The project car search continues... '05 Lincoln LS V8

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It was a gorgeous day here in the Twin Cities, so after helping a buddy diagnose and repair a wiring issue on his Sentra SE-R I took a 45 minute jaunt to look at a 2005 Lincoln LS V8 Sport. 170k miles, asking price $1,700. Insert eye roll.

All in all, it wasn't awful. Pearl white over grey leather, minor about of body rust but a fair amount of rust underneath in non-critical areas. All the major electronics worked, however no A/C and the radio was inop. It needs both front hubs, new ones come with it. I also found a wasted RF upper ball joint, easy enough to throw a couple control arms in it. Besides that, the rear shocks feel like they're seized, there's absolutely NO compliance in the rear suspension.

I threw him an offer of $700, he seemed desperate to make space and get money for other projects. Who knows, we'll see where this one goes. Let the flaming begin!
 
No flame here. As a former owner, the formula was close to being right. The engine eating head gaskets and coil packs is annoying. I always thought a engine and trans swap into one would be awesome. Also putting an lsd in the back would be helpful.
 
Any 93-98 Lincoln Mark VIII's kicking around? Might be a better cheaper starting platform with cheaper parts.
 
Hertz once had these in their rental fleet.

It was always my first choice.

A really nice handling car with a good ride and tight steering. The V-8 was good engine, moved out pretty quickly. The car was a hoot on back roads - not exactly what you would expect from a Lincoln. I've heard horror stories about reliability - but have no experience with that.

I just know that I loved driving one. Sounds like a fun car to own.

Good luck!
 
how much money do you have to put into this rusty wopped out sedan? Add up all the stuff you listed already plus any motor swap or engine repair that will be necessary (head gaskets/coil packs). This sounds like a hard pass. You can find good Mustangs for $3-4K that have never seen a winter.
 
Originally Posted by dwcopple
how much money do you have to put into this rusty wopped out sedan? Add up all the stuff you listed already plus any motor swap or engine repair that will be necessary (head gaskets/coil packs). This sounds like a hard pass. You can find good Mustangs for $3-4K that have never seen a winter.


I could get it where I want it for probably $3-400, the goal would be to have no more than $1,200 in it. I'm not in the market for a summer toy, I need a second car/winter car.

Originally Posted by GZRider
Any 93-98 Lincoln Mark VIII's kicking around? Might be a better cheaper starting platform with cheaper parts.


Believe me, I've tried. I had a '94 back in the day and loved it, they're just too hard to find now. Minnesota caused them all to rot, and the good ones are way too expensive.
 
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The Lincoln LS is a rebadged Jaguar S-Type, so you get all the Jaguar problems and expensive upkeep without the Jaguar prestige
 
Originally Posted by slacktide_bitog
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The Lincoln LS is a rebadged Jaguar S-Type, so you get all the Jaguar problems and expensive upkeep without the Jaguar prestige


This, unfortunately. They're nice looking cars but a 16 year old LS is going to be a money pit. If you can get it for 700 I would flip it.
 
Ford representative told me at a Fun Ford Weekend years ago that the Jaguar S, Lincoln LS & the Thunderbird all shared the same platform. He said that Ford lost money on the T-Bird, broke even on the Lincoln LS and made money on the Jag. The LS is a great looking car, but absolutely a total money pit as they get older. Sad but true.
 
Originally Posted by GZRider
Any 93-98 Lincoln Mark VIII's kicking around? Might be a better cheaper starting platform with cheaper parts.


Not really cheaper now. For example, the HID bulbs on the 98s are no longer available, replaced by the housing. That housing was replaced by a $4,000 pair of halogen headlamps which are now obsolete.
 
I'm very biased because the LS was the first car I really fell "in love" with. I saved up and bought an '04 V8 Sport while I was in college(in 08) and it was my primary vehicle until an unfortunate multi-car accident totaled it in 2016. I debated fixing it as the damage wasn't terrible, but the cost of a windshield+dash+airbag(weirdly enough, the airbag for the unoccupied passenger seat went off, but not the driver-I was glad) killed that idea. I sold it to a teenager for a little of nothing, and actually saw it still driving around town not too long ago.

I had 8 years and 100K with that car-it was bought with 56K on the clock and crashed with 153K. It still made me smile every time I drove it, and chances are I'd still be driving it if that hadn't happened. When everything is right, the cars drive like a dream. It's a shame that the management let the standard version get "softened up" for the target demographic. There were a few engineers on the design team who use to hang out at the LS Owners Club, and apparently the "Sport" trim got the firmer shocks and a lot of the other things they designed the car to have. With a perfect 50/50 weight distribution, fully independent rear, and some other goodies it really does handle like a dream and in some ways I think is better than an E46 5-series. That's how highly I think of the car.

