Mark VIII Daily Driver?

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2005HotRodLincoln

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Hello Mark VIII guys, I am currently the owner of an 05 LS V8 sport. I drive about 60-80 miles a day and I fear eventually this will take a toll on my LS. I am looking to get a new daily driver so i can keep from putting miles on my LS. I would like to go with a Lincoln, preferably a Mark VIII. What I would like to know is if the Mark VIII is a good car for high miles? I like the Mark because of the drivetrain and the fact that its a 2 door. They look like they can be had for a great price too. I just want to know if they can handle the miles, and how many miles can you put on one? :)
 
I put 230,000 on my first 93, 180,000 on my 95 that Pepperman is now driving at over 200K, and I have 190,000 on my 94 ... but I only have 98,000 on my current 93. How are they on miles ... Hmmmmm ...

I'm sure there are members who have put more on than me ...
 
With care, as much as a crown Victoria.
My 95 is my dd i commute 80 miles round trip 5 days a week and if me and the wife are running round we take the mark too. So the miles are adding up quick.
 
Theres a guy at my work with a crown vic that has 300,000+ miles and still going. I've allways liked the crown vics, but I think I'd prefer the mark.
 
Throw coils on it and freshen everything up and I don't think you'd have to much trouble with it as a dd.
 
A panther platform will be a more reliable car but the mark still holds its ground. I had one for a DD for 6 years but I drive a 2001 TC and the 50,000 miles I put on her haven’t hurt here one bit. Marks are great DD but you will be putting a little more money in to one of those verses a Crown Vic/Grand Marquee/Town Car. The mark is a little better on mileage too.
 
Markviiiedrea said:
A panther platform will be a more reliable car but the mark still holds its ground. I had one for a DD for 6 years but I drive a 2001 TC and the 50,000 miles I put on her haven’t hurt here one bit. Marks are great DD but you will be putting a little more money in to one of those verses a Crown Vic/Grand Marquee/Town Car.
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I agree, a Mark will probably be more maintenece than a panther chassis, but would you guys agree that more fun can be had in a Mark?

We used to have a Black 02 Grand Marquis with a cat back Borla System, custom made K&N cold air kit, Bored throttle body, Silver 18" Cobra R's. Kind of like a marauder clone, but im still leaning towards a Mark. I think I'd have more fun with it.
 
6 of one half a dozen of the other. My TC is more of a truck then 80% of those trucks out there, that is where I get my fun out of it. You should see half the stuff I’ve towed with it. Also it's slow enough to not let me get so many tickets. Depends what you use it for, if your just using it to transport yourself and don’t mind paying the little extra in maintenance cost then a Mark VIII is great for it.
 
I have had a 97 crown vic, and my 17 year old brother currently DD's an 03 Police Interceptor to high school/weekend fun. I DD a 93 Mark VIII I've had for about 4.5 months, 1300ish miles, 121k Now.

The 97 blew the motor for some reason at 101k (properly maintained:Bang) and we got the highway patrol 03 P71 with 190k, just rolled 200k. Minus a missfire on cylinder 6, no real issues with the crown vic.

The Mark needed ball joints, after a full tune up the mark has it's quirks (such as hesitation then surge first minute being run, slow leaky oil gasket) it runs great. I would agree that it doesn't seem to be quite as bulletproof as the panther platform, especially a heavy duty police interceptor, but should hold up just great if properly maintained. Get one converted to coils already though, the air ride will eventually leak/break and then you have a PITA to fix.

They are cheap, fast (for what they are) and comfy cars! Getchu one!
 
My 97 has been my daily driver for almost 11 years now, including 4 coast to coast trips. Only left me stranded once, blew the fuse that controls the AC (and unfortunately the radiator fan) on my way back from Vegas in the middle of nowhere, nothing but desert all around. Only time its ever seen a tow truck. 115* out and still 2 hours from home I was too scared to run the AC the rest of the way so it was a miserable ride, but other than that its been a great car. Normal maintenance and a swap to coils and you should be good to go.
 
Chadly said:
Only left me stranded once, blew the fuse that controls the AC (and unfortunately the radiator fan) on my way back from Vegas in the middle of nowhere, nothing but desert all around.
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(note to self, check spare fuses PDQ)
-are you still blowing AC/FAN fuses? if not what did you do? is that a big fuse in the PWR DIST BOX?
 
6 months ago I started my job and using my Mark as d/d with about 160k...have since converted coils, replaced motor mounts, serp belt, changed plugs (autolite 764 coppers) plan on doing this every 15-20k....not too much else so far, right now one or more pulleys are making noise....keep in mind the 93-96 headlights SUCK..you WILL have to resolve that for night driving..the front end takes a beating....ball joints, sway bars, tie rod ends, etc
 
dnsherrill said:
(note to self, check spare fuses PDQ)
-are you still blowing AC/FAN fuses? if not what did you do? is that a big fuse in the PWR DIST BOX?
Click to expand...

Here are two diagrams, I think from a 95:

Gen1Fuse2.jpg


http://carnagepro.com/mark/Gen1Fuse2.jpg

fuse1.jpg


http://carnagepro.com/mark/fuse1.jpg
 
I loved driving my '93 as my daily before I totalled it. It needed everything replaced under the front end, but other than that I loved it. I wish I could drive it daily still
 
Mark VIII was the second best daily I ever had. BMW 740i M Sport was the best but the Mark is WAY cheaper to keep up. They have their quirks like any car but they ride great, great power and good milegage. Pluss if its stock and not black then cops ignore them.
 
thanks for the schemes, need to print those and keep in glove box....so that A/C and rad fan would be the 20 amp EEC/VCRM fuse?
hmm, now I have coils...what can I do with that 50 extra amps freed up from the air compr?!?!!
 
