b4 I buy...

N

nuskool

Registered
Hi, Newbie here.

I've loved the look of the Mark VIII ever since I first layed eyes on one. But either I could never afford it, or it just wasn't practical. Well now the time has come and I want to get one in the worst way. Hopefully I can find a green one, but I'll take black, red or silver too. I'm only considering a 97 or 98 LSC. Also I'm looking for around 75k or less miles. (Convincing my wife to buy a 9-10 year old car is another issue, but I think I'll get there) First I have sell the boat and Mountaineer. (well actually just the Mountaineer, the Mark can tow the boat for a few trips)

I'm pretty mechanical and am now at the point that I only use Amsoil in both the trans and motor as well as rear end. Also modifying the intake for better flow and throwing in an Amsoil filter for that too. I also like to run premium plugs and wires. I find cars run a lot better when you use the good stuff and can really help the mpg. There may be more mods in the future, but not right away. I should be pretty happy with 290 HP:D

My question to all of you is;
Are there any issues I should be aware of b4 I buy? Maintenance issues? Tech problems? crappy this or crappy that? Tranny life? etc.

Any input is greatly appreciated
 
Make sure the blend door is working okay on whatever you buy. Run car up to operating temp and operate climate control so it goes from hot to cold and cold to hot okay.

Make sure steering column runs all the way out and in and Up and down.

Insure struts/air bags (mainly front) don't leak. Let sit overnight or longer to see if they don't leak down and botton out. Look in trunk - left side - open door to insure the air ride switch is ON first.

I think those are the most expensive things you should look for...I'm sure others will chime in to let you know of anything else to watch for.

I used Amsoil for over a year and could not justify to myself a reason to spend the extra $ over Mobil 1 that I had been using for years. I never saw any kind of improvement in the Amsoil over the Mobile 1.

Good luck with your search in a low milage Gen II. They are getting scarcer as time goes on. Leo has an award winning Gen II for sale. look him up. Here : http://www.lincolnsclub.org/vbulletin/showthread.php?t=13256
 
Last edited:
Nothing wrong with a 9-10 year old car. I buy them all the time. I drive about 500 miles a week for work. No need to pay the premium for a new car. The Mark is a great car, but as with anything mechanical they break. Just fix them as you go. Any sport/luxury vehicle is going to be expensive to fix, but that’s the price for riding in style!! Finding one with less than 75k is not hard; I got my LSC with 46k for $8000 from a dealer.

As for MPG not too bad if you can stay off the throttle, but what fun is that!
 
Last edited:
$8k from a dealer with only 46k on it. Wow. That's a good deal better than I have been seeing. I hope I'm that lucky.

As for the Amsoil, it lasts longer than M1. Filter lasts longer too. So the cost less when you extend the change. Some people don't agree with this, but I've seen results of several oil analisys reports that suggest it's just fine to do this as long as you have a good oil/air filter and the engine is sound. (I believe in the benefits of newer tried and true technology. It's why my screen name is nuskool)
 
Listed in autotrader:

Price
$10,850 Get NADAguides Pricing Info
for this Lincoln

Body Style Coupe
Mileage 63,742
Exterior Color Deep Blue Green
Interior Color Tan
Engine 8 Cylinder Gasoline
Transmission 4 Speed Automatic with Overdrive
Drive Type 2 wheel drive - rear
Fuel Type Gasoline
Stereo Compact Disc Changer
Doors Two Door
Stock No. ES1080
VIN 1LNLM92V4VY635256


You can talk them down!!

$8000 out the door easy
 
nuskool said:
As for the Amsoil, it lasts longer than M1. Filter lasts longer too. So the cost less when you extend the change. Some people don't agree with this, but I've seen results of several oil analisys reports that suggest it's just fine to do this as long as you have a good oil/air filter and the engine is sound. (I believe in the benefits of newer tried and true technology. It's why my screen name is nuskool)
Click to expand...

Add the cost of the E.O.A. (because you can not go by someone elses anaylsis) and you can change Mobil 1 twice for less. I change mine every 6 months or 5k miles whether it needs it or not. Just my opinion. Everyone has there own reasoning, but I just can't see one brand of oil to be any much better than any others, so long as you keep it clean, but that's pretty much the same reasoning I had back when synthetic first came out for automobiles...I had been a jet engine mech in the Navy for 20 yeras and I thought that if synthetic is good for jets, it's dang well great for my car!!
 
I see. In my T-bird I ran full synthetic, changed the filter every 5000 and added a quart. Every 15000 complete change. Not sure if it helped but had 250k when I was hit and it got totaled.

