these tranny's in these things suck. I'm on my 3rd one with 46K on it now. Rear axel seals replaced that were leaking, all 4 upper control arms replaced due to noise. rear wheel bearing shot, had to be replaced. Coil pack shot, had to get a new one. Ring and Pinion in rear replaced due to howling. 3K miles later, its doing it again!

Hopfully you don't have near as many problems that came with my suspension and tranny (do you have the same tranny as mine??)

 

Do you have the 5 speed automatic? And I have heard of severe issues with the rears howling. Haven't had a problem yet, but I also get a 4 year 50,000 mile warranty being a lincoln.

 

Mattineer, I'm convinced that anything you'd drive would shudder and fall apart if looked at the wrong way.

That said, it's unusual for a 4.6 4V, especially a newer one, to have the rear main seal replaced (twice, no less) and the oil pan gasket replaced with that few miles on it. These engines typically seal up pretty well. The most common engine concerns I've seen with Aviators are burned or stuck exhaust valves, usually on cylinders 7 and/or 8. I've been told that this comes from not using premium fuel, since the 4V has a 10.1:1 compression ratio. I always got a kick outta that, people plunk down $40K or whatever for an Aviator, then balked at buying premium go juice for it. Go figure.

The axle whine problems are there too, and FCSD is trying to pass a lot of junk gearsets off as normal. A guy I work with had to order two or three ring and pinion sets before finally getting a good one for a Navigator that stayed quiet. Internally, those transmissions are alright, I think the intermediate band breaks on them sometimes. The (I think) overdrive or intermediate servo bores often get worn with higher miles, causing soft shifts, the fix is either to replace the case or get a sleeve kit to repair the bores. Biggest problem with those was solenoid valve bodies, usually causing delayed reverse engagements and flared upshifts, along with getting the latest PCM calibrations. '05 should have been in the recall range to get a trans additive to bring the fluid up to the latest level spec to try to prevent any harsh/delayed reverse or forward gear engagements.

Rear window motors fail in 'em pretty regularly, slam the door a few times and they'll get going again. Seen a lot of front A/C compressor seals leaking recently. The expansion valve in the rear A/C unit can get screwed up sometimes and make weird whistling noises, sounds like an old slide whistle. They're kinda hard on front brakes. The steering may shudder on hard left hand turns, there's a TSB to replace the line running from the power steering cooler to the rack. If you turn the wheel and feel resistance and hear a slight squeaking in the steering column, there's a TSB for draining the power steering fluid and refilling the system with a mix of XL-3 rear axle friction modifier and Mercon III transmission fluid. If that doesn't fix it, you're supposed to replace the rack and pinion, although I haven't had one yet that needed a rack for that concern. The handle on the third row folding seat breaks with hard use, just like in Exploders or Mountaineers. They wear tires fast and uneven for whatever reason, rotate religiously, I recommend every 3-5K, and stay on top of tire pressures.

ETA - On early Aviators, I've seen a lot of chafed/frayed wiring going to the exterior rear view mirrors for the puddle lamps, this'll often blow fuse 14 or 15 in the underhood junction box, killing the interior lights, power windows, instrument cluster, radio, key chimer, and A/C. I think they've fixed this on late '04s and newer ones though. And the silvery trim around the shifter and center stack is very easy to scratch, and very expensive to replace. Ask me how I know.

I love Aviators. Really, I do. Seriously. Stop laughing already. It's not funny...

 

Holy!

 

I know a thing or two about F150s, mostly from heresay and some limited hands on OJT, since there's two Ford stores in town to my one Lincoln store. But during the week, I'm a Lincoln-Mercury guy, so I got a lot of hard fought experience with Uncle Henry's luxo brands. It is kinda cool having one of the Ford guys call us 'cause a T-Bird is kicking them around; we've been working on the four door T-Bird, the LS, since '99.

 

Quintin, I am convinced the oil seals are the fault of the dealer that did the work. They probably beat the **** out of the rear main after reinstalling the tranny. They *said* they replaced it the first time, I know they did the second time. The oil pan started leaking after the second rear main.

The rack and pinion was replaced after 12K miles as well, vibration on full lock left turns. At 17K miles it went back again, they said they drained and refilled, removing air from the lines. Here we are at 22K miles, its vibrating again.

The tranny replacement stuff was after a trip to SC and an attempted pass on a two lane led to a WOT missed shift where I thought either the tranny was left on the road behind me or I was about to start walking.

The battery went out at 14K miles (bad cell) and they refused to replace it so I got a rental 3 times and lincoln paid like $200 for rental fees, then I got fed up with it and just put one in myself.

All in all, it makes me think less of lincoln (specifically this dealer) but I'll still buy'em, the Navi hasn't (knock on wood) had any real problems, and my Town Car never gave me any problems.

 

I thought for sure I'd see this:

 

Quintin, no sooner than you say that the drivers rear door window starts acting up. I slammed the chit out of it, still wouldn't work. GOt pissed off and just let it be, next morning it goes right down with no issue

Also, what do you know about it low idleing? At a light sometimes, it'll idle around 500rpm.

 

Yup, window motor's hanging up.

I've reprogrammed PCMs before for low/rough idle concerns on those things.

 

Those bastards at the dealership refuse to reflash it. I have told them on three seperate visits that its idleing improperly, and now at WOT the valves sound like a 200K miles drivetrain in there. I'm gonna run it till it blows and return it on a flatbed and invoke the lemon law