...with two questions. I have a 2005 Ultimate that's 7 months old with 9800 miles on it.
Love it with one exception (well, two, but one's brand new):

First, there's a rattle either near the very back of the driver's door/B pillar that drives me crazy when I hit bumps a certain way. Dealer claims to have "tightened a piece of trim" at 5k, but it didn't seem to do any good. It's been my experience that every problem has happened to someone else so if I can tell him that the doohicky at the back of the thingamabob needs to be tightened, I'd have a chance of keeping my sanity.

More importantly, I now have a low rpm shudder, especially noticeable in 5th doing 60-70 just giving it a bit of gas, but not enough to make the torque converter unlock. Just started.

Bad fluid? Bad torque converter? Latter leading to former? Something else entirely? I've read on this site about older Lincoln owners mentioning this, but not and LS drivers.

Thanks, and I'm glad I found you.

issue #1 is probably the door itself moving a little. to verify this push DOWN on the door while hitting a bit bump, shouldn't get the rattle. on mine, I had to raise the striker up about 1 MM on both sides. rattle gone.

describe your "shudder". could be misfire, tire balance, or a bunch of different issues. I'd take to dealer for that.

:W to :V :Beer

issue #1 is probably the door itself moving a little. to verify this push DOWN on the door while hitting a bit bump, shouldn't get the rattle. on mine, I had to raise the striker up about 1 MM on both sides. rattle gone.

describe your "shudder". could be misfire, tire balance, or a bunch of different issues. I'd take to dealer for that.Sounds like it's within the door. I've pressed down on the top of the door with my elbow and that doesn't make a diff. To my ear, it's something internal, and not a low enough thunk to be the entire door. I need to get someone else to drive it so I can try and localize the sound from the back seat. Anyway, it's kind of bogus getting such a thing from a $40k car.

Re the shudder, it's not the tire balance, it's like driving over rumble strips and it's felt through the seat, the accelerator and the wheel. Dropping to D4 /SST4 instantly causes it to go away, but I don't know if that's because of the increased RPMs, or because of the torque converter unlocking.
If it's a misfire, that'll generate a code, right? I actually haven't even been cheating lately (putting in a tank of 93 then putting in a half a tank of of 89, rinse and repeat) but have been running pure premium.

I'm bringing it to the dealer on Monday. It's all under warranty, but I like to go there with a little bit of knowledge so they don't try and jerk me around.

Many years ago when I worked at an Olds/Mercedes dealership, we had an Olds station wagon (bought brand new) that had a rattle in the roof. Our body man fought that thing for months. He tried everything he could to find it. He pulled the entire headliner/interior out of the roof and everything. Couldn't find it. It was loud, solid, and annoying as hell. Finally, one day after losing his shirt working on this thing for basically nothing for weeks, he gets out his grinding wheel and cuts the top of the roof open. I thought the owner of the dealership was going to have a heart attack. He was just about ready to fire him when Lynn pulled back the roof and laying right between the inner and outer panel of the roof was a wrench with a note around it..."Ha Ha you found your rattle". Seems some assembly line worker thought it was a good joke. The service rep took the wrench with the note and put it in a plastic bag just like the cops do. He was pissed. Olds bought the wagon back.

Sounds like it's within the door. I've pressed down on the top of the door with my elbow and that doesn't make a diff. To my ear, it's something internal, and not a low enough thunk to be the entire door. I need to get someone else to drive it so I can try and localize the sound from the back seat. Anyway, it's kind of bogus getting such a thing from a $40k car.

Re the shudder, it's not the tire balance, it's like driving over rumble strips and it's felt through the seat, the accelerator and the wheel. Dropping to D4 /SST4 instantly causes it to go away, but I don't know if that's because of the increased RPMs, or because of the torque converter unlocking.
If it's a misfire, that'll generate a code, right? I actually haven't even been cheating lately (putting in a tank of 93 then putting in a half a tank of of 89, rinse and repeat) but have been running pure premium.

I'm bringing it to the dealer on Monday. It's all under warranty, but I like to go there with a little bit of knowledge so they don't try and jerk me around.Turns out the rattle was the striker plate moving within the B pillar, and the shudder was the infamous "water in the coils" that had the #3 cylinder misfiring. Between my last post and this one, it got much worse and the check engine light came on and started flashing so she limped to the dealer to get fixed.

On the bright side, they gave me an '06 as a loaner. LOVE the THX/Nav system. Wish I had that on mine (but didn't want to pay the extra 3k when I got mine for it). Other than that, I could spot no differences between that and my '05, other than round fog lights and the new leather smell.