Things to look for when buying used

[fmansfield444]

I am getting some money together to get a new daily driver. I'm looking for a late 90's or early 00's town car and I'm looking to buy used from a private seller. I'm not really in a hurry to get one, but I am looking and am saving more money the longer I wait.

I'm looking for one that is nice, but doesn't have to be perfect as I don't mind fixing some things. Most of these I see have a lot of miles on them which I am ok with as well, but obviously the lower the better.

I was wondering, what are some common things that tend to go out on these newer panthers? Newer town cars to be more specific.

I just want to know what to check for when going over a car that I may buy.

I don't mind working on it, but I don't want to get something that will need a lot of money to fix.

Thanks for any help!

[marquisman]

Im in the same boat, looking for a '96-'97 town car. Seems like EGR, intakes, door pin bushings, heater blend door and air suspention seem to be the only real issues floating around. Other than that, they have a pretty good rep.

[fmansfield444]

all of those seem fairly fixable, except maybe the air ride could get expensive, just guessing.

If i get an older body style I definitely want a 96-97 but I like the newer 98-02 as well. 03 and up will probably be too pricey for me

I found a 97 cartier for $1800 but they say the air ride will deflate if its not driven in a week so maybe that could be going out on it. or maybe that's normal ( i know nothing about air ride).

[zoomie]

all of those seem fairly fixable, except maybe the air ride could get expensive, just guessing.

If i get an older body style I definitely want a 96-97 but I like the newer 98-02 as well. 03 and up will probably be too pricey for me

I found a 97 cartier for $1800 but they say the air ride will deflate if its not driven in a week so maybe that could be going out on it. or maybe that's normal ( i know nothing about air ride).

air ride is something that is common item that goes in almost any vehicle ive seen that has it, i usueally replace with coils and shocks less hassle.

[sxcpotatoes]

You can actually have the air ride system fixed for around the same price as the coil conversion as it's usually the bags that go bad/develop leaks. It's not rocket surgery. You can even find good bags cheap on Craigslist (what my brother did for his '00 Lincoln and did it himself). There's a website that sells the bags, I think there are three levels of bag stiffness/load handling. Bags usually last as long as springs do, and ride much better.

[gadget73]

The air suspension system is much maligned and misunderstood. Its stupidly simple to fix, and its not that expensive to fix it either. The only time it gets pricey is if someone ignored it so long that the compressor is just nuked. If that happened, you have to either buy a new one, or get a good used one. The air springs can be had as a pair for about 200 bucks new and they take a few minutes to install. Its actually not any more difficult to install than coil springs. Don't be scared off by it, and don't let anyone feed you a line of shit that its going to cost a grand to repair it.


If it tells you anything, I actually bought the complete air suspension system from 289CrownVic's car and will be installing it on my Towncar that came with coils. My Mark VII still has all four air springs and the system works perfectly. Its had the air springs replaced once, about 9 years ago with approx 200k on it. I've baked out the air drier to renew it, and other than that its had no work done. Its not unreliable by any means, its just gotten a bad reputation because people have gotten socked with huge stupid repair bills from shops that don't understand how to diagnose it properly and replace just whats actually bad instead of a price to replace every single part, which is almost never actually neccesary.


but, uh, yeah, check lincolnsonline for specific suggetions on that year range. Those guys know the roundy models pretty good.

[85crownHPP]

Look for bad ball joints and steering linkages, look for the plastic intake manifold. If it came with the plastic, and still has the plastic, it will need to be replaced, probably soon. These aren't too terrible to pay a shop to do. Being a mechanic myself, I would intentionally look for one with these problems, to get a lower price and fix it myself, lol...
I swapped some panther air bags out once, I wouldn't say its just as easy as springs, but close enough. I had trouble getting the cups to 'snap' back into their bottom receivers, but i was replacing regular TC bags with 'limo' bags, which may have been a little different. Looking back, I probably could have just put a little air in them and set the car back on the ground, letting the weight of the car snap them in.

[SVT98t]

If you're looking at 99-02 models, watch out for bad timing chain tensioners. They made them out of a garbage material (nylon?) before replacing them Zytel or something else. I cannot remember right now. But you can here the ruckus from the front of the engine while it's idling. Like a ticking.
If it has miles on it, check upper and lower ball joints and sway bar end links.
And that's all I can think of, for now.

-ryan s.

[fmansfield444]

Thanks for the help guys. Seems like nothing too serious or expensive to worry about.

I plan on fixing most things myself. And things like the intake wouldn't be too bad, plus as mentioned could knock some pennies off the sale price.

Anyway thanks again, I'll keep these things in mind and hopefully I'll have one soon