Have you had these problems?

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BulverdeLS

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My wife loves her LS8 but due to the problems we have had we are likely to sell it soon.
The car is a 2003 and has 54K. The list of major problems consists of:

*Transmission valve body and solenoid replaced at 28K
*Rear brakes worn out at 35K
*Sensor failure in the ventilation system 38K
*Thottle body replaced at 48K
*Rear glass replaced at 49K because of defroster failure.
*Valve cover gasket failure-replaced at 53K

The last repair Lincoln agreed to repair for 100 deductible.

Can anyone share any other problems we might expect to suffer through?

Luckless with Lincoln
 
tranny and valve cover gaskets are the common ones. possibly a bearing out in the rear end and that's about it IIRC. what were your symptoms that required throttle body replacement? haven't heard that one before.
 
BulverdeLS said:
My wife loves her LS8 but due to the problems we have had we are likely to sell it soon.
The car is a 2003 and has 54K. The list of major problems consists of:

*Transmission valve body and solenoid replaced at 28K
*Rear brakes worn out at 35K
*Sensor failure in the ventilation system 38K
*Thottle body replaced at 48K
*Rear glass replaced at 49K because of defroster failure.
*Valve cover gasket failure-replaced at 53K

The last repair Lincoln agreed to repair for 100 deductible.

Can anyone share any other problems we might expect to suffer through?

Luckless with Lincoln
Click to expand...

Trans valve body and solenoid were known issues in 2003. Did you have the PCM reflashed with newer software? That should have been done to give better performance. Rear brakes is very common and covered under the warranty. I've hear reports of sensors failing in the ventilation system, again replaceable under warranty. Same with rear glass. VC gasket in the 03 models is somewhat rare.

As beaups mentioned, wheel bearings are known to go in the LS, but are easily replaceable. Did your headliner droop down near the third brake light? That's a known issue. How about the power steering -- do you hear a grinding noise during low speed parking maneuvers? Also known, but if you are out of warranty, it will be expensive to fix (must replace steering rack).

Sounds like you were only out about $100 for all your repairs so far. Why are you complaining?
 
beaups said:
tranny and valve cover gaskets are the common ones. possibly a bearing out in the rear end and that's about it IIRC. what were your symptoms that required throttle body replacement? haven't heard that one before.
Click to expand...


One morning about a mile from our house the vehicle went into 'limp home mode'. Loss of accereration. Restart didn't reset into normal operation. On the hook and back to the dealership.

Luckless with Lincoln
 
ToddG said:
Did you have the PCM reflashed with newer software?
As beaups mentioned, wheel bearings are known to go in the LS, but are easily replaceable. Did your headliner droop down near the third brake light? That's a known issue. How about the power steering -- do you hear a grinding noise during low speed parking maneuvers? Also known, but if you are out of warranty, it will be expensive to fix (must replace steering rack).

Sounds like you were only out about $100 for all your repairs so far. Why are you complaining?
Click to expand...

It appears that the PCM was reflashed looking at the work orders. Thanks both of you for the warnings regarding the wheel bearings, power steering, and the head liner.

We have owned 5 other FoMoCo products with more than 100K and with 1 exception we have only had to do normal maintenance. We had a Windstar with head gasket failure.

I expect quality. I have owned race cars that were more relialble. In my mind there should't be this number of failures of major components on a car with 50K miles regardless of price, but the fact that this is supposed to be an upscale near luxury car makes it all the more glaring that there are some serious quality problems within FoMoCo.

One of the reasons we purchased the car was the 50K warranty. $100.00 means nothing to me but the safety of my wife is paramount. Since we live 15 miles from a major city and the dealer is 20+ miles away I would be a fool to own a car that could strand my wife or my grandchildren on the side of the road with a wheel bearing or power steering failure.

Luckless with Lincoln
 
neither the power steering issue nor the wheel bearing issue (I was actually referring to the differential) are side-of-the-road stranded issues. They are both really annoying noise issues....
 
I have a 04 LS, had a new rear end put in at 800 miles (humming noise in the diff). Recently at 23000 miles I heard the same noise. They replaced the internal pinion gear with a so called redesigned one. Hopefully I won't have to deal with a bum diff again.

