My New LS, tips welcome!

[GenZLSV8]

When I was in high school, I came across one of those “sleeper” YouTube videos. I was just getting into cars, and I decided an LS would be my first V8.

Then, the winter I bought it, I slid my Silver 2004 LS into a wall. Not to mention that, but I did the typical things 19 year olds do to cars. I blew up the power steering doing donuts. My rack and pinion boot is torn, and leaking fluid. At one point, I realized I was in over my head, and finally locked in. With that much damage, plus previous owner damage, I decided gamble a bit.

Today, I swapped my 2002 Buick Lesabre for a 2001 Lincoln LS. I now have two Lincolns. I plan on saving one, using the other for parts. I have unintentionally wiped one of the best cars off the planet. I’d like to avoid doing it again.

The new LS has bad tires. I plan on swapping the wheels from the Gen 2 onto it since the tires are fair. I bring this up because this car is doing 3kRPM at 60, almost 4 at 70. Could this be from the flat? I’d assume this isn’t normal, since my 3.58 ratio gen 2 doesn’t hit 3k until almost 85, 90MPH. The plastics under the hood smell very…plastic and warm as well, something I know Gen1s have trouble with. The coolant is neon green cheap (not excited to flush lol) and there’s wires coming from the fuse box. I would assume this is something aftermarket. Any and all help would be appreciated. I will include just what I noticed today:

-Strong, warm plastic smell after short drive.

-While check transmission is normal for a used LS, I wouldn’t say 3.5K-4k rpm at 60-70ish is normal. This is my biggest worry, but it genuinely could just be the flat rear tire. Surprised I didnt pop a diff driving it home.

-Unknown wiring in engine fuse box that goes behind firewall.

-Yes sunroof, but the button appears pushed in. Cant really move it around, feels flimsy.

-Could be the aftermarket wheels or flat tire, but I swear the left front wheel grinds when turning had.

-The light for back passengers is hanging out of the roof, it clips back in but falls out, and does not work. This will probably be easy glue, but any tips appreciated.

Got any names?! My silver 04 was named Lyzeth. Thanks for checking out my post!

 

[Searcher1]

The high rpm sounds like it isn't getting into Overdrive (5th). Likely has a broken 2-5 Servo piston. Should that prove to be the case you don't have to tear down the transmission to replace the piston but you might want to rebuild it anyway to ensure future reliability. Shops will probably refuse to just put a servo in since they don't want to be blamed for damaging a transmission that wasn't working right when it got there. Happens all the time.

The pictured coolant hose is ready to burst at any time. Replace asap. And for future reference when you see swelling like that, or even just the the reinforcing fiber crosshatching, on a hose it's done.

No telling what those wires do. Most times it's stereo or alarm stuff. Were it my car I'd just rip it out and if something stops working that you want, redo it better.

LF wheel grinding is likely a bad wheel bearing. Get the LF wheel off the ground and wiggle it back and forth, both side-to-side and top-to-bottom. There should be no free play. If there's free play find out what has the free play and replace that part.

 

[GenZLSV8]

Hey, thanks for taking the time to check this post! The LF tip is very appreciated. The hose is also already a massive priority. This thing has also been running on green coolant too, so…

On the topic of the transmission, Ive figured out that it almost always is caused by 5th gear. It will coast and roll in 5th, it will bog a bit in 5th, but if I don’t force it to kick down to 4th or 3rd when applying gas it WILL go into E and give me a “check transmission.” Also, if I lock it out of 5th by using D4, it will give me the code whether it kicks up or down either way. I’d assume your tip on the 2-5 servo piston is correct but I just wanted to give you a more in depth idea of what is going on.