1997 Lincoln Town Car signature 4.6

Summary:

Buy them when they are a few years old for a song

Faults:

Cracked intake manifold resulting in coolant leak. Ford split coast of repair despite being out of warranty.

Drivers side heated leather seat does not work

700.00 to replace cover with built in element.

General Comments:

The Lincoln is a good car, but because of it's complexity and numerous features things can and will go wrong.

Would you buy another car from this manufacturer? Yes

Review Date: 24th July, 2003

9th Aug 2005, 05:41

"The Lincoln is a good car, but because of it's complexity and numerous features things can and will go wrong". You are absolutely right. If things don't go wrong how can Ford make even more money. This is what happens when you fall in love with your car. Its bizarre when you take comfort with others when they have the same Ford problem. Anybody out there receive "Ford therapy"?

19th Jul 2006, 06:53

I don't think they were making a judgement on quality. I think they were just saying that with all the seemingly needless sensors and such, there's a lot of little things that can break. I know from experience, my '94 Town Car has had $2000+ in repairs in the past year due to failing sensors, air suspension, and misc. other problems. But then again, I was a bit anal about keeping everything running like new. The transmission started slipping on it in the past month, so I'm going to be forced to sell it before more debt occurs. LOL.

1997 Lincoln Town Car Cartier 4.6L

Summary:

Once you get past Ford's poor customer service, it's a good car

Faults:

Like many Lincoln Town Cars, the plastic intake manifold cracked, spewing anti-freeze all over the engine and leaving me stranded 600 miles from home. Even though Ford has repaired many vehicles with the plastic manifold on recall, for some reason my car doesn't qualify for the recall. I paid an extra $800 for repairs a month after I got the car.

General Comments:

Except for the problem with the intake manifold, the Lincoln has done well. It's a comfortable vehicle that's easy to drive for its size.

Would you buy another car from this manufacturer? Yes

Review Date: 25th October, 2002

22nd Jan 2003, 11:40

I purchased a 97 Lincoln Town Car from a Lincoln dealer with 26,000 miles on it. It was a program car and still under warranty. At 66,000 miles on the vehicle, I was about 400 miles from home when the plastic intake manifold cracked causing the vehicle to lose the engine coolant. I felt betrayed by Ford Motor Company since they had replaced these same manifolds on police vehicles, etc., at no charge. It cost me $1,200 for the repairs, towing and rental vehicle. Ford Motor Company has known for years these plastic intake manifolds would crack, not if, but when, and yet never informed my of this disaster waiting to happen. Ford customer service was very unfriendly and unhelpful and downright rude. I went all the way up to William Ford himself only to have the door slammed in my face. I'll never purchase another Ford product, or any vehicle that has a plastic intake manifold on it. This happened in Oct. 2002 and was brought to a conclusion today, Jan 22, 2003, by none other than the office of Mr. William Ford which declined to take any responsibility for this problem. This is sure not the Ford Motor Company that used to place customer service and satisfaction at the top of the heap. Goodbye Ford forever!

OL, Shawnee, Oklahoma (Email: family_1@charter.net)

16th Aug 2003, 23:05

Yes, I too have been doomed to have the intake manifold crack. I have a '97 Mercury Grand Marquis with about 70k miles. $1200 to have a part replaced that the manufacturer knows is faulty.

23rd Aug 2003, 10:55

Lincoln Town car with 75,000 miles, cracked intake manifold, 1000 bucks to replace and the replacement uses an aluminum coolant housing. This tells me that Ford knows that this was a problem, but chooses to let their customers pay for their mistakes.

26th Jul 2009, 14:48

In 2006 I purchased a 1997 Towncar, about 3 weeks later it was running while I was busy doing something else, it became volcanic and I shut it off. Waited for it to cool down and saw the source of the gusher. I had it towed and the intake manifold was replaced with one of the same type. I did not know of this (defect in Fords Design) and about 6000 miles later I was away from home, and it did it again. I searched online and found out about the flaw and I called Ford, unfortunately for me, it is way too late. I also have a 1995 Towncar that has an aluminum intake manifold that works wonderfully. In the computer industry we always said if it is not broke, do not fix it! Looks like Ford could try that as a design motto.

27th Jul 2009, 08:00

"Unfortunately for me it was far too late"

What do you mean? Too late for warranty or too late to fix your car due to the damage done by the intake?