What to look for in a 94 MK8 before buying?

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lbrowne

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I've read many many pages on this forum and searched the archives as well. Does anyone have a quicklist of what to check on a 94 MK8, the car has 113k to give you idea where in its lifespan it is ;)

I'm looking for known problems, or troublespots etc.

Any advice is much appreciated. Thanks,

lbrowne

Nice forum!
 
I'd say the air ride and transmission are the biggest things to look for. Make sure the air ride holds air in the bags and make sure the transmission shifts smoothly and doesn't shudder. There are some other that will probably chime in with their suggestions.
 
I'm fairly handy with a wrench so I read that the suspension isn't hard to fix if it needs fixin.. Cost of parts isn't bad either frmo what I read. Good stuff, thanks for the info! :)

How would you check that it holds air? listen for leaks ?
 
look for the "check air ride" message on the screen 90 seconds after startup. Check to see that the car is level. Check that when you push down on the front or rear of the car, while running, that it doesn't sink. Check that it doesnt sink to the ground overnight. Those kinds of things.
 
Drive it listen for front end rattles.Could be bad Upper control arms etc.Look closely at the rocker panels there known to have poor drainage and can rot through.Look for an oil leak at the oil filter which can be the oil filter adapter gasket.Not a hardfix but how long have they been driving it that way?Just a couple tips.good luck
 
67Continental said:
i have that oil leak at the filter :(
Click to expand...
Me too...and a new gasket sitting in the trunk, waiting for me to get ambitious.
My car has 95k miles and few problems that I have had are
front air strut leaks
upper control arm/ball joints
p/s pump
rack and pinion
oil filter housing gasket
oil lever sensor gasket
slight transmission fluid leak (don't know from where)
rusty oil pan (not leaking, but concerning me)
most of these things aren't terribly expensive to fix, if you can do the work yourself.
 
Take it out and drive it. Shifting is an issue but can be fixed. Check the fluids and smell the tranny fluid for any burnt smells.

Tranny shudder around 45 to 50 mph. Could me toque converter is shot.

See if you can look at the car with out the guy knowing your are coming. If you can see the car after it has set for a night. If it's down the bags are leaking. Don't let the guy tell you that the car goes down but always come back up. I've heard that from a few. Then they say the air ride is fine because it goes back up.

Listen for odd sounding noises. If you can drive a Mark VIII that is in pretty good shape before you look at this car it may help.
 
Is there any known component failures that happen like clockwork? You know, like some cars are notorious for having the transmission go after 100k or 150k, that sort of thing...
 
Too many variables to determine clockwork.But I would say if you have an older gen1 with Merc 3 fluid and it hasnt been changed over to Mercon V with a purge .The trans life from what I hear usually is around 120-130K.But again too many variables to determine that.You can beat it and it may never die.but as for anything else.I would say you would get 150K out of your Alt,100-120K out of your water pump.But nothing on these cars is known to go at any certian time.
 
Upper and lower A arms (ball joints) need replacing by 100,000 miles as do the sway bar end links. The air suspension can go out at the same time, though my 138,000 mile compressor and 3 air bags are still going strong (replaced 1). Check to see if the 1/4 cap for bleeding the air out of the cooling system is not stuck, also look for door handles that are getting ready to break, rear shock mounts that are bad, broken climate control and radio buttons (cheap fixes) but which are things to negotiate price. The 93-94's are the quickest of the bunch.
 
I bought my 94 back in 99, I have had only a few problems,headlights {converted to HID's} drivers side outside door handle, climate control buttons cracked, water pump, oil filter adapter/coolant inlet gasket, I also converted to non-air ride, I just could not get used to the way it handled with the air ride. it has 136,000 miles on it now and the tranny is still going strong. :D
 
Well I looked at the only local MK8 that showed for sale on the internet, this is the car that lead me to post on this page. 113K asking 4400.

Front passenger side susp bag is bad, after a few days it settles down. The previous owner for whatever reason that needs to be smacked, put on a CHEAP wood grain kit that fell off in some places and doesn't fit right. Oh god it looks so bad.

The owner of the car lot immediately said when he came out when I was lookin and I asked " I'm pretty much married to that Lincoln"

He first got it 6 months ago, I'm guessing at a dealer auction. Now its here it has a dirty looking passenger headlight, and a suspension airbag that sits after a while. Everyone walks away. He said he knows he will take a big hit on the car and is long prepared to do it - I told him I will call him when its spring/no snow out.

He said that the motor is very strong along with the tranny but as she sits now everyone walks away from her. I can understand why, that interior wood grain, and the suspension passenger airbag, don't even know what it costs to pay someone to fix it - but I can do it myself :D

He immediately took 1000 off the price, I said not with the suspension and interior like that. Told him I will call back when the grass is green. He's at the point of placing it at the local auction and cutting his losses soon (very serious about it), he has a small amount of real estate for advertising cars. (carries many Volvos and largers trucks SUVs)

One thing I liked about the dealer was he seemed to be quite honest. Especially the part about he was married to the MK8.


pic of the car:

mk8.JPG
 
Wondering if the front end rattles is a big deal?? My car has it when u hit bumps and my friend and I looked at it... the gaskets are torn.. its a 93 Mark VIII. 170,000 and counting kids, original engine and transmission and drives great except for that fricken noise when i hit bumps. SOMEONE PLEASE HELP ME! We think it is one thing and my dad who is a GM of a huge autobody shop thinks it may not be. Also with the oil filter leak, will it cause the oil pan to have oil all over it?? That could save the shop charging me out the tail. Thanks Fellas!
 
my95mark8 said:
Me too...and a new gasket sitting in the trunk, waiting for me to get ambitious.
My car has 95k miles and few problems that I have had are
front air strut leaks
upper control arm/ball joints
p/s pump
rack and pinion
oil filter housing gasket
oil lever sensor gasket
slight transmission fluid leak (don't know from where)
rusty oil pan (not leaking, but concerning me)
most of these things aren't terribly expensive to fix, if you can do the work yourself.
Click to expand...

Watch that rusty oil pan. My Lincoln dealer assured me it was no big deal on my 95 base - til three weeks later I had a catastrophic oil pan failure due to rust out (at 90 mph). I pretty much trashed the motor and spun around a couple of times before I got lucky and ended up in a field. :(
 
BrightsMarkVIII said:
Wondering if the front end rattles is a big deal?? My car has it when u hit bumps and my friend and I looked at it... the gaskets are torn.. its a 93 Mark VIII. 170,000 and counting kids, original engine and transmission and drives great except for that fricken noise when i hit bumps. SOMEONE PLEASE HELP ME! We think it is one thing and my dad who is a GM of a huge autobody shop thinks it may not be. Also with the oil filter leak, will it cause the oil pan to have oil all over it?? That could save the shop charging me out the tail. Thanks Fellas!
Click to expand...


Upper control arm and/or lower ball joints are common issues on the Mark VIIIs both Gen I and Gen II. I have a rattle in my pass side Looks to be my UCA and will replace this weekend (supposed to be in the 70's). I will let you know if the rattlle goes away.

Best thing on the oil leak is to de-grease the whole thing and then look to see where the fresh oil is coming from. Oil can go everywhere when you drive.
 
So any insight on what I posted earlier?

The interior, how hard to remove the already bad woodgrain kit? Are the dash pieces actually removeable? I wouldn't think for some of them. Maybe remove the crap thats there and replace it with a good quality kit... I would almost rather the interior was left all black.

I must say its rather cool looking black on black....
 
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