Crown Vic Taxis

[4WD]

I’ve long thought that several vehicles with the older 4spd autos would be livened up by the new 6, 8 & 10spd transmissions. Especially if they’re similar to the modular Fords with a peakier powerband than the pushrod engines they replaced

Yep …
Or geared 4.56 like my Hummer H3 with a 4L60e + 5 banger

 

[skyactiv]

Not everyone knows it, but Ford offered a long wheelbase version of the Crown Vic to taxi fleets. I rode in one years ago in NYC. There was rear AC vents and controls for the rear seat passenger in the cab.

 

[MVAR]

Yep …
Or geared 4.56 like my Hummer H3 with a 4L60e + 5 banger

Have the same transmission in my Canyon just with the smaller 4cyl. It’s referred to as the pokey little pickup

 

[OVERKILL]

A 17 year old just wants wheels.....even a dinosaur will do.

He told me he likes the car, his brother has a little Ranger, and my dad hasn't mentioned getting rid of the car, so I think there may be more to it than just wanting wheels.

 

[2013ecof150]

The first car I ever took a loan on to establish credit was a 04 P71 back in 2007. What a great car that was. Other than a few ignition coils, a cracked intake manifold and basic maintenance it was a super reliable car. Owned it for 11 years.

A friend had a 2004 LX sport. It was so much nicer than my old police car.

 

[panthermike]

They really are great cars. Definitely have to be careful buying the used police ones. I got lucky with mine it was a juvenile transport vehicle so had one of the lowest idle hours I had ever seen. Only had 350 hours and 111,000 miles when I bought it. Even now she's sitting at 179,000 and 479 hours.

Overkill, a town car in good shape would be sweet! Younger people love the Panther platform cars it seems. My nephew who is 20 recently bought a 2010 Crown Vic. His has quite a few hours but still seems to run very well

 

[Ws6]

My Dad never got more than about 250K miles out of those engines (either a head gasket or drinking oil got 'em), and the transmissions were swapped every 80K miles or so when they began slipping bad enough that WOT upshifts wouldn't happen (see: Headgastket got 'em...). I have no idea what people see in the Crown Vic aside from the full length frame, it's got a terrible powertrain for longevity/durability, IME (My Dad and Grandpa put about 2 million miles on the Panther platform, I'd estimate). This was literally the car that turned me to GM. It was also my first car, a P71 interceptor, which I wish I had back, if only for the memories of working on it with my Grandpa, but nostalgia aside, meh.

 

[Ws6]

NYC taxi operators stockpiled them after they announced the end of production, but the stash was destroyed by Hurricane Sandy.

Ford should've given them the 260 hp V8 from the Mustang, and make the Marauder's V8 optional on all panthers and standard on the Town Car, and the Marauder should've had the supercharged Cobra motor.

They could've taken advantage of their Australian arm and used the Falcon to replace the panthers. GM waited too long to bring the Commodores to the US, and even then, only in limited quantities. It's as if GM and Ford management has never seen a Charger on the road and are unaware of its existence.

AUS gets a lot of the cool stuff, such as the Barra, etc. that would annhialated the US market Ford engines.

 

[4WD]

Have the same transmission in my Canyon just with the smaller 4cyl. It’s referred to as the pokey little pickup

Had a 5 cylinder and V8 Canyon too … the 5.3L with 4.10 did not mind the 4L60e … put a LPD cooler and external filter on that - it’s probably still out there going …

 

[MVAR]

Had a 5 cylinder and V8 Canyon too … the 5.3L with 4.10 did not mind the 4L60e … put a LPD cooler and external filter on that - it’s probably still out there going …

Broad torque band on the 5.3 compared to the 4 & 5cyl engines. Makes up for the lack of gears for torque multiplication

 

[Fordiesel69]

My Dad never got more than about 250K miles out of those engines (either a head gasket or drinking oil got 'em), and the transmissions were swapped every 80K miles or so when they began slipping bad enough that WOT upshifts wouldn't happen (see: Headgastket got 'em...). I have no idea what people see in the Crown Vic aside from the full length frame, it's got a terrible powertrain for longevity/durability, IME (My Dad and Grandpa put about 2 million miles on the Panther platform, I'd estimate). This was literally the car that turned me to GM. It was also my first car, a P71 interceptor, which I wish I had back, if only for the memories of working on it with my Grandpa, but nostalgia aside, meh.

Not really sure what they were doing to them.......Our state police never had those issues when I spoke with the maint director. 100 ~ 150k and sometimes they would see 175k before going to auction. Exhaust manifold studs, plastic intakes cracking, fire suppression, and stupid stuff would break. And some of them trannies would fail and those were mostly 2005 model years. 98 thru 2004 were stout, 2006 thru 2008 were also good, but 2009 ~ 2011 had more stupid stiff go wrong and were built with slightly less fit and finish.

