2002 Lincoln LS LS8 from North America - Comments

Air flow regular at 6k miles - engine wouldn't start.

Fog lamps shorted out at 8k miles.

I owned a Mark VIII before and loved it and since you can't get them anymore I thought this might be the next closest thing. I leased this car a year ago and now I can't wait for the lease to be over in 2 more years. One cold morning, at 6 months old & 5k miles on the odometer the engine just cranked and cranked and wouldn't fire. Had the car towed to the dealer and they claimed I flooded the engine! I didn't want to argue at the time, but I knew they just couldn't figure out what was wrong so I drove it off. Next week the same thing happened again, but I was 300 miles from home. Had the car towed again to a local Ford dealer where the problem was correctly diagnosed. Don't recall the exact name of the failing part, but it was something like an "Air Flow Regulator" - controls the amount of air going to the engine. They got the car running, but didn't have the part. Took it back to my dealer and they replaced it and now everything is OK with that particular issue. You just don't trust a car again after its let you down like that. I bought my wife a Mazda a couple of months before I got this Lincoln and it has twice the mileage on as my LS and has not had ONE problem. I hate to say it, but next time around I'm going to go Japanese.

I'm with you on the Japanese crusade although I am looking at the LS, but Ford and Mazda are somewhat one in the same.

I think that the part you are talking about the is the IAC valve. This is a common problem on Ford cars. Most Explorers have this problem a lot. My Explorer has had three of them replaced in 2 years. The situation is more extreme when it is very cold outside. It is not really that big a of deal, just a hassle.

When you pay this much for any vehicle the last thing you want is hassles.

Who do you think owns mazda silly? FORD.

Chances are that your wife's Mazda was designed and built by American Engineers. With the exception of Honda, Japanese car superiority is a FABLE! Toyota was recently removed from Consumer Report's "Recommended on Quality Reputation". If you read JD Powers companies like Mitsubishi, Subaru, Nissan and Suzuki soundly get their buts kicked by American Car Companies EVERY SINGLE YEAR! JAPANESE FABLES are entertaining but still fables.