03LS-sport
LVC Member
Hello everyone. I have been a member on here since I first purchased my car but this will be my first post. I bought a 2003 Lincoln LS V8. When I first purchased it I knew it had the coil issues. I spent some time trouble shooting it and found it had a cracked spark plug on the #7 cylinder as well as a misfire on the #7 and #3 cylinder. I changed out all the plugs and tried replacing the bad coils but it turned into a never ending game of changing coils. So I took my brothers advice and modified some F150 coils. In order to do this I had to modify the coils by doing some cutting, then used the old coils springs and rubber connectors. After I did that I had make my own mounting brackets as well as reverse the polarity of the coil wires. I had tried using the new coils without reversing the polarity but it put the car into limp mode and shut it down. After doing the coil modifications the car ran like a dream! I ordered a magnaflow cat back exhaust (which had to be modified to fit the v8 exhaust system) and was happy with the performance as well as the nice deep clean exhaust.
Though unfortunately soon after a code popped up because the upstream O2 sensors were burnt out(due to the bad coils). So I replaced them. Then the down stream O2 sensors started coming up. Sure enough the passenger side Cat was going out (P0420 code) and this was also from the bad coils dumping fuel into the exhaust. So I tried to be cheap and thought I could get away with cutting out the cats and running a straight pipe instead. Had the up stream O2 sensors installed into the pipe but just disconnected the down stream sensors. At idle and slight throttle the car sounded AMAZING! Had a deep rumble to the exhaust. But under a load the exhaust had a god awful sound. Really bad rasp and the exhaust itself made just the right frequency (best way to describe it) that would make it sound like it had a bad exhaust leak or rattle. Checked all over and no leaks. So finally after a week of driving like that I caved and had some aftermarket cats installed. Now it runs better then ever, still has a great sound to the exhaust and I can say I am very happy with it. To anyone wanting to cut out the cats I DO NOT recommend it. Having the down stream sensors removed caused a bunch of codes to pop up and the car just didn't run right. Hard to describe it just seemed off... Also I can't confirm it is directly from the cats being removed and the down stream sensors but I got terrible economy without. I am talking 13 mpg hand calculated bad...
I will attach a few pictures of the car and modified coils. As well as a a pic of the new exhaust and how it looked with the cats off. I do not having a pic of the new cats installed but next time I am under there I will get a pic. Oh as well as a pic of my car with mine and my brothers LS. Sorry if this is a long post but I thought I would share my experiences. If you have any questions about the coil modification feel free to ask. I will try to help as much as possible. If I can't help you then ask my brother MechanicBoy. Thank you for your time.
How the new coils with my make shift mounts. I eventually plan on making them a little better but they have worked for the past 1k+ miles.
When I had the cats removed. When I got the new cats installed they replaced all the old exhaust pipe with new tubing.
My car up front with my brothers 01 V6 manual LS (he has the same coil mod but with Mustang GT coils)
The modified Magnaflow exhaust. Had to have the 3rd cat cut out and replaced it with the supplied magnaflow X-pipe.
A picture of my car during the early morning sunrise
Though unfortunately soon after a code popped up because the upstream O2 sensors were burnt out(due to the bad coils). So I replaced them. Then the down stream O2 sensors started coming up. Sure enough the passenger side Cat was going out (P0420 code) and this was also from the bad coils dumping fuel into the exhaust. So I tried to be cheap and thought I could get away with cutting out the cats and running a straight pipe instead. Had the up stream O2 sensors installed into the pipe but just disconnected the down stream sensors. At idle and slight throttle the car sounded AMAZING! Had a deep rumble to the exhaust. But under a load the exhaust had a god awful sound. Really bad rasp and the exhaust itself made just the right frequency (best way to describe it) that would make it sound like it had a bad exhaust leak or rattle. Checked all over and no leaks. So finally after a week of driving like that I caved and had some aftermarket cats installed. Now it runs better then ever, still has a great sound to the exhaust and I can say I am very happy with it. To anyone wanting to cut out the cats I DO NOT recommend it. Having the down stream sensors removed caused a bunch of codes to pop up and the car just didn't run right. Hard to describe it just seemed off... Also I can't confirm it is directly from the cats being removed and the down stream sensors but I got terrible economy without. I am talking 13 mpg hand calculated bad...
I will attach a few pictures of the car and modified coils. As well as a a pic of the new exhaust and how it looked with the cats off. I do not having a pic of the new cats installed but next time I am under there I will get a pic. Oh as well as a pic of my car with mine and my brothers LS. Sorry if this is a long post but I thought I would share my experiences. If you have any questions about the coil modification feel free to ask. I will try to help as much as possible. If I can't help you then ask my brother MechanicBoy. Thank you for your time.
How the new coils with my make shift mounts. I eventually plan on making them a little better but they have worked for the past 1k+ miles.
When I had the cats removed. When I got the new cats installed they replaced all the old exhaust pipe with new tubing.
My car up front with my brothers 01 V6 manual LS (he has the same coil mod but with Mustang GT coils)
The modified Magnaflow exhaust. Had to have the 3rd cat cut out and replaced it with the supplied magnaflow X-pipe.
A picture of my car during the early morning sunrise
