Picked up a 2000 Crown Victoria yesterday

LDM

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Illinois
Not for me to drive, helping out a friend who needs a car to get back and forth and who's current vehicle is probably only a few weeks away from going to the scrap yard. She didn't have a lot of money to spend but I managed to get it for her out the door with tax/tag/fees for $2000. 146K miles and some damage to the passenger side, which she doesn't really care about, she just needs it to get back and forth to work. Running well is better than pretty. I'm going to go over it for her and make sure its fully road worthy as it does need a few things just from me looking at it like a new belt and an oil change. But as a GM guy I'm not as familiar with the 4.6 Mod motor in this Ford so any advise on what to look for while I have it up in my garage? It runs and drives fine for 146K but my hope is that it will last her at least 4-5 years so she can save up for a newer vehicle.
 
The 4.6 2v motors are pretty durable engines and many see north of 200k miles trouble free or at least relatively trouble free. Biggest thing I would worry about is a timing chain failure but they usually give you fair warning before any real issues arise.

Through 2001 or so the IM was plastic that couldn't take the stress of the alternator bracket leading to some issues.

Other than that, from memory, it's business as usual when looking for potential issues.
 
Fluid check. Air filter check. Drive belt check. Brake linings/pads check. Tire check (tread-age). Turn signals, brake lights park lights, headlights check. Wipers check. Test drive in both highway conditions and stop and go situations. If everything is ok and it drives fine without drama let her rip. You can replace what you think may be needed but honestly your chasing your tail. Repair and replace as needed.
 
Fluid check. Air filter check. Drive belt check. Brake linings/pads check. Tire check (tread-age). Turn signals, brake lights park lights, headlights check. Wipers check. Test drive in both highway conditions and stop and go situations. If everything is ok and it drives fine without drama let her rip. You can replace what you think may be needed but honestly your chasing your tail. Repair and replace as needed.
Biggest issue is once I give it to her she isn't exactly known for keeping up on the maintenance. Trying to get it to her in the best condition I can but while keeping within her budget.
 
I would bet the trouble prone intake manifold probably was changed already. I believe there was a recall on them long ago. If the engine runs good, I would leave the plugs alone. I would just replace as needed, fuel , air filters, oil change/filter change, brake check, belt and cooling system maintenance. If the transmission fluid looks bad, I would change its filter and all the transmission fluid as the converter has a drain plug. Use Mercon 5. Check differential oil level and that should be it.
 
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I've owned several Panthers in my days, and drove more during my LEO career. I think I have a decent handle on knowing the general nature of these cars. Some known Panther car issues:

- BDA (blend door actuator); this is the little stepper motor that run the HVAC temp blending. It's a cheap part, but very difficult to replace due to location. Dash must be taken loose; check out the YT vids. I've done one before; about 2.5 hours with some help.

- Various switches will go out. The headlight switch, the door window switches, the radios memory buttons. All of these are super cheap and easy to fix.

- A/C accumulator may end up leaking; the rubber/foam blanket meant to insulate it for better performance can eventually cause the condensation to make the canister leak. Typical replacement is $500, but then good for the rest of it's life.

- Drivetrain wise, assuming regular services have been done to this point, these cars are pretty much indestructable. The 2v mod motors don't make enough power to over-stress themselves, but plenty for daily driving. Whatever issues may arise are pretty common to any modern engine; fuel injector may leak, COPs may fail, etc. But these are reasonably easy and cheap to fix. The IACs can go bad, but cheap and very quick to replace. The intake manifold can crack near the coolant crossover, but again, cheap and not hard to fix.


A 22 year old car won't be without concerns, but overall these are very reliable tanks that just keep running. And what little does break won't in turn break the bank to fix.
 
Biggest issue is once I give it to her she isn't exactly known for keeping up on the maintenance. Trying to get it to her in the best condition I can but while keeping within her budget.
It’s doubtful that she will but all you can do is turn it over to her with assurance it’s safe. An oil change along with any other safety related concerns and you’ve done all a mere mortal can do. The only other item may be a new battery if you can’t find the age of the existing battery. I know that most folks wont check oil/fluid levels. Maybe you could show her how and when to add. My wife still wouldn’t but at least you’ve done what you could.
 
Biggest issue is once I give it to her she isn't exactly known for keeping up on the maintenance. Trying to get it to her in the best condition I can but while keeping within her budget.
If that's the case, use an oil and filter combo capable of providing long lasting protection. It sounds like you may get one chance to get things up to snuff.
 
Excluding engine oil, the other fluids could be done and easily last the 4-5 years you said she'd need it to last. If you do the trans, diff oils, the coolant, that will EASILY get her through the 5 years.

As for the engine oil/filter, I'd tell her that "5k miles" is the limit. Then, when she overruns that limit by 3k miles because she forgets or ignored it, she'll still be fine. These engines can EASILY run 10k mile OCIs; I've done it repeatedly on several cars and have outstanding UOAs to prove it. These engines are not hard on oil. But don't tell her that; tell her it's "5k miles" and then when she forgets and panics, it'll still be OK.
 
As an owner of a 2001 ... Two major things ...

PROPERLY CHECK THE LOWER BALL JOINTS! It's a double wishbone front. Simply jacking up the car and wiggling the tires won't tell you if you have a bad lower ball joint. You need to jack the car up, then support the weight on the lower control arm and check the lower ball joint. A lot of these cars have the lower balljoints fail after someone checks them because they are not checked properly.

Install an extra external trans cooler! The transmissions on the 98-02 cars failed more than any other years. Ford put on a rather large cooler that is NOT integrated to the radiator. The problem is , it has a 180 thermostat. My 2001 was routinely running 200+ degrees on the trans because the thermostat is in bypass. It's pretty easy to install one. The 4R70W has a variable duty torque converter so any time you're cruising at under 45 in overdrive , it's slipping the torque converter at least some and generating a lot of heat. The newer ones don't have the thermostat.

