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New owner looking for advice

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Posted by: Quinton

Some of you may have seen that I just bought my wife an 00 LS V6. So far I know VERY little about this sharp looking car.
I was wondering if you all could tell me some helpful things about it. Please just throw in your 2 cents on anything from how to change the spark plugs (and what kind work the best) to what are some problems to look out for to turning the key and holding it to roll UP all the windows (that's sweet - I just showed my wife this tonight and she just laughed).

Thanks guys!! Please just let me know anything about our "new" ride.

Posted by: lexdiamondz10304

Main problem seeing that is a 2000 would be the gaskets, they tend to break and fill the sparkplug well with oil, and you might wanna look out for the ball joints. The 00 and 01 years were a bit faulty since they were the first year production cars. I have an 02 v6 with 70k and no problems yet.

Posted by: lexdiamondz10304

EPA Fuel Economy:
City: 17 – 18 Highway: 23 – 25
Available Engines:
210-hp, 3.0-liter V-6
252-hp, 3.9-liter V-8

Available Transmissions: 5-speed automatic w/OD
5-speed manual

Posted by: Quinton

There seems to be more then normal road noise coming from the front (even though it has the Sport package). The front rotors looks to have too much rust on them compared to the rear. Pads and rotors feel pretty good though. I just told the wife to hit them hard to get the rust off - shouldn't be too hard for her to do. LOL I do notice some ball joint noise when hitting bumps. How can I tell it I need to replace them?
The gas mileage doesn't seem as good as it should with the nice design and V6. My supercharged bird got very good gas mileage. Is there any problem with not using 91 octane fuel? I changed the oil on it this weekend and added Z Max to the fuel and oil and a K&N air filter.
How do I know if the gaskets are leaking any? Where are the spark plugs at?

Posted by: Dutch

Quote:

Originally Posted by Quinton

There seems to be more then normal road noise coming from the front (even though it has the Sport package). The front rotors looks to have too much rust on them compared to the rear. Pads and rotors feel pretty good though. I just told the wife to hit them hard to get the rust off - shouldn't be too hard for her to do. LOL I do notice some ball joint noise when hitting bumps. How can I tell it I need to replace them?
The gas mileage doesn't seem as good as it should with the nice design and V6. My supercharged bird got very good gas mileage. Is there any problem with not using 91 octane fuel? I changed the oil on it this weekend and added Z Max to the fuel and oil and a K&N air filter.
How do I know if the gaskets are leaking any? Where are the spark plugs at?

Ball joints were a problem on some cars. I'd only replace them if they exhibit excess movement.

You can use lower octane; the knock sensor will detect it and retard timing, which will hurt mileage and performance.

Spark plugs are inside the valve covers. And for leaky gaskets - just follow the wet spot.

The best advice I can give you is to spend an hour or two reading the owner's manual. You'll find out about all kinds of neat features the LS has that you'd never know about otherwise, including rain-sensing wipers, speed sensitive volume control, heated windshield wiper park, etc.

For buying a car you know nothing about, you sure picked a good one!

Posted by: itsnotmydaddys

for ball joints, i just went throught this, the way to tell is lift the car up and if ur able to move the tire up and down the bj couldnt be bad. mine moved about an 1.5". also of course of theres noise. the plugs as stated are under the vlave cover. just remove the cover and ull c the 4 coils just remove them and use a socket extenision to get to the plugs. once u remove them if theres oil on the plug, clean the cylinder and replace the plugs. theres cds and dvds off ebay that have the step by step on all how to's. pr theres alldata.com

Posted by: Quinton

The best advice I can give you is to spend an hour or two reading the owner's manual. You'll find out about all kinds of neat features the LS has that you'd never know about otherwise, including rain-sensing wipers, speed sensitive volume control, heated windshield wiper park, etc.

For buying a car you know nothing about, you sure picked a good one!

Thanks! I did know about the above but I don't know how to turn on the heated wiper park.
I went to the auction block looking for an Impala LS for my wife but the 2 I was interested in were junk on the inside (and they still sold for more then I paid for the Lincoln). Our Lincoln was going thru as well as a 4Runner and Jeep at the same time and I was halfway watching them assuming that they would sell for more then I wanted to spend. Then the LS was within my budget so I though what the heck I'll bid on it - once again assuming it would blow past my budget. Then when I could finally hear the auctioneer it sounded like I had the top bid. Then I started freaking out because I hadn't even looked at the car. For all I knew the interior could of been ripped to heck. It was a VERY nerve racking day but fortunetly I seemed to have gotten a good deal.

Posted by: mholhut

Quote:

Originally Posted by Quinton

...to turning the key and holding it to roll UP all the windows (that's sweet - I just showed my wife this tonight and she just laughed).

I guess I missed something here

Can someone explain this feature to me?

Posted by: Quinton

Put your key in the driver door and turn clockwise to lock and hold for a few seconds and all your windows and moonroof will close. It's good for a laugh.

Posted by: 01lssport

Sometimes the noise from the front end is bad sway bar bushings.

Posted by: Quinton

Oh yeah? How to tell if the bushings are bad? Can I grab the bar and move it by hand?

What is the sensor under the hood right on the front bumper? I think its right in front of the hood release.

Posted by: lsbit

Quote:

Originally Posted by Quinton

Oh yeah? How to tell if the bushings are bad? Can I grab the bar and move it by hand?

What is the sensor under the hood right on the front bumper? I think its right in front of the hood release.

You CAN'T tell if that bushing is bad, period. Mine looked and felt fine, but I replaced them anyway (after people told me you can't tell if they're bad) and it fixed my front-end clunking. My ball joints were shot too, but weren't causing noise, like I thought they would. Start with those $10.00 bushings. The passenger side is a MAJOR PITA to get to though.

The sensor you are talking about is the outside temp sensor.

Posted by: luvmyls

Did I miss something? What about the heated windshield???? Do all LS's have it?
By the way I just learned yesterday about how to roll the windows back up from reading this board. I have sat and read the Owners Manual and didn't see this in there!!
Buying an LS was the BEST money I have ever spent. I still drive around with a little smile on my face and can't believe I am driving something SO classy!!!!

Posted by: 01lssport

Quote:

Originally Posted by lsbit

You can't tell huh? Looked fine. Felt fine. Didn't sound fine. The clunking sound over bumps is a sign that the sway bar bushings are bad.

Posted by: Quinton

Did I miss something? What about the heated windshield???? Do all LS's have it?

By this do you mean the heated wiper park? As far as I know we don't have a heated windshield. I do have a heated back window and I believe some people have heated mirrors and heated seats. I would much rather cooled seats instead of heated. LOL

I read on here that the LUGNUTS have a tendency to round off easily. I ordered one for a Sebring to see if it will work. I'm not sure since it stated its 12mm but I'll see. Thought I would throw this on in cose others haven't heard of this. I don't want my wife stuck out on the highway sometime.