Weird.....

[rgvlincoln]

Okay i'm gonna explain this in truck language cus I dont know how u guys would say it....after my car shifts to 3rd and I feel the converter lock, keepin it at around 2000rpm it feels jumpy. I dont know if that makes any sense to u guys.

 

[rgvlincoln]

anyone know if that's normal??

 

[Jim Henderson]

Sounds like you might have the famous coil failure starting to happen. Not sure why you say it happens in 3rd with the converter locked. I guess it would do it if you were under light acceleration.

The symptom of coil failure I noticedis that under light acceleration or steady cruising at about 2,000 RPM the engine will stumble a bit. That is an early sign of failuer. Usually at that point if you are accelerating hard, you won't feel it. But later when the coils are really bad it will struggle and stumble a lot even under hard accleration.


That would be my guess based upon the little info you gave. Could be other things like EGR, O2 sensors, intake leak bad plugs, early tranny failure etc. But coils would be a start.

Good Luck,

Jim Henderson

 

[n8bachelor]

Or it could be the natural reaction of our funny transmission. Try taking the car out of D5 and put it in D4. My guess is that the tranny is 'confused' as to which gear to engage. It has happened to me a couple of times on a slight incline at about 45 mph. Shifts to third, I maintain speed, then it seems like it is jumping back and forth between forth and fifth gears.

I hope you dont have the coil problem but that too is likely with the early models of the LS.

 

[rgvlincoln]

thanks for the info guys....how much are coils and where can I buy them?? might as well buy some new ones to be on the safe side.

 

[rgvlincoln]

what's the difference between D5 and D4??

 

[rgvlincoln]

Sounds like you might have the famous coil failure starting to happen. Not sure why you say it happens in 3rd with the converter locked. I guess it would do it if you were under light acceleration.

The symptom of coil failure I noticedis that under light acceleration or steady cruising at about 2,000 RPM the engine will stumble a bit. That is an early sign of failuer. Usually at that point if you are accelerating hard, you won't feel it. But later when the coils are really bad it will struggle and stumble a lot even under hard accleration.


That would be my guess based upon the little info you gave. Could be other things like EGR, O2 sensors, intake leak bad plugs, early tranny failure etc. But coils would be a start.

Good Luck,

Jim Henderson

yeah man, when I'm accelarating hard I wont feel it, but if kept at steady pase at 2000 RPMs, I will feel it...so does that mean it's the coils??

 

[T_Man]

what's the difference between D5 and D4??

In D4, the transmission will shift through the first 4 gears normally, ending at 4th gear, which is a 1.00 ratio.

In D5, the transmission will shift through all 5 gears normally, ending at 5th gear, which is a 0.75 ratio.

While cruising in D5 and 5th gear, moving the shift lever into D4 will simply put your transmission into 4th gear.

 

[eastcoastLS]

all these issues sound like early coil failure. replace'm all with vcg kit's and plugs. i've been down that road of replacing one at a time.

 

[rgvlincoln]

all these issues sound like early coil failure. replace'm all with vcg kit's and plugs. i've been down that road of replacing one at a time.

where can I buy these vcg kit coils and plugs??......sorry for so many questions guys, I'm clueless when it comes to Lincolns, I've grown up around Chevy trucks all my life.

 

[rgvlincoln]

In D4, the transmission will shift through the first 4 gears normally, ending at 4th gear, which is a 1.00 ratio.

In D5, the transmission will shift through all 5 gears normally, ending at 5th gear, which is a 0.75 ratio.

While cruising in D5 and 5th gear, moving the shift lever into D4 will simply put your transmission into 4th gear.

will using D4 waste for gas or cause the RPMs to be higher than using D5? I tried using D5 earlier and it felt a little better although on the highway my RPMs were set at 3,000 going 70mph, is that normal??

 

[T_Man]

will using D4 waste for gas or cause the RPMs to be higher than using D5? I tried using D5 earlier and it felt a little better although on the highway my RPMs were set at 3,000 going 70mph, is that normal??