On mine it was a 40 amp fuse, I had 10, 15, and 20, no 40's though. Dont remember off the top of my head which fuse it was. I actually havent ran the AC since then so I dont know what it was. Only had the air on cause the wife was with me. Normally just go with the windows down and the sunroof open.
 
For what it matters, I went from a LS to a mark. My Daily drive is 140 mile round trip to work... got a second ZX2 car to save the Mark from wearing itself out and so far 223600 on the ZX2 and 157000 on the Mark and still running them both like I stole them daily (80-90 mph, hwy of course) and doing fine. The Mark is going through a total redo cause that is my vehicle of choice and want to keep it for a good long time. BTW I do my own work on both which helps greatly.
 
I had 177,xxx miles on my 97 when I sold it. It was my DD. Only area of problems I had were the front brake rotors didn't seem to last long but rotors are cheap. Other than that everything worked great. My air ride was still original except for one rear bag but it was fairly cheap to replace. I say get one. Everyone should have a Mark once in their life.
 
I got my first Mark (96) worst year it would seem as has a lot of parts specific to that particular year. Anyway got it with 133k and drove it to 210k when the trans finally let go.

Then picked up a '98 LSC with '86k on it and went to 139k when I found another '98 LSC with 58k on it. The 2 '98's besides rotors and both lost 1 coil but that is it. Run perfect and all including the 210k one had Air Bags. Only replaced rear bags on the '96 which was an EBAY bought for cheap and only a few hours to replace.

I do have to say even though they last pretty much forever I did pick up a '89 C1500 as a DD just cause I don't feel like loading the miles on my Low mile LSC with my 70 mile a day comute. It does feel that much better when I do drive it on the weekends now :cool:
 
I picked up my 94 Mark VIII base about 6 months ago now, with 226k miles...

now it has 232k miles, and I am still working out the quirks but got about 75% of them ironed out... nothing in the interior worked right when I got the car.. somebody used to sit their coffee cup on the dash near the VMM unit, and it spilled on the VMM buttons and went down the dash behind the AC and stereo and it was no fun cleaning up - maybe that is why I never got the stereo to work, but I just threw in a Pioneer unit for now until I move the custom stereo in that was left over from my Tbird. I fixed the AC head unit, and the VMM unit though at least, and still have a few more switches..

I swapped out the front LCA's within weeks of getting the car after busting a ball joint - the air bags are from 2000, and seem to be in decent shape and no leaks so far, but ALL of the bushings are rotted on front and back and I plan to completely replace everything while holding on to my air ride for as long as I can. I know the car will feel great with all new control arms and bushings, and better sway bars. I have worked a lot on my Tbird, building up the suspension and turning it into a slick handling machine - I plan to do the same setup with my Mark while retaining the air ride. I will only convert to the MN12 setup when I absolutely need to.

My driver door handle and the housing for it needs to get replaced. The wiper fluid pump doesnt work at all (no motor power), and the headlights blow, as sometimes I have to flicker my brights or get out of my car and look at the front end to make sure that my headlights are even on! The 2nd night I had the car I almost ran over some drunk ass bum in a very dark alley laying on the ground - scared the hell out of me so much I actually had to back up to make sure I didn't turn the idiot into a pancake!

For some reason my rear right tail light is on.. both brake light and turn signal light, and the VMM says there is an issue with exterior lights, but I will get into that with another post.. I have more time now to setup new posts regarding all of these remaining issues left with my Mark.

I am finally going to get some pictures up soon to share with y'all what my $1400 got me back in May - I have had several MN12's over the years, so I this car has a very familiar feeling to it the way it drives, and as far as working on it goes.

Before I get carried away, I think this car has a strong ability to be a daily driver if its kept up and treated properly, and can easily last over 300k miles on an original motor! Eventually I will be building up my drive train as I am looking to turn it into a low to mid 13 second car that I wouldn't think twice about with taking it on a long trip.
 
Well, I bought a low mileage '97 Mark VIII a couple weeks ago. After replacing the blown airbags with a coil over conversion, I've been using it as my daily. My current commute is only about 10 miles a day of all in-town driving where I don't get over 40mph. The mark is a nice car to drive, but in-town mileage definitely sucks. My first tank of gas was 17.55mpg with mostly in town driving, but about 75 miles of highway. My second tank of all in town was 16.23mpg. I think a new F150 would get better in town mileage then this, LOL. It is a comfortable car with lots of power though, it would make a perfect freeway cruiser/road trip car.
 
My 1995 LSC has 207,000 miles on it and is a DD. I'm fixin' to pull the tranny to change front & rear seals, torque converter, and j-mod it (it has a leak somewhere). I also have to change the oil adapter gasket because it leaks sometimes (really badly).

That's really all the mechanical issues it currently has - I've fixed everything else.
 
My 1995 LSC has 207,000 miles on it and is a DD. I'm fixin' to pull the tranny to change front & rear seals, torque converter, and j-mod it (it has a leak somewhere). .
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I developed a front seal leak after getting the trans fluid changed a while back; what do you expect to pay for all that drivetrain work? are you completely rebuilding your tranny?
 
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