I cannot find a speed pulse wire. Anybody been able to remedy this problem with their navigation, or just plain know how to find a speed pluse wire. Thanks

cdnpinhead

our cars are now as dead as Elvis.

If you're driving an LS now, bless your heart. If you've had once since the beginning. . .

grab your knees (or lower).

Is LLSOC down the tubes as well?