Yes, 4th gear will cause the engine to run at a higher RPM, using more fuel.

No, 3,000 RPM at 70 in 5th is not normal, it is too high. I would surmise that your transmission is not shifting into 5th or is slipping in some way and that you may indeed have a trans problem, which could be anything from low fluid level, faulty solenoids or valve body.

If you have SST, have you tried shifting through all 5 gears manually?

In any case, you should start thinking about having your transmission looked at by a professional.

 

[rgvlincoln]

Yes, 4th gear will cause the engine to run at a higher RPM, using more fuel.

No, 3,000 RPM at 70 in 5th is not normal, it is too high. I would surmise that your transmission is not shifting into 5th or is slipping in some way and that you may indeed have a trans problem, which could be anything from low fluid level, faulty solenoids or valve body.

If you have SST, have you tried shifting through all 5 gears manually?

In any case, you should start thinking about having your transmission looked at by a professional.

AAAAHHHHHHHHH!!! don't tell me that...I'm traumatized with transmissions. I had a ram air, blew the crank, bought a new motor, a week later, blew the tranny. I sold it, got a truck as a daily driver and I couldnt fight my urge to mod it up and blew the tranny, got a performance tranny with bigger converter. Then that converter broke, messed up my tranny. Got a different converter, that one broke as well, messed up my tranny. And now I got it running great and it's just parked in my driveway, that's why I got the LS. Can u see why I'm traumatized with transmissions?

 

[eastcoastLS]

i do around/under 2500 rpm's at 70mph, around/under 3500rpms maintaining 100mph.


EDIT: you can get the vcg kit coils and plugs at the dealer or online at one of these ford vendors which will be way cheaper than your stealership btw.

 

[Jim Henderson]

If your car is under warranty the dealer will fix it but they usually only replace the one bad coil.

I had mine in for this repair last year and it was in for a couple weeks because 1) The dealer is authorized only to replace the bad 1 and 2) When the problem is in the early stages, the computer does not always set a code telling them which one is bad so they remove and replace one at a time.

My Ford field rep tried to tell the dealer the warranty was off because the plugs were NGK so I obviously must have changed them to non authorized plugs. Idiot. NGK is a factory installed plug on many of our LS and eventually the dealer showed him that.

Eventually they replaced 7 out of 8 coils. I wonder which one was number 8?

I have heard if the dealer replaces all your coils for you out of warranty it will cost over $1,000. I have heard Dealer parts counter coils are around $80-$100. I think there are a couple suppliers that advertise on this website that have coils for around $50. Don't know about the VCG kits.

The coils often go bad because the valve gasket fails and leaks oil onto the coils which damages them. Replacing the coils looks easy enough. Replacing the gaskets can be a pain though since you have to remove a lot of stuff so I have read. I think my coils failed due to heat stress from idling in traffic for 90minutes on a really hot day.

The trannies on our cars are also a pita. Mine needed a minor rebuild under a Customer Satisfaction Program at about 15,000 miles. The symptoms of my tranny failure were an occasional really hard shift. Several times I had thought someone behind me had rearended me, it was that hard. A lot of the computer controlled trannies can be fooled into making a harsh shift so I wasn't concerned at first.

When I decided that something was wrong was one night while driving home on an empty street and no noise I noticed some rumbling sounds during shifts. That is when I took it in to the dealer. If your LS is new enough it should be covered either under warranty or maybe the satisfaction program still applies since so many of us have had this problem.


Good Luck,

Jim Henderson

 

[rgvlincoln]

i do around/under 2500 rpm's at 70mph, around/under 3500rpms maintaining 100mph.


EDIT: you can get the vcg kit coils and plugs at the dealer or online at one of these ford vendors which will be way cheaper than your stealership btw.

yeah man, I feel pretty dumb. I tried it out again yesterday on the highway and wen I was doing 70 at 3,000 rpm I had forgotten that I had it on D4..I tried it on D5 and was doing 2500 as well.