I think clean oil is the best synthetic or not.
 
Engine Oil Analysis. aka Used Oil Analysis.

I'm only planning on doing a UOA (or EOA) once or twice to see where it falls. If it's good then I won't bother anymore for a while. I know a lot of people think it's nuts, but Amsoil is guaranteed for 25k or 1 year. Or if you use the series 2k it's good for 35k or 1 year. The new filters are good for 25k. So I change my oil about once a year. Even M1 is good for 15k, but there has been some recent news that M1 is no longer a pure synthetic. It may be a rumor, but I've seen it in more than one source.

I don't want to try to convince anyone to change what they are doing. But I believe in Amsoil for several reasons. No one posts comparitive numbers anywhere near to the extent that they do. And they consistantly come out on top. They were the first to produce an automotive synthetic and are very pro-active about developing new products. The founder was a jet pilot and that's why he brought it to the automotive market.

I'm also a dealer for them. But I don't feel this way about the products because I'm a dealer. I'm a dealer because I feel this way about the products.

But oil is another topic and I'm not trying to sell anything on this forum. we're all entitled to our own opinions and shouldn't get scrutinized because of them.

So back to my purchase of a Mark. I know I can talk them down, but I wouldn't expect that much. Let's hop that I can.

So engine and tranny are solid? Only things really mentioned are the heater controls and air ride and steering wheel. anything else?
 
nuskool said:
Engine Oil Analysis. aka Used Oil Analysis.

I don't want to try to convince anyone to change what they are doing. But I believe in Amsoil for several reasons. No one posts comparitive numbers anywhere near to the extent that they do. And they consistantly come out on top.
Click to expand...

I saw those too. And according to those numbers, I did some quick calculations and found that using Formula Shell (the #2 rated oil on their own list...non-synthetic go figure) was more cost effective, as it costs MUCH less than Amsoil, and gets about 80% of the results of Amsoil.
 
Amsoil is good stuff, comparable to Mobil 1. But i'd never run it for 25k or 1 year. I've been running Amsoil in the Navigator, and getting oil analysis done. It's shearing down to about a 10w (or less) by 7500 miles. No significant wear metals, though, so it's doing it's job, viscosity is just shearing out. Having done a number of analyses with my motor running the recommended 5w20 Amsoil, i'm going with 6k-9k between oil changes. Keep in mind that with a filter change and top-off of the oil every 5k miles or so, by 25k miles you've probably changed 80% of what was in the case at the start, so you can probably safely run those kinds of oil change intervals with filter changes in between. But I wouldn't.

A good filter is important, but I've seen no evidence that an Amsoil filter is any better than a Mobil 1 or Wix filter. Some prefer the Wix racing filters for flow, or even the large Fram HP filters (which I still wouldn't buy) when flow is more important than filtration, but i'm talking supercharged big blocks in offshore boat engines now. I'm sticking with an M1-302 on my boat, or possibly a Wix Racing filter when i'm too lazy to go to Autozone to pick up an M1 filter. I'm sure the Amsoil filters are quality products also, but really, a cheap "champ" filter for $1.99 is still a good filter, better than your typical Fram.

http://www.offshoreonly.com/forums/showthread.php?t=107808 has a lot of info on oil. Demands in offshore use are much more severe than demands in the car. www.bobistheoilguy.com is another good forum for oil specific info.

Personally, i'm going to run Mobil 1 v-twin 20w50 in my boat this summer, although the comparable Amsoil motorcycle product is very similar. My reasoning for opting for Mobil over Amsoil is that Amsoil has to buy their base stock, while Mobil manufactures their own. In-house manufacturing allows better quality control on the base stock (IMO... amsoil can do QC on incoming product, i do not know their processes). From the info i've seen, Mobil 1 V-twin is the best there is, so I just picked up 12 quarts for the summer. Hopefully i'll be able to run the season (60-100 hours) one one oil change, rather than 20 hours a change last season. I need to chase a fuel dilution issue first, but a tune-up should take care of that. Damn carburetors. (502 mag marine engine)

I hear the new Mobil 1 silver cap is really good stuff also (skip to the last page of that OSO thread).

Also... synthetic oil is not what it once was. Formulations have changed, and continue to change. You have to stay on top of it.

Your average Amsoil is no better than your average Mobil 1. I would say that those two brands are consistently good, and i would consider them better than other brands, but I wouldn't say Amsoil is the best there is. It's close, but it's not alone.

As for buying a Mark VIII... everyone has just about covered it. Good luck!

