With no intention of getting into an argument with such people, I'm going to give one piece of advice.DON'T go to a dealer to get your car worked on.I'm not saying that people haven't had good luck with dealers,BUT, your best bet is to find an honest, independant, mechanic to look at your car.I have a 90 conti, the most hated Lincoln of late, and as a mechanic it has been my finding that alot of complaints that I'm finding on the web involves dealers exploiting what they know is a problem car.Yes 3.8's had head gasket problems, but, the problems, when fixed correctly with CORRECT parts, seldom show up again.Once again, I'm not saying that this is the case with everyone,but,I know what I've experianced and my best advice is, find someone you know you can trust to work on your car.Dealer mechanics work on flat rate and its in their best intrest to do lots of work.If you're not taking advantage of a warranty, a dealer is probably not the best person to tell you what is wrong.I do my own work, and my Conti has been one of the best cars I've owned.As far as your problem goes.I'd say look in your coolant resevoir.Oil and water seperate, and if they're mixing,such as happens with head gasket problems,the oil will rise to the top and eventualy find itself in your resevior.This isn't always the case though and the other best indication is a very "sweet" smell coming out of the exhaust, which is the coolant burning, which goes along with the milkshake substance talked about in previous threads.A check engine code for o2 sensors is also a good sign as 02 sensors hate antifreeze. Good Luck.
