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Comments
Brian
Here is a link to a page from the BlueOvalNews website. It shows actual ford documents that list the cost of a wide variety of parts used to make the Ford Focus including several glass components. Now this does not establish a specific cost for the LS Windshield, but it does give us an idea of the ball park. Net net, Airwolf, you're probably right. Auto glass is dirt (sand) cheap! Sorry Joe166!
http://www.warnerrobert.com/ford/focus/focus_costscharts.htm
From all the discussion, the problem clearly has not been isolated, yet. You need to eliminate the tires/wheels from suspicion first, IMHO. If they are not the culprit, then move on to driveline or suspension. Then, it is probably dealer-time again! A good Tech with a Hunter can tell you a lot, though. Since the original tires were replaced, I would be suspicious if they were properly indexed to the rims, anyway.
And, yep, the GT + 4s are evil noisy. No amount of indexing or balancing will fix that. I would be upset if the dealer put those on without your approval. I wonder if they would work with you on a swap for Michelins?
Now back to the LS....
Airwolf1000
Regards,
Airwolf1000
Brian
After checking balance and swapping tires vibration was still there. Dealer changed axles (based on advise from Lincoln) - no help. Dealer then changed universal (after 3 week wait on parts) and that is where the problem was. Teeth were slightly off center. While the dealer said they had not seen this particular problem before, maybe it's the source of some of your vibrations.
Lincoln and the dealer (Palm Beach - PBLM) provided excellent service in my case. Of course, I didn't know some of you were having similar problems. This was after driving a non Sport V-8 company car in 2000 with no problems. Everything considered, I still love my V6 LS Sport.
Here's how I park on a grade. Stop with the car in gear. Shift to neutral. Apply the park brake. Take my foot off the service brake, then shift to park. When leaving, foot on the service brake, shift to reverse or drive, then release the park brake.
Mark
Regards,
Airwolf1000
If you have referencable facts to offer in support of your opinion, please do. I have offered something that shows some interesting cost figures. Its not perfect, but's its better than pure speculation.
Lighten up dude.
Having said that, I think this subject has reached it's logical conclusion. I don't care that much about it to keep it alive.
I am sorry I poked fun at you being an attorney but in your original message you made it seem like I was a nobody with your sentence asking "How do you know.....
Regards,
Airwolf1000
Can a potential LS owner visiting this site for the first time have a favorable impression of the car & us, given the recent glass discussions?
So the two things that contributed to the death were failure to keep the vehicle on the road and failure to wear a seat belt. You know this will show up in the statistics as a speed-related fatality when there is no proof that speed had anything to do with it.
Now don't get me started about airbags that were designed to protect people that were too stupid to wear a seatbelt....
Let's not head down the path again of telling people what's interesting or not. Simply ignore the messages that don't interest you.
Wasn't the original post having to do with how much the glass company charges for a windshield when they do a replacement and what the insurance company will pay?
Safelite manufactures most of the replacement LS windshields for insurance replacement. I may be wrong on this assumption, but isn't it Safelite and the insurance company, not Lincoln/Ford, who is making the profit markup?
When I had my windshield replaced last year, it cost $1,500 with a $500 deductible. Being the curious sort I called the same glass company a few days later and asked them how much the windshield would cost without insurance entering into it and they told me $800. Made me wonder if this was intentionally marked up by the glass company for the insurance claim.
Brian (Let's think happy thoughts
If you are considering getting an LS, this is the best place to find anything out from the owners who drive the LS (not a sales idiot who took a 10 minute crash course). Our methods of expressing ourselves may not always be perfect but they are one thing... REAL. You won't find any factory sales hype here...Oh sure, an occasional 3rd party snake oil salesman from time to time..but he(or she)is soon spotted. Sometimes we get raided by a BMW or Lexus plant from another site trying to convince us we are driving an inferior car ...see how far they get here!
This is a great car that gets under your skin very quickly...Take our LS away for a few days and hear the moaning of what we had to drive for those awful few days!
Bill
Also, some of us have been know to invade their boards and stir them up a little. OK, so we stir them up a LOT!
ls1bmw0: Thanks for the offer. My LS a V8 non sport. The next step here is to go to a place with a Hunter. With the Hunter URL you provided I found several places within 25 miles that have one, just need to decide which is the best place to try and then find the time to take go there. Depending on what they find I may take you up on your offer. Do you have Jim Rogers' email handy. I'm steamed up enough, especially considering the cheap Goodyears the dealer stuck me with, to try to open this up with JR's office again since the reginal rep. won't return my calls. I found one of his assistant's e-mail but can't find his.
