my ls is messed up.

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lessthan

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me and some buddies decided to goto buffalo wild wings up in murrieta (i live in socal) which is about 15 minutes up the 15. As were pulling in to the parking lot for it my engine temp gauge is above the red line. when we get out my car is smoking and the coolant is draining on the ground. We go in and eat for an hour let it cool off i come out side and look and the engine coolant tank is empty we pour some water into it to see if it still leaking like before and it sure is. So now i gotta have it towed and have it fixed which im sure isnot going to be cheap. im pretty sure it was because i had the A/c runnin full blast all the way there :(. BTW it is 2000 ls v8 with 62k miles and the temp outside was about 95-100F so itsucks now im without a car:mad:

anyone have an idea of what it could be? i had a problem with this before where my temp gauge would do this but nothing happend. from what i researched about it, it was the thermostat which i picked up but havent had time to install it.
 
I'm sure it wasn't because of the heat and A/C being on. I live in Texas and run mine 80+ with A/C on and no issues. It's odd that the computer didn't shut the engine into "Safe Mode?"
 
it said reduced engine power right as we were pulling up. i get out and i hear sizzling and see steam im like damn. and the engine coolant is running out by the wheel. my friends think its the hose came off or something of that nature. but now i need to get it towed somewhere and have them look at it.
 
Sounds like a cracked degas (coolant reservoir) bottle. Replace the bottle and bleed the system and you should be good to go.
 
LS4me said:
Sounds like a cracked degas (coolant reservoir) bottle. Replace the bottle and bleed the system and you should be good to go.
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is that alot of work? how much are they? i mean its stuck in a parking lot so i cant be out there trying to do alot of :q:q:q:q to it.
 
Coolant tank reservoir. JUST changed mine 3 weeks ago. $152.50 from most dealers but Max can get it for $118 at 5 star Ford. That is if you can afford to wait to have it shipped. If the leak is in the area behind your driver's tire it's the tank without a doubt. I asked the same question and the crew here pointed me in the right direction in less than 3 posts. :)
 
marcredd said:
Coolant tank reservoir. JUST changed mine 3 weeks ago. $152.50 from most dealers but Max can get it for $118 at 5 star Ford. That is if you can afford to wait to have it shipped. If the leak is in the area behind your driver's tire it's the tank without a doubt. I asked the same question and the crew here pointed me in the right direction in less than 3 posts. :)
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yeh it came out from the drivers side wheel area im not sure if was exactly there but it ran along the drivers side wheel. could this also be causing the temp gauge to say it overheating after driving for 5 minutes after a cold start?
 
lessthan said:
yeh it came out from the drivers side wheel area im not sure if was exactly there but it ran along the drivers side wheel. could this also be causing the temp gauge to say it overheating after driving for 5 minutes after a cold start?
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yes definitely is causing the temp gauge to indicate overheating since it is regardless how many minutes it is running. i paid 250 for part and installation and later saw how easy it would've been for me to do it myself. just pull up the cowl under the hood and you will see the tank. 95% sure it's a cracked reservoir tank. the other 5% is just to cover my A$$, lol.
 
The bottle is plastic, so 8 years of high under hood temps will surely cause the plastic to get brittle and crack. Mine did that last September on the way to The Happiest Place on Earth.

THAT is a long and expensive story......
 
I had a coolant leak over the winter. I just had a hose clamp break. About .50 to fix.
 
