06 LS Overheating

[Machspeed]

LS Over heating

Friends, I have an 06 Lincoln LS with only 40k miles on it. I baby this car and have it serviced routinely. Yesterday I took a quick five-minute ride into town where I stopped into a local retail store, made a quick purchase and then headed back for home. Just a few minutes down the road I hear the driver alert sound and note a warning regarding the temperature. I look at my gauge and it’s pegged to the hot side. I’m just a couple minutes from the house now so I continue on and get another alert saying decreased engine performance along with an engine light. The car then became very sluggish such that I did not think I was going to make it into thee drive way some 100 yards down the road. I did make it though, and after parking, immediately turned the car off. There was no steam or anything coming out from under the engine. I note no leakage or strange burbling sounds. I allowed the car to sit for a few hours and then started it up. The engine sounds fine, but there is an engine light on now. A couple of questions now:

1. Was the car running sluggish because the computer made it that way in order that I shut the car down to avoid additional damage…..sort of a mode to protect the engine? Or, was it the excess heat that caused it to run poorly?


2. What would be your advise on what to check for based off what I’ve noted here.


3. Why would an engine light be on after the car cooled?



Thanks,

John

 

[scjmc]

You are probably fine. The computer puts the engine into reduced power mode at a certian point of an overheat scenario. It disables 4 cylinders and just pumps air through them to help cool the engine. I think the idea here is to give you a minute or so to find a safe spot to stop.

Most likely you have air in your cooling system due to the failure of one or more plastic parts. These cars are very picky about the coolant being full in the engine or it will overheat. Sometimes it will happen intermittantly. My 02 LS would sometimes overheat when it was about 2 cups low on coolant.

CEL might be on to report that the engine was in reduced power mode. I dont know.

 

[manoli]

you are probably fine. The computer puts the engine into reduced power mode at a certian point of an overheat scenario. It disables 4 cylinders and just pumps air through them to help cool the engine. I think the idea here is to give you a minute or so to find a safe spot to stop.

Most likely you have air in your cooling system due to the failure of one or more plastic parts. These cars are very picky about the coolant being full in the engine or it will overheat. Sometimes it will happen intermittantly. My 02 ls would sometimes overheat when it was about 2 cups low on coolant.

Cel might be on to report that the engine was in reduced power mode. I dont know.

+1

 

[Machspeed]

scjmc, that helps in the relief department....thanks. Still, I don't know enough about how this car works to even begin ascertaining the problem. I've read some things regarding the degas bottle, low coolant, and air in the system. Not sure that's the issue but I will be looking at those aspects tomorrow, as I'll have time. What about the fans? When I realized the car was overheating, I turned everything off (AC, radio, etc) and did not hear the fan running. I'm wondering if that could be the problem. How does one go about checking of an issue there?

BTW, sweet Mach. I have a 69 that I am about to begin a full rotissorie resto on. It will be a resto mod.....408 Stroker, TKO 600 trans, etc.

Thanks,

John

 

[scjmc]

My 02 would sometimes overheat suddenly. IIRC if either CHTS (cylinder head temp sensor) reports a problem it causes an immediate overheat. This might happen even if the coolant is not too hot. Whenever my 02 would overheat I could usually hear the fan. Our 06s have some loud fans when they crank up, so maybe it is worth looking into. All i know is that on my previous car I had a leak that was evidenced by white dry splatter of coolant on the underisde of the engine cover. It would only leat at high RPM, so when I would pass for example coolant sprayed out and dried before I parked the car. Ultimately I replaced the plastic parts, degas bottle, radiator hoses, and degas bottle at the same time.

To sum things up every single overheat instance I had in my GEN I LS was related to low coolant/air in system. I am sure that the GEN II is the same, I just havent had trouble with my 06 yet.

Thanks for the comments on the stang. Have fun restoring yours. Mine is unrestored so far. I have it lightly restomodded with a newer 351, and T5 manual. Currently disabled due to a Tiawan sourced fuel tank. New Canadian made fuel tank on the way.

 

[joegr]

... What about the fans? When I realized the car was overheating, I turned everything off (AC, radio, etc) and did not hear the fan running. I'm wondering if that could be the problem. How does one go about checking of an issue there?

...

There is only one fan.
Turn the AC on and start the car. Open the hood. You should hear, see, and feel the fan running. If you don't, there is a problem with the fan or the PCM.


While the LS has failsafe cooling, you really really don't want to keep driving (even if it is just one more mile to go) once the temp gauge hits "H." You are shortening the life of your engine.

 

[Machspeed]

Hey thanks guys, but I just loaded it up on the trailer and took it to the dealer. See what the damage is tomorrow. If I had more time, I'd probably messed with it, but time is something I seem very short on these days.

Car sounded fine this morning when I fired it up. In fact, I let it idle while on the trailer for sometime and the gauge never moved past the mid point......strange. I'll keep you posted.

scj, one has got to do their research when purchasing parts for our cars. There is so much cheap crap out there....been there too. Hope you were able to send that first fuel tank back. Where did you source your T5 from and how did the fit up go?

John

 

[scjmc]

scj, one has got to do their research when purchasing parts for our cars. There is so much cheap crap out there....been there too. Hope you were able to send that first fuel tank back. Where did you source your T5 from and how did the fit up go?

John

Well I bought a cheap tank on ebay. I figured, its a gas tank, how can they go wrong? I then went through a bunch of trouble to have some paint made for it that was kind of a gunmetal grey. I gun painted the tank in my paint booth (which I no longer have) and installed. The tank just rusts from the inside like crazy.

I got the T5 from someone on ebay. Nice rebuilt unit for a few hundred bucks. It is an 88 World class unit. Stock 5.0 bell housing works. I bought a trans mount and cable kit from a company I think it was called Modern Driveline. I had a tough time finding the correct flywheel because I am running a newer 5.8 and ther are both 28 and 50 oz imbalance motors out there. I had to shorten the driveshaft a little also. I sourced the pedals from a bone yard. Not to say the car was slow with tha auto, but the manual really woke it up. Huge weight savings also because I was using an AOD.

I killed 16 automatics in that car, even ones that were built for 400+ HP. The WC T5 is only rated for like 265 ftlbs or something and I am closer to 400. Its been in the car for 7 years not with no problems.

 

[Machspeed]

That T5 can handle far more than what it's rated at and I started to go with one, as they are a bit smoother in shifting and would have installed easier than the TKO-600 I purchased. However, as I purchased my entire trans assembly from Modern Driveline, he would not warranty any of it with my engine. My engine makes over 500 HP and 535 ft/lbs of torque. I went with Modern Driveline because they are number one in the game and because they have it all, everything from the pedals to the driveshaft. It all is set up to bolt right in and I very much wanted that convenience. I hear ya on the automatics too....LOL! Been through a few as well. This stick will be the first in this car as all the others were automatics..... everything from an FMX, to a C4 and even a C6.

 

[scjmc]

My problem is that the 71-73 years have lowest production and have the least amount of parts avilable. It is getting better these days though. When I did the AOD conversion we had to modify or fabricate some parts as there was nothing avilable in 99.