Just don't go putting Amsoil in the tranny unless it says Mercon V on it, and get all the old stuff out first.
 
I especially liked the air filter testing:

http://www.bobistheoilguy.com/airfilter/airtest1.htm

His results would indicate that a K&N would only add about 0.3 hp to our cars, however since our engines require more air than his Mazda, air velocity is greater. And since friction rises exponentially with air velocity, the pressure drop must also rise exponentially.

But I digress...excellent info.
 
If I'm not mistaken, Amsoil gets their base stock form Mobil. I'm not sure, but I know they buy some things from Mobil. It's on the bobistheoilguy site that I found the opinions of some that Mobil is no longer a true synthetic. But no one could confirm. I saw it somewhere else too, don't remember though where. And yes Amsoil has extensive QC. They have too if want to provide the guarantee that they do.

As for the new Amsoil filters. They are designed in a joint venture between them, Wixx and Donaldson. So if you like Wixx, then you gotta like these. It's a new technology called nanofiber. It may be true that it doesn't filter better(as far as microns) than some others out there, but it has a lot more capacity, so it lasts alot longer.

Back to the orig reason for the post. Thank you all very much for all the great info. I'm going to print what I need and take it with me when I finally get to the point of purchasing.
 
I looked at the air filter test. It's dated 2007, so I was surprised to see that the Amsoil filter used was apparently an old one. The new ones don't use oil. They are dry and get cleaned with the use of low pressure air or a vacuum. Also nanofiber technology. So how does that one compare??? The claim is better flow and better filtration. I know those two don't normally go together, but it is a new technology, so I honestly couldn't say.
 
As for air filters, I would never use a K&N. I had a friend in college who worked for a major filter media manufacturer and did benchmarking tests on different manufacturers filters. He said the K&N filter was so bad it nearly destroyed the testing machine. Besides, filters aren't usually the most restrictive part of the intake system, there is really no HP to be gained by switching to a crappier filter. And any oiled filter has the potential to cause problems with the MAF sensor.

logres... your assumptions are flawed. Increased mass air flow would only result in increased air velocity if pipe diameter is the same. Larger engines tend to have larger intake tubes and often larger air filters (surface area wise). That's not to say that there is not a difference in air velocity, but air velocity is not dependant only on engine size.

Manufacturers aren't going to leave free HP and fuel economy on the table by using an overly restrictive air filter.

My boat doesn't use an air filter at all. Just a flame arrestor. But I don't drive it down too many dirt roads.
 
sleeper said:
As for air filters, I would never use a K&N. I had a friend in college who worked for a major filter media manufacturer and did benchmarking tests on different manufacturers filters. He said the K&N filter was so bad it nearly destroyed the testing machine. Besides, filters aren't usually the most restrictive part of the intake system, there is really no HP to be gained by switching to a crappier filter. And any oiled filter has the potential to cause problems with the MAF sensor.

logres... your assumptions are flawed. Increased mass air flow would only result in increased air velocity if pipe diameter is the same. Larger engines tend to have larger intake tubes and often larger air filters (surface area wise). That's not to say that there is not a difference in air velocity, but air velocity is not dependant only on engine size.

Manufacturers aren't going to leave free HP and fuel economy on the table by using an overly restrictive air filter.

My boat doesn't use an air filter at all. Just a flame arrestor. But I don't drive it down too many dirt roads.
Click to expand...

You say that your friend's test results with the K&N differ from Bob the oil guy's results? Maybe I'm not understanding. If that were the case, I'm not sure who to believe.

As for engine displacement vs. intake piping size, I was assuming that our engines take in about triple the air that Bob's Mazda does, but that the intake piping is not triple the size. I could be wrong on this though.

And manufacturers leave HP and fuel economy on the table all the time. My stock engine got 240 rwhp on the dyno with Lonnie's tranny - which itself decreases rwhp by about 5-10 hp in low power (300 hp) applications. I know of no one on this board who can make that claim on a stock engine (stock manifold, exhaust, headers, intake, etc.). I've mentioned some of the products I've used to attain those numbers (the K&N is a SMALL fraction - I'd guess 1-3 hp), however they have been historically controversial. Even with my dyno sheet in hand, most folks still don't believe me, though they continue to wonder why my dyno numbers are so high.

As I've said in the past, if anyone is interested, I can post the products that DO IN FACT INCREASE MY HP, or I can respond to PMs. All one needs is to ask. I know these products work because I've haven't done anything else to my car - we're not talking magic here.

Anyway, I apologize for being off topic - just wanted to clear things up.
 
You must log in or register to reply here.
Back
Top