1999, 2004, and 2008 were the absolute best years ever.
-1999 was the best of the old platform.
-2004 was regarded the very best and the last year for the throttle cable
-2008 was the best of the modern platform with all the technology before the cost cutting happened in 2009

 

[buster]

The older generations loved having all that metal around them.

 

[Ws6]

Not really sure what they were doing to them.......Our state police never had those issues when I spoke with the maint director. 100 ~ 150k and sometimes they would see 175k before going to auction. Exhaust manifold studs, plastic intakes cracking, fire suppression, and stupid stuff would break. And some of them trannies would fail and those were mostly 2005 model years. 98 thru 2004 were stout, 2006 thru 2008 were also good, but 2009 ~ 2011 had more stupid stiff go wrong and were built with slightly less fit and finish.

1999, 2004, and 2008 were the absolute best years ever.
-1999 was the best of the old platform.
-2004 was regarded the very best and the last year for the throttle cable
-2008 was the best of the modern platform with all the technology before the cost cutting happened in 2009

My experience is with 1992-1996. And yes, the intakes cracked but thats no big deal. Swap em.

 

[Irishman]

We have a 2010 Mercury G.M. that's still running great with about 67,000 miles. Plan on driving it many more years.

 

[panthermike]

Not really sure what they were doing to them.......Our state police never had those issues when I spoke with the maint director. 100 ~ 150k and sometimes they would see 175k before going to auction. Exhaust manifold studs, plastic intakes cracking, fire suppression, and stupid stuff would break. And some of them trannies would fail and those were mostly 2005 model years. 98 thru 2004 were stout, 2006 thru 2008 were also good, but 2009 ~ 2011 had more stupid stiff go wrong and were built with slightly less fit and finish.

1999, 2004, and 2008 were the absolute best years ever.
-1999 was the best of the old platform.
-2004 was regarded the very best and the last year for the throttle cable
-2008 was the best of the modern platform with all the technology before the cost cutting happened in 2009

Wow i've never seen the differences laid out this way. Makes sense with the cost cutting, glad mine is an '08!

 

[4WD]

People say the Crown Vic got poor gas mileage, but IMHO it was decent for the size of car and what it could do. In fact, in my experience many current generation SUVs and larger vehicles do no better if they aren't hybrids. I kept track of my mileage for many years on my Crown Vic and a Grand Marquis, and on long trips we averaged a consistent 26mpg. One February we piled four of us into the Crown Vic for a last-minute vacation to Florida and back. The trunk was completely full, four people in the car, average speed on I95 was probably 75-80mph, but when we hit northern Florida we were hitting 90+ keeping up with traffic. Still 26mpg for that trip of about 1200 miles.

They got good MPG - once they gave us a choice of CV or F150 -
I took the LT’s & my Mobil gas card knew it …

 

[MVAR]

My Dad never got more than about 250K miles out of those engines (either a head gasket or drinking oil got 'em), and the transmissions were swapped every 80K miles or so when they began slipping bad enough that WOT upshifts wouldn't happen (see: Headgastket got 'em...). I have no idea what people see in the Crown Vic aside from the full length frame, it's got a terrible powertrain for longevity/durability, IME (My Dad and Grandpa put about 2 million miles on the Panther platform, I'd estimate). This was literally the car that turned me to GM. It was also my first car, a P71 interceptor, which I wish I had back, if only for the memories of working on it with my Grandpa, but nostalgia aside, meh.

Never really heard of head gasket problems with the 4.6 2V.

The transmission really requires the J-Mod valve body option & supplemental cooler. I’ve known a fleet owner (now retired) that also added a spin on filter inline with the transmission cooler with great results.

The J-Mod valve body was a factory valve body with select oil return holes enlarged. Made for faster shifts & far less heat. Ford dealerships had instructions on performing the modifications but many remained ignorant.

 

[kebabaluba]

Aren`t VC a great car to buy used and also something that can be bought really cheap? Ford made quite many of them

 

[Fordiesel69]

My experience is with 1992-1996. And yes, the intakes cracked but thats no big deal. Swap em.

That explains it. 92 thru 95 had terrible valve seals that burned oil. I have also seen quote a few 96 models burn oil too that seemed to be correct by the time the new 98 refresh occured. Also when SJ and then SL oils were introduced this extended the life of these engines greatly. SH and prior were varish makers.

Still never saw too many head gaskets although it can happen. Another issue is the oil filter adapter gasket / oring seal would blow thru and give you the impression it was a head gasket.

 

[Ws6]

The headgaskets were a result of running the cars hard if the water pumps failed or if the transmission stopped shifting.