Need advice on 2000 Lincoln LS

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Jaymus

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Ok, my wife has a 2001 Mitsubishi Eclipse GS (2.4 SOHC 4 banger) 5-speed. Around 175,000 miles on it. Very reliable car. I've done all the maintenance since she got it at 125k miles. The only things it has ever needed was a water pump while I did the timing belt maintenance.

Ok, so she's wanting another car somewhat. A guy around us has a 2000 Lincoln LS V8 auto with 170,000 miles. He says it is in perfect shape, no problems whatsoever.

We are going to look at it and test drive it tomorrow, and really if no one has any bad things to say about it, we may come home with it.

So, are these cars reliable for you guys that have one or know someone that has one? Is this car going to be a money pit? Is it a good trade? It's hard to trade a 100% reliable car for another car that I don't know much about when it comes to their reliability. Thanks for any input given!
 
It will get very difficult to find "used parts" thanks to the Cash for Clunkers program. If you ever need an expensive part, that you could have gotten used in the past, the part will not be available. Any vehicle that was turned in for the Cash for Clunkers program had to be destroyed.

Just my opinion...look for something newer and a much later model. A later model vehicle most likely has not been "cashed in" and secondary parts will be readily available if you need them rather than left out in the cold.
 
If it has the 4.6 It has a another 170,000 left to go. See what the OCI's were, and also be sure the tranny has been serviced regually.
 
From what I've seen, the early LS's were pretty [censored]. The later years they really perfected the car into a really nice car. But the early ones were somewhat questionable...
 
Originally Posted By: Troy_Built
If it has the 4.6 It has a another 170,000 left to go. See what the OCI's were, and also be sure the tranny has been serviced regually.


They used a Jag v8
 
I'm partial to Japanese and Korean vehicles and I would keep the Mitsubishi for a couple of reasons...

1) Domestic vehicles in my experiences don't hold up well with lots of miles and tend to be problematic with age. I'm not attempting to start bashing the domestic, just what I have noticed from the bazillions of cars I have worked on.

2) I find most Domestics harder to service than Japanese/Korean for most things... Although this seems to becoming the norm today with everyone it would seem.

3) You don't know the history of this vehicle and are going by his word and we live in times whereby people aren't always honest.

4) You know the history of your car and it has been very reliable so why change anything.

5) Parts for Lincoln may be expensive because they are "Licoln" although most likely it uses "Ford" parts but keep in mind this is their premium brand so you could pay premium for parts/repairs in some cases.

6) It's a V8 which means there is a higher cost of ownership for gas and maintenance for plugs/wires etc. because of more cylinders.

7) It may cost you more on insurance because it's a V8, and is a Licoln which is a "Premium" brand.

cheers3.gif
and I wish you all the best with your decision!
 
If it's a V8, then it has the 3.9L V8 based on a Jaguar engine. Nothing else that I know of in the Ford/Lincoln line up except for the "new" TBird used that same engine. So parts are probably not as plentiful as for some other Lincolns.

So it's likely an odd car, and it MAY have some of the issues associated with cars that are more odd or rare with respect to finding parts.
 
I wouldn't buy a LS unless you were bff's with a Ford parts person like me or a Ford tech that you could pay in beer. Lots of problems with these in ever major system.
 
If it's the v8 it has the 3.9. pretty much a Jag engine.
My wife has her 2003 LS V8. The 2003 got 5w20 and variable cam timing. After 7 years I'm still not sure how I feel about the car. Some ways I really like it and in somes ways I don't.
Coil on plug ignition. If the cars has not allready gone thru one or two coils then it will soon. Very common problem ...as are oil leaks into the recessed coils(in the valvecover).
But these are really easy to fix. With some years on the coils i say get new valvecover gaskets and 8 new coils (about $40 each) and change all of them. If you let the dealer change just the misfiring coil you will end up spending just as much money.
Put in new spark plugs while you're in there.
 
Jaguar = make an endless list of things that you want to get fixed. Endless, because by the time you get to the item on the bottom of the list, there is a new list just as long.
 
interesting thread - I always liked the looks of these and couldn't figure out why the depreciated like crazy. What do people think about the V6? I remember you could get a manual tranny with the V6 but did they actually make any of them that way?
 
They didnt make many manual V6's. I drove one and it was pretty cool. We have a couple customers with V6 models and they are in just as much as the V8 owners for a lot of the same problems. Just remember, the lower ball joints are only sold through Ford or Jag as an entire upright assembly.
 
This is the baby jag(X-type) cousin in many aspects. Not the best lineage and parts and they are expensive to acquire. The trans is weak.

If you have the budget for high $$$$ repairs(that may occur) it may be fine. If not move on.
 
I have a 2004 LS V8 with almost 100,000 miles.

I would not buy a 2000 however. The oil leaks and timing chain issues are too much to deal with.

That said, the motors from 03+ are solid. YES, you get the Coil on Plug issues. You get the SAME issues with the modular engine family(4.6, 6.8, ect. )
The modular's are seen as one of the best around. YET they suffer from the same issue as the Jag AJ-V8 in the lincoln.
The Lincoln LS gets failed coil packs replaced FOR FREE from ford as long as the car has less than 100,000 and it's not over 10 years old. So that's a plus.


The LS is not a car to just buy for the [censored] of it. As others have said, it is a bit pricy to work on. The whole platform used (i.e. frame, steering, suspension, brakes, ect. .) is the same used on the Jag S-Type.

If you, like few of us have, want a LS, SHOP around for a 03+ and get one with LOW miles.
 
Sadly the LS is one of Lincoln's more regrettable designs. Best to follow the guidelines of the market: They're cheap for a reason.
 
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