Mercon V only in the transmission. Do not use Castrol Transmax. Do not use anything universal. It has to be Mercon V and ONLY Mercon V
 
- A/C accumulator may end up leaking; the rubber/foam blanket meant to insulate it for better performance can eventually cause the condensation to make the canister leak. Typical replacement is $500, but then good for the rest of it's life.

The accumulator itself is probably $50 or less, and the actual replacement is less than an hour of labor plus evacuating and refilling the AC. Shouldn't cost anywhere near $500.
 
As an owner of a 2001 ... Two major things ...

PROPERLY CHECK THE LOWER BALL JOINTS! It's a double wishbone front. Simply jacking up the car and wiggling the tires won't tell you if you have a bad lower ball joint. You need to jack the car up, then support the weight on the lower control arm and check the lower ball joint. A lot of these cars have the lower balljoints fail after someone checks them because they are not checked properly.

Install an extra external trans cooler! The transmissions on the 98-02 cars failed more than any other years. Ford put on a rather large cooler that is NOT integrated to the radiator. The problem is , it has a 180 thermostat. My 2001 was routinely running 200+ degrees on the trans because the thermostat is in bypass. It's pretty easy to install one. The 4R70W has a variable duty torque converter so any time you're cruising at under 45 in overdrive , it's slipping the torque converter at least some and generating a lot of heat. The newer ones don't have the thermostat.

Mercon V only in the transmission. Do not use Castrol Transmax. Do not use anything universal. It has to be Mercon V and ONLY Mercon V
I'll definitely check the lower ball joints but installing a trans cooler isn't going to be much of an option here. I will check the transmission and do a fluid/filter swap if it looks like it needs it.
 
Thanks for all the info, I will definitely be making these checks in the next couple days, hoping to have it ready to go by this weekend. Hopefully my advise on maintenance will not fall on deaf ears but we all know how that goes with most people.
 
Good on you for helping her out! One other thing you can do very easy maintenance item is clean the MAF. I've had this help several cars in the way they run. Most notably a 2000 Ford Taurus that was detonating horribly bad and completely stopped after cleaning the sensor 😎
 
For 4.6/4r70w maintenance:

watch for leaks around the thermostat housing, especially if your intake manifold does not have an aluminum crossover. If your intake manifold is leaking, I have a very gently used Dorman manifold that I can send your way for a reasonable price.

Plan to redo your Evap hoses around the charcoal canister, they're most likely really crumbly if they have not been replaced. Just set aside a few hours and get high quality replacement lines, NBD.

Plan to do a drain and fill of the transmission fluid every 30,000 miles. I use Supertech Mercon V and it works fine. I highly recommend installing an aftermarket trans fluid pan with a drain plug.

If you need to change spark plugs, it's much easier with the fuel rails out of the way. Use a torque wrench when reinstalling plugs, its very common for 4.6/5.4 motors to blow out spark plug threads.

Beyond that, my general used car purchase advise is to change all the fluid and filters if you don't have service history, test all fuses and make sure all your fuses are the correct amperage rating for the slot they need to be in.
 
Nobody seems to have mentioned the exhaust manifold studs rusting out, the rear spark plugs not having enough threads or the egr pipe rusting out. Those were known weaknesses on that engine. I have an 01 150 with that motor. 165k and runs like a top. Exhaust manifold studs and egr was replaced before I bought it. They are good engines.
 
For 4.6/4r70w maintenance:

watch for leaks around the thermostat housing, especially if your intake manifold does not have an aluminum crossover. If your intake manifold is leaking, I have a very gently used Dorman manifold that I can send your way for a reasonable price.

Plan to redo your Evap hoses around the charcoal canister, they're most likely really crumbly if they have not been replaced. Just set aside a few hours and get high quality replacement lines, NBD.

Plan to do a drain and fill of the transmission fluid every 30,000 miles. I use Supertech Mercon V and it works fine. I highly recommend installing an aftermarket trans fluid pan with a drain plug.

If you need to change spark plugs, it's much easier with the fuel rails out of the way. Use a torque wrench when reinstalling plugs, its very common for 4.6/5.4 motors to blow out spark plug threads.

Beyond that, my general used car purchase advise is to change all the fluid and filters if you don't have service history, test all fuses and make sure all your fuses are the correct amperage rating for the slot they need to be in.
Well I got home a little early from work today I decided to get the car in the garage and ready to get up in the air. Before this I got out my old generic OBD2 interface and read the codes. Seems you were pretty much on the nose with the EVAP stuff, P0443 and P0455 for system purge control circuit and large evap leak. So that will need to be looked at without any doubt at this point.

There is also a P0500 for speed sensor "A" which may be why the trac control light and ABS light are on. The speedometer seems to work fine so I will do a little diagnostics on that one to try to determine the issue.

Hopefully I can spend a little time this evening going over everything and getting a list of stuff that needs done.
 
Well I got home a little early from work today I decided to get the car in the garage and ready to get up in the air. Before this I got out my old generic OBD2 interface and read the codes. Seems you were pretty much on the nose with the EVAP stuff, P0443 and P0455 for system purge control circuit and large evap leak. So that will need to be looked at without any doubt at this point.

There is also a P0500 for speed sensor "A" which may be why the trac control light and ABS light are on. The speedometer seems to work fine so I will do a little diagnostics on that one to try to determine the issue.

Hopefully I can spend a little time this evening going over everything and getting a list of stuff that needs done.
The traction control is ABS-based, if you have an ABS fault, it will disable TC until the fault is fixed.
 
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