I had a slight noise in the steering wheel, the dealer added a lubricant to the power steering fluid. Seems to be fine now. They said if I hear it again they will replace the rack.

Had the fan blower motor replaced.
Had the driver's back seat leather cover replaced. The leather was seperating/cracking. It's doing it again, dealer may not replace it again. I'll try again before the warrenty is up.

I noticed my headliner drooping near the 3rd brake light. Dealer said that all cars do that, they didn't bother doing anything with it. Should I push this ? It's not drooping alot. How would they fix it, adhesive? Can I fix it myself?

I'm somewhat dissappointed in the quality level of this car. Can't believe I've had 2 differential repairs. I've gone through about 7 cars in my lifetime without one diff problem.

With that said. The LS is the best handling car I've owned. I love the ride it gives. I'm hoping all of the start up problems with this car are over, crossing my fingers. I understand that they did a l lot of improvements in the 04 model that I drive, compared to earlier years.
 
TonyLS said:
I noticed my headliner drooping near the 3rd brake light. Dealer said that all cars do that, they didn't bother doing anything with it. Should I push this ? It's not drooping alot. How would they fix it, adhesive? Can I fix it myself?
Click to expand...

That is the lamest excuse in the world. I don't care if every car they produce does that...it's not right and needs to be fixed. With his kind of logic, if the front wheel fell off at 80 mph on these cars, it would be ok and not have to be fixed because "they all do that". What a crock. Tell the lazy SOB to fix the damn thing!!!!
 
TonyLS said:
I noticed my headliner drooping near the 3rd brake light. Dealer said that all cars do that, they didn't bother doing anything with it. Should I push this ? It's not drooping alot. How would they fix it, adhesive? Can I fix it myself?
Click to expand...

This problem is a very well-known issue and is the subject of a Technical Service Bulletin (TSB #03-17-2) from Ford. I would mention the TSB #, and press them to fix it under warranty.

I agree with 2001LS8Sport, your dealer is lazy if they don't even check the TSB database for this known issue. Watch them closely if they are pulling stunts like this. Who knows what other line of BS they'll be feeding you.
 
I dropped mine off this morning for the noise in the steering system, transmission "hunting" for gears and the A-pillar interior trim coming loose. They are also going to repaint the rear bumper trim due to some flaking in the paint. What is really wild is, they gave me my old Vic I traded in as a loaner. :) I corrected the droopy headliner by JB Welding the velcro strips to the rear light plate and the headliner support. Let them sit over night and then pushed them together to lock the velcro. I have had no more problems with it.
 
How can I get a copy of a ford TSB? Is there a site I can go to?
 
I have a 2004 LSV8 I bought used last year with almost 14,000 miles on it. It needed the valve body and solenoids plus dropping the tranny fixed under warranty around 15,000 or so. I haven't had any other significant problems yet as of 30,000 miles. But I have had some intermittant Advancetrac messages which usually go away. I am suspecting dirty sensors or something in the braking system being marginal such as low fluid(fixed) low tire pressure(fixed). I still get it once in a month or so for one drive cycle. It used to come on almost every day when my brake fluid was low and when the tire was low. This was during a time when I was moving and didn't have access to my tools, so that is my excuse for poor maintenance.

Now I am paranoid from reading the above posts. I have noticed a thruming sound while driving. I assumed it was the California rain groove roads or maybe the tire tread is noisy on the Michelins. It seems to go away mostly on smooth pavement.

Guess this weekend when I rotate tires I'll have to check the diff fluid and treads and the brakes and sensors.

I do expect a better level of quality from this car. Having major tranny work done at 15K was a real disappointment. Hope this is the last of that problem. I expect 100K as an average for trannies. I don't expect a car to get interesting until after about 80K miles. Til then it should just be oil changes.

Other foreign luxury sport models are often as bad or worse, so I can't complain too loud. I have been told by BMW owners that their cars are a maintenance nightmare(maybe that is why they are free now?), and god forbid you ever wreck the front end. BMW requires extraordinary measures to repair the front end, often leading to a "totalled" for minor damage. Also noted that The JD powers surveys, according to the radio, have shown the BMWs to be right down there on the list along with other European makes.
But never fear, there are several low cost Korean makes that are right up at the top for quality.

Just my experiences.

Jim Henderson
 
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