Got all four installed tonight and all I gotta say is wow. You guys with the Audiophile system got nothing on this. I have a 10" sub in the trunk as well, but now it really doesn't add much to the bass response. Very very good investment. I highly recommend it to all.
One note on install though, the rear is definitely a little tight and before you attempt it, make sure you read the post on LLSOC for replacing the speakers. It has all the tips.
Pounding down the highway
If the Hunter tech finds that a wheel is out of round make sure you get documentation and take it back to your dealer and show it to the service manager.
Brian
My guess on windshield cost on the LS is between $70 and $80 max. A manufacturer just can't put that much out for that component.
Maybe we are looking at about $1500 for the V-6 and $1800 for the V-8? Mark's tranny is probably about a grand? Try those prices at the parts dept!
Does anyone know: Do all Fords now use the same fluid or is the LS the only one using Mercon 5? Is there a drain plug on the torque converter like on other RWD Fords? Anyone else with 30,000+ miles changing the fluid?
I have always done this myself (pull the pan, clean, change filter, drain converter, refill through dipstick tube) at around 60,000 miles but the refill procedure on the LS is different, of course.
Thanks for any comments.
This is my last day to check in, as I'm off on vacation for two weeks, and I'll be returning on July 16th. My wife, the LS, and I are going to the Carolinas on our annual trip. I'll have an LS report when I return.
Everyone else, have a happy and safe holiday....see'ya.
http://classifieds.dallasnews.com/autos/roadtest/402785_autoslincoln_6-23.html
Brian
This is the 12th annual poll conducted by Autoweek; the ballot is mailed to 1% of the subscriber base, so it's a controlled situation. (I didn't get a ballot this year, either!) The Corvette, as usual, came in first. Ford dominated the list, with the F150 pickup at #2, the Mustang at #4, the Focus at #5, and the Taurus at #8.
Last year, the LS was fifth. I think this certainly speaks well for our favorite sedan; Autoweek is an enthusiast magazine, and I'd wager that its readership has a high degree of collective auto knowledge.
Autoweek this year added separate European and Japanese categories. On the Euro list, the 3-series BMW was first and the 5-series was second. The Accord came out on top of the Japan chart.
Another new twist this year was a separate Internet poll conducted via Autoweek's website, where anyone could log their vote (or votes, as the case may be.) In this one, the LS fared even better, coming in third behind the 'Vette and Viper.
This would seem to indicate that the LS is still highly regarded by a knowledgable enthusiast community. I think they're (we're) right on the money--it's STILL a great car!
Brian
Got back late yesterday after putting 3,300 miles on the SS. Sure, my LS8 Sport would've been more fun in the Adirondack mountain twisties and possibly even smoother on brutal stretches of I-90 east of Cleveland (thanks to longish wheelbase & IRS) but she just didn't have the interior and trunk room for the kids, luggage, and misc junk you accumulate on long vacations. SS is now back in garage and I can play again with my emerald baby! Think she missed me, so I vacuumed her out, fuelled her up (forgive me but 90 octane ethanol at $1.299/g), and took her out for some fun time!!!
If you want cheap fuel, all the Speedway stations in and around Valparaiso, Indiana, area on US 30 were selling 87 octane at $1.069 and premium only $1.229!!!
6/25/01 issue of Autoweek has nice little article on p. 4 on the upcoming Infiniti G35. I had a '96 G20 base manual and a '96 G20t auto. In 100,000 miles of driving I never, ever had to take either in the shop for a repair or warranty work. I will be giving this car serious consideration for that reason alone!
As for Genny Cream Ale, ya gotta remember I can't get that in midwest. What you can't have often seems more intriguing and tempting than what you can have. And I do enjoy the unique taste. So while I'd rather have a Guiness Stout or Newcastle Brown Ale (which I can get readily in Omaha), the 2 30 packs of Genny Cream I brought back with me have great "value" and will have to last me a while. Ration out about 2 a week. Now if only I could've paid less than $10 for the 30 packs! Cheapest I saw in Herkimer, Utica, Rome, Old Forge, and Lake Placid areas was at Wal-Mart for $10.50. And I went around everywhere lookin' for the cheapest price! There was a $2 off mail-in coupon for eastern states' residents. But seemed like many beers in the area, including domestic & Canadian, had mail-in coupons.