I had both of the issues you mentioned. In 2013 or so I had my A/C completely redone since the compressor had ground itself into oblivion. It was a $1400 job, but I didn't regret it at the time(and still don't). My head unit did go out, and at the time it was about $75 to find a good working pull on Ebay and an evening to swap it out.

The suspension on these is a bit high strung, and you do need to stay on top of repairs. I had a rear ball joint creaking for a while, and it took a bit of fighting to get it split to replace. The suspension often gets neglected on these, and doing it all in one fell swoop can cause a lot of sticker shock. When everything is right, the car will actually stay dead level(with no noticeable "dive") under light to moderate braking, and will dive very little under heavy braking. Any noticeable brake dive on these is actually a sign of impending suspension work.

I have a soft spot for the cars still, and if I had the space I'd hunt out either the nicest V8 garage queen I could find, or else would hunt for the rare 2000 V6 manual.
 
Originally Posted by Astro14

A really nice handling car with a good ride and tight steering. The V-8 was good engine, moved out pretty quickly.
!


I surprised/impressed people more than once when riding in mine.

There again, back when I was in college, we had some pretty severe 90º curves with no banking near campus that were signed at 15mph. I'd reliably do them at 45-50mph(young and dumb then) and even though you might leave an imprint on the driver's seat cushion, the car never actually felt anywhere close to coming loose.

Even more sanely driven, it would still grip and corner far better than you'd expect a nearly 2 ton car to do. My MG FEELS a lot more nimble(and less face it is a lot more fun on a tight road), but when I had them both the LS would out handle it any day of the week and twice on Sunday.

I had my LS up to 125 a couple of times, and the car felt like it was telling me "is that all you've got?" You didn't feel 100 in it. I'm told by people that have done it that they ran out of steam around 150-155(supposedly the standard version was limited to 145, and the sport wasn't limited. I was never close enough to say first hand. Again, in my younger and dumber days, I'm lucky I didn't get into trouble with it.

I did have a plastic coolant junction explode on the interstate one time, and that one needed a tow. I'd also occasionally get a bubble in the cooling system at just the right spot that would cause the engine to think it was overheating(when it really wasn't) and throw it into limp mode. Never figured that one out, but it would go away on its own.

Coils were fun. I had one or two go at maybe 125K. A failing coil actually gives an interesting set of symptoms, as you'll often feel a couple of misfires followed by limp home mode. Pull the code, and you'll likely get a laundry list of stuff related to the throttle body. What I was told is that stray RF from a failing coil would make the ECM think the throttle body was acting up, and would go into limp mode to prevent unintended acceleration. That's all good and well unless it happens when you're passing someone on the interstate. I threw 8 new coils(along with plugs) in it and never had another issue.
 
My father had a V8 LS; (perhaps 2001) Impressed by the build quality and ride, but it gave several indications of impending money pitness.

There was a traction control light that the dealer tried to weasel out of addressing and one day the engine decided to blow a giant cloud of white smoke... just once, which is even more unnerving than just flat out failing....

It was replaced with a prius, which I drive to this day.

IMHO, this is not a good project car, unless your project is to see if your DD can pull a car to the wrecking yard.
 
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Thanks for all the responses! I should clear a few things up, just in case people misunderstand my position of looking for a "beater":

1. I'm not looking for something that has to be a reliable DD right away. In fact, quite the opposite. I plan to spend the summer tinkering with it.

2. I have access to a full shop with hoists and an alignment rack. I do all my own work, including alignments. I'm an ASE certified technician. Wrenching doesn't scare me.

3. This won't be a car to get "[censored] and span", just nice enough to drive. If it doesn't have A/C, so be it. I have a nice fancy car in the garage if I want to drive something nice.

I'm just looking for something fun, different, and not a complete turd. I realize the LS can be a finicky beast, but they really aren't expensive parts wise. I priced out suspension parts and most of the control arms are between $50 and $80 including the ball joint. Not unreasonable at all. Heck, a complete front knuckle assembly with ball joint is $75 on RA. It comes with new hubs, so I could rebuild the entire front end for about $350. Add in another $100 for rear struts, and I should be well on my way to having a decent ride.
 
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