Progress of '05 LS

Whoodoo

LVC Member
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Location
Binghamton, NY
First, after a little while lurking around, I would like to formally introduce myself. My name is Alan and I have had the LS on my mind ever since I saw one in my old neighborhood many, many years ago. I think the LS has beautiful proportions and an understated but classic design.

After purchasing this '05 with relatively low miles (88k) but some obvious deficiencies, I am finally ready to start posting my progress, and in that light, I'll start with the work I have done so far.

Here is what it looked like when I bought it, after a wash, of course.

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The first order of business was to fix the clogged sunroof drain tubes. When I drove it home, water would drip on me every time I turned left. I had a little trouble at first, but found a pretty good way to clear out the drain tubes, which I explained here:
Sunroof drain tubes unclogged

The next order of business was to get the car looking more how I wanted:

First, I lowered it with Eibach springs. I cannot express how much frustration I had with this job... cheap spring compressors suck so hard... the one I bought off the shelf of my local Advance Auto was so mediocre that I am tempted to say it's not even worth it. Cheap tools may get the job done, but sometimes (and in this case) they really aren't worth it. But, after much time cranking on failing spring compressor threads, I had all four corners back in the car. I will say that the ride is seemingly not any different than stock, but ground clearance is compromised because now I can't back into my driveway without scraping the frame on the sidewalk.

Next, was to replace all of the coils and plugs. I had a cylinder 2 misfire, so I bought some really really cheap coils on Amazon ($40 from Parts Galaxy for all 8), plugs, and a Fel-Pro valve cover gasket set. The passenger side had a few oily spark plug wells, so I replaced that valve cover gasket, but the driver's side cylinder bank was dry, so I left that alone.

With the engine now happy, I thought I just had cosmetic stuff to do, but a massive upper radiator hose failure dictated otherwise:
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That's replaced, and now I finally have time to get the wheels put on it that I hunted down... They are Volvo 18x8 pegasus wheels in the dark grey color. I have always like these wheels and I think they suit the LS perfectly. Tires are Westlake SA07 radials from Amazon in 245/40/18s for $65 each with free shipping (thanks Amazon Prime). I also needed to get 63.4mm to 65.1mm hubcentric spacers and some lug nuts (Amazon.com: 65.1mm OD to 63.4mm ID Circuit Performance Silver Aluminum Hub Centric Rings: Automotive) (Amazon.com: WheelGuard 1957BK, Bulge Acorn Lug Nut, 12mm-1.5, 3/4" (19mm) Hex, Black Chrome Plating (20): Automotive)

Here is what the car looks like now

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First, after a little while lurking around, I would like to formally introduce myself. My name is Alan and I have had the LS on my mind ever since I saw one in my old neighborhood many, many years ago. I think the LS has beautiful proportions and an understated but classic design.

Welcome Alan, I couldn't agree with you more on the looks of this car. There is just something about it...Yours looks great. I really like the looks of a 5 spoke wheel on the LS and the gray looks great with the black!
 
Welcome, I LOVE the peg's on the LS, well done. I looked for a local set feverishly before I ended up on my OZ's, seeing your pic kinda makes me think I should have searched harder/longer.

good progress so far.
 
Is that an aftermarket grille?

The previous owner 'fixed' the grill by fastening some wire mesh to the front. If you look closely at the pictures you can see a broken vertical slat behind the mesh just to the driver's side of the lincoln emblem. I have plans to replace the broken inner part of the grill with some 10ga perforated steel I have at work, but this doesn't look all that bad from 10 feet away, so I'm not in a hurry.

In other news, I took one of the front seats out today to try to get the carpets a little cleaner and found that the leaking sunroof must have been leaking for a long time because even after a couple weeks with no leaks and warm weather to dry the car out, the foam under the carpet was completely soaked. When I lifted up the carpet to get the shop vac in there, water was just dripping right out. Also, the floorboards are really rusty in the low spots, so I'm going to completely remove the carpet on a sunny weekend to clean and dry it out really well, see what I can do about cleaning up the floors, and take measures to prevent the rust from spreading.
 
Hey Alan...car is looking really good. I just started down this journey myself. I picked up a 2006 LS with 87k miles. I use to own a 2001 LS which I had for 4 years and was great. Then I traded in for a truck because the New England winters aren't the greatest for a rear wheel drive car. I am not as mechanically inclined as you to do the fixes myself but I will be following your progress. Jim
 
That looks awesome, especially for a car in 2005. You just mentioned you have cylinder 2 misfire. How did you found that? By what means of diagonosis?
Thank you?
 
