Tune up question for a 2001

[Temos]

Ok, so I just bought this used 2001 Lincoln Cont, and it's about to go on 100,000 miles. I was talking to someone I work with, and they said it's going to cost alot of money to get a tune up, because of how everything is situated in under the hood. Could anyone tell me how much their tune up costs, or how much it should be? I need to know so I can figure out how much of my paycheck to set aside for a tune up. Thanks.

 

[ground_zero298]

The guy at work has absolutley any idea about conti's. You couldn't ask for a better car to do a tune up on. Everything is right on top of the engine. If it is running good you might not want to change to much. But you could do your plugs, make sure you use antisieze on plugs and dieletric grease on your coil packs (their are no plug wires on your car) Air filter, cabin air filter, pcv valve. You could also do a trans flush and filter also IF AND ONLY IF the trans fluid has been changed regularly at every 30,000.

Plugs, oil change, air filter, pcv valve, and cabin filter will run you around 80-85 dollars. You can do all these by yourself, it requires no real mechanical knowledge. Trans flush and filter will run you around 245 at a ford's dealer, DO NOT take it anywhere else, ford will warranty their work.

Brakes will run you about $100 a set (front or back) easy to do yourself, you will want to purchase a cube tool to run the back calipers in. Coil packs are kind of pricey but if you don't have any problems with them you can let them go.

Good Luck and welcome to LVC!!!!!!

 

[SilverSweetness]

Great Car

You've got a great car as long as it was well taken care of.

The transmission is the riskiest part of the vehicle. I have had ford change my fluid twice because I am kinda hard on it, passing people and a good amount of city driving. I had them do the changes 6 months apart but getting it done once and driving for maybe 3000 more miles then doing it again will get more of the fluid changed.

When you do a transmission service not all the fluid can be removed, so doing it more than once in a short time freshens the fluid better. The reason I recommend this is if you read up on the transmission ford used (AX4N), it is not the best transmission out there, it was meant for the ford taurus after all which has around 100 less horsepower and probably the same amount less torque. This means that if you use all that power all the time or do lots of burnouts or spin the wheels in the snow a lot, you can and will end up wit a broken transmission.

The repair/ replacement of the trans is around 1600 to 2000 depending on what broke and who fixes it. So I hope that some old man or woman had the car before you and took good care of it and serviced the transmission as specified.

As a bit of good news I just rolled over 160,000 and she is running fine. I had new cam position sensors put in it along with a new fuel pump and a new idle control valve. Plus a set of plugs which I did myself and it wasn't too difficult.

Although the transmission now has hard shifts from 1st to 2nd when cold and sometimes when warm. Interestingly, when the car is well warmed up they go away for the most part except at LOW rpm shifts. When I push 1st to above 4000 rpm or so it shifts much smoother...? Strange huh?!

Good luck and enjoy her, I feel that there are very few cars that have the style and handling and ride and PERFORMANCE of the continental. I wish ford would make a new one on the new taurus platform.

 

[pokeeto2]

These cars are easy to work with to some extent. Spark Plugs and Ignition coils are quite simple to change.

Like said o here, the transmission is the most difficult, but also second to that is changing the belt or any related parts in line with the belt like the air compressor, water pump, belt tensioner & etc is very time consuming because of space.

Other than the then the tranny, the parts & mechanics of them is pretty basic & str8 forward.

 

[pokeeto2]

They are, the MKS. It will not be a V8 but a 3.7 v6, but a twin turbo option is coming out later which will make it pump over 340hp. Much more power than a conti. Bigger car too.

Though I would of like it with the Continental name.

 

[Temos]

Well I talked to a few other people I work with. One of them is going to school for car mechanics, and he said if I buy the stuff needed to do a tune up, he'd do it for me.

Basically, the reason I wanted to do a tune up is because I was getting early detonations, even with premium gas with octane booster. I was told that faulty spark plugs or ignition coils (whatever they're called), could be the one of the reasons I get early detonations, and why my MPG has dropped by 3.