A few months back, either here or at LLSOC, Mark K. posted that he considers ALL driving to be extreme conditions, or words to that effect, as far as maintenance is concerned. That suits me fine, but there's nothing in the documentation that came with my car that tells me to change the ATF at all until 150k miles!
Maybe a little semi-divine intervention is called for here, in the person of TTG.
Have you been using the ethanol regularly enough to notice any performance or mileage change? Hard data, please; no "seat of the pants" or "gut feeling" nonsense. (Just kidding. I'm the guy who swears his car runs better when it's clean. As I'm a recent new convert to the Zaino cult, it runs even better now.)
And I don't say the above lightly. I try to buy whatever fuel is least expensive and meets the octane requirements (or comes darn close without knocking). Too bad there is no 91 octane ethanol around here. We get 89, 89.5, and 90. I only put 90 in the LS8.
In my 87 or 89 octane cars, if ethanol is cheaper, I buy it. If not, I don't. In my LS8, I'll buy premium 91/92/93 if it is no more than $.15 cents more per gallon. Right now premium is $.16-.19 more per gallon at all the local stations.
The corn growers will have to forgive me but I hate the politics of ethanol. The Feds and State drop so much of the taxes. So each gallon bought contributes less to the road use funds. And then government turns around and subsidizes the ethanol manufacturer. I'd like to see it compete on a level playing field, which it can't right now.
scottc8, you know I'd swear my LS was faster after I put the LLSOC decal on the window. Probably go faster if I plastered a great big LINCOLN across the rear quarter panel on an angle
G, we got a coupla members in Noo Yawk that might be willing to do some interstate trading of Genny Ale for Omaha steaks........
Brian
All Ford automatic transmissions except the 4R100 used in trucks uses Mercon V fluid.
Ford recommends 30K fluid changes in severe service. If you drive mostly highway you probably are not severe service.
Mark
It drops from about 47 MPG to about 44 MPG with the ethanol. I noted this before I retired and was commuting to work 20 miles each way, so I was putting a lot of very consistent driving miles on the bike then, and I could make comparisons easily.
On a previous bike, a 1975 BMW R-90 (which I rode for 17 years), I detected a similar loss of economy with ethanol, but that bike which had been designed for 95 octane leaded premium, gave me a lot of feedback on resistance to detonation (which is what octane is supposed to be a measure of). Strangely, the ethanol seemed to have a higher octane, because the bike didn't ping as much. Even so, it got 2-3 MPG better mileage without the ethanol.
Nether my 1992 BMW K-75/RT nor my 1997 BMW R1100/RT have had any problem with pinging, with or without ethanol, but they both got better mileage without it.
I hate to bring up an old and tired subject, but once again I must ask about the LS's gas mileage. I have a 00 V-8 non-sport with 3900 miles that is almost 1 year old. I still only average about 14 miles per gallon. I suspect that by this time I'd have equal or better gas mileage in an Expedition!! Most, if not all, have told me to hold out as the averages will increase as the engine is broken in. I just have not found this to be the case with my LS. I do drive mostly in town as opposed to the freeway and get on the throttle once in a while. Still, I cannot believe that not only is the miles per gallon not increasing, even slightly, but that at times it seems to be decreasing. I love my LS in every way except this. But with gas prices so high in California, plus the LS's need for the expensive juice, it is becoming quite aggravating, not to mention costly.
So, the question is: Has anyone EVER heard of ANY issue with the LS that might be contributing to this problem?? Anything at all? I am searching for answers and am becoming very skeptical of the "give it time" theory. I am taking the car to the dealer on Monday for an unrelated issue and am thinking of telling them to find out what the hell is going with this car. I apologize if I sound testy, but this situation really has me frustrated. Like I said, other than the gas mileage, this is the best car I have ever owned and the best domestic model put out by the Big 3 in years. I just wish I didn't have to drop forty bucks in it every few days.
Sorry for the long post. I thank you in advance for any comments, thoughts or suggestions.
Mileage and need for premium fuel has long been a gripe of mine. In big city driving (is Omaha a big city?) my LS8 Sport will routinely return around 12 mpg. Even in my small rural city, which has only 3 stoplights, repeated short trip mileage is around 15 mpg. Guess I wouldn't be bothered as much if I didn't know 300 hp Cadillac Northstar engines were redesigned to run on cheaper regular 87 octane unleaded.