That looks awesome, especially for a car in 2005. You just mentioned you have cylinder 2 misfire. How did you found that? By what means of diagonosis?
Thank you?

The misfire threw a code. When I bought it, the check engine light, traction control, and ABS lights were all on, so I had the codes read and they were the misfire and right rear wheel speed sensor. So, coils, plugs, and a wheel speed sensor from the local pull-a-part yard fixed everything.
 
The misfire threw a code. When I bought it, the check engine light, traction control, and ABS lights were all on, so I had the codes read and they were the misfire and right rear wheel speed sensor. So, coils, plugs, and a wheel speed sensor from the local pull-a-part yard fixed everything.
Local pull-a-part yard sounds nice. Do you know what keywords should I search on google maps to find such yards in my region?
 
LKQ Pick Your Part is near you. I have been fortunate to live near several self-service junkyards wherever I have lived, but I'm not sure that is the norm
 
I fixed my CD player! When I bought the car, I couldn't load or eject any CDs and if I tried, it would say CD ERROR in the top left corner, so today I pulled out my head unit and started taking it apart. I won't explain how to remove it because that's been done before, but below is a little bit on how to take it apart. Also, this information will probably only pertain to those cars with navigation.

First, there are 3 Philips head screws holding the head unit in the metal frame that also holds the HVAC controls. Remove those screws so the head unit is all by itself. Below are pictures of both the left and right sides of the unit. The green circles are the screws that hold on the top plate - I removed that first. Take out the screws, lift up on the back, then slide it backward. Then, I removed the screws circled in blue to take the top CD changer module off. You need to roll the touch screen forward a little when doing this. Also, there is a ribbon cable connecting the top and bottom modules together that you need to disconnect. It stretches pretty far, so its fairly easy to do, just be careful. Last, I removed the right side by removing all of the blue circled screws.

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Once the side is off, you have access to another ribbon cable. Mine was simply unplugged. Plug that back in, put everything back where it came from, Bob's your uncle, and it works!

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I took the top module completely off, but it may be possible to only remove the side plate and nothing else. If I did this again, I would start with that because then, you wouldn't have to unplug that first ribbon cable. I hope all of you out there with non-functional CD changers are as fortunate as I was.
 
...
Once the side is off, you have access to another ribbon cable. Mine was simply unplugged. Plug that back in, put everything back where it came from, Bob's your uncle, and it works!...

Yep, Mine did exact that too. The adhesive on the label on the FFC stuck the FFC to the metal frame there. The part that the FFC plugs into floats, so when it moved enough, it pulled the FFC loose. When it does it again, go in there and take the label off and clean all the adhesive off and then this part should be no more trouble.
 
I also now have working AC!

When I bought the car, the DCCV was bad so I couldn't verify the AC was working. After replacing the DCCV and no cold air, I took it to get checked and discovered a massive hole in one of the lines that runs from the firewall behind the intake manifold down along the passenger wheel well. The lines and a new dryer were $100 from Rockauto.com, but what a pain in the ass to replace! It took me the better part of 4 hours because there is no room to get to any of the bolts, but it is possible to replace only this one without removing anything major like coolant hoses.

While I had the cowl cover and strut brace off, I also replaced the foam wiper seal and cabin air filter, cleaned out all the dirt in the filter housing drain, replaced all of the disintegrated foam that seals up the filter housing enclosure, and reattached the flap that holds the filter in place because it had broken off and was just duct taped back on.

I have also been doing some modifications to my foglights, but more on that when they're done.
 
Oh joy, my degas bottle failed today!

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I already had one, but it was a cheap one and it really wasn't worth it because i didn't know the little nipple that the bleed hose mounts to didn't have a plug in it. I get a mile down the road and the car starts overheating again because it puked all of the fresh coolant I just put in there all over the driver's side of the engine.

At least I have a nice clean interior though. I took everything out so I could shampoo the carpet. Due to a leaky sunroof, I have some pretty rusty floorboards, but then again I know this car isn't going to last forever.

Before
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After
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Rust...
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Just a note on the CD changer fix, you have to remove the whole top unit because it's almost impossible to plug the ribbon cable into its socket just from the side. Another thing to note, is that the ribbon cable going from the bottom portion to the top was covered in some kind of sticky substance that needed to be cleaned off. This now marks the third time I've taken things apart to plug that ribbon cable in.
 
... Another thing to note, is that the ribbon cable going from the bottom portion to the top was covered in some kind of sticky substance that needed to be cleaned off. This now marks the third time I've taken things apart to plug that ribbon cable in.

It's the glue from a production label that was on the cable.
 

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