I had mine replaced at a shop as I had a few bolts that needed tapped out on my strut tower. So unfortunately I cannot say if they had to put it on a lift. But I agree that it can't be hard to change.
 
lessthan said:
yeh it came out from the drivers side wheel area im not sure if was exactly there but it ran along the drivers side wheel. could this also be causing the temp gauge to say it overheating after driving for 5 minutes after a cold start?
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That sounds exactly like a cracked coolant jug. It is probably cracked at the bottom where the hose meets the jug. You can go to newfordparts.com and get there number off the website and call them because they don't have the part listed on there website but they have it for like 90 dollars. It is a huge dealership in michigan so thats why they have the part for cheap but still is a factory lincoln part. It is not that hard to do it yourself. Do you know how to do any mechanical work on your car? If so you should be able to do it in a parking lot in about 2 hours. All you need is a socket set, a rachet with extensions, a pair of pliers, and maybe a long phillips head screwdriver. Let me know if you want to tackle it yourself cause I will give you further instructions.
 
update: today me n my friend went out there and changed the reservoir out in under 1 1/2 hours. we fill it up with anti-freeze and i start driving around the parking lot to make sure its ok. well before we leave the temp gauge starts going up again. so we pull off into a diff part of the lot and this time we change out the thermostat in about 20 minutes and check it again, its still over heating so i called a tow truck and towed it to a dealer to do a diagnostic check on it. i should know today what is the freking problem. ugh this sucks LOL
 
update: they just called me and its a cap and there is air in the system.
 
lessthan said:
update: today me n my friend went out there and changed the reservoir out in under 1 1/2 hours. we fill it up with anti-freeze and i start driving around the parking lot to make sure its ok. well before we leave the temp gauge starts going up again. so we pull off into a diff part of the lot and this time we change out the thermostat in about 20 minutes and check it again, its still over heating so i called a tow truck and towed it to a dealer to do a diagnostic check on it. i should know today what is the freking problem. ugh this sucks LOL
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when you changed the thermostat you have to bleed the cooling system on the LS just like you would on the 4V cobras because they are both 4Valves and share the same cooling system setup. There are two hoses that meet right in the middle of the motor. There is a cap with a rather large allen key on top of it. That is the cap you need to take off and fill the system from once to have filled the jug to the proper level. Once you have filled that part in the middle up with antifreeze CAREFULLY put the cap back on(be very careful the cap may be brittle from the heat, the dealership broke mine and had to buy me a new one whenever they changed my thermostat). Done
 
SlickLS said:
when you changed the thermostat you have to bleed the cooling system on the LS just like you would on the 4V cobras because they are both 4Valves and share the same cooling system setup. There are two hoses that meet right in the middle of the motor. There is a cap with a rather large allen key on top of it. That is the cap you need to take off and fill the system from once to have filled the jug to the proper level. Once you have filled that part in the middle up with antifreeze CAREFULLY put the cap back on(be very careful the cap may be brittle from the heat, the dealership broke mine and had to buy me a new one whenever they changed my thermostat). Done
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see we didnt even take that off, we unscrewed the cooling :q:q:q:q right in front so we could get to the thermostat easier and it worked. we were in the middle of the parking lot, and it was also atleast 100 degrees so we really didnt have a choice on what we could do.
 
lessthan said:
see we didnt even take that off, we unscrewed the cooling :q:q:q:q right in front so we could get to the thermostat easier and it worked. we were in the middle of the parking lot, and it was also atleast 100 degrees so we really didnt have a choice on what we could do.
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I feel ya...the LS's have a pressurized system like the cobras so if you don't fill up the system in a certain order than you will get air in the system. It's cool I have had my LS for alittle over 2 years now and had to go through that but its smooth sailing once you get that fixed. Never had an overheating problem since I changed everything and its in the 90's here everyday with a heat index of over 100 and my LS temperature needle never moves from slight below the half way line(except for when the car cools down then it moves down but never up)
 
I had this exact problem. If it was leaking out your coolant reservoir is cracked and that will need to be replaced & also replace the thermostat. If it still continues your coolant pump is probably clogged or not working and either needs to be flushed or replaced.
 
TDUB said:
I had this exact problem. If it was leaking out your coolant reservoir is cracked and that will need to be replaced & also replace the thermostat. If it still continues your coolant pump is probably clogged or not working and either needs to be flushed or replaced.
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yeah we replaced those and it was still doing it. it turns out it was a cap that wasnt pressurizing the system and was allowing air in.
 
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