Shift solenoids, torque converters, the 3-4 shift valve getting stuck in the valve body, and the intermediate band breaking, I think those are the big things for the 5R in an LS from most common to least common.

Valve cover gaskets seem to last about 20-30K miles for the first set when the car is new, then 50-60K miles there after. It's just something that comes with owning the car. The coils are trash after they get oil on them, you can clean and reinstall them, but their lifespan is significantly shortened due to the oil contamination.

The '03 and newer was a much better car. They ditched that stupid *** hydraulic cooling fan in 2003, the rear window regulators are stronger, the valve cover gaskets seem to be a bit better (but they still leak), most of the shift solenoid problems were resolved by 2004, the coolant control valve was redesigned and is a lot more reliable than the '00-'02 (and should it fail, it's a ton easier to get to), and they're faster than the older cars. The V8s picked up about 30 hp in 2003, and the V6 about 20 I think.

The best of the best was in '06, I think they got the car running really good, all the little bugs were sorted out, but the DEW platform cost too much so they discontinued it. The cars weren't really selling all that well either. It's too bad, by the '06 model year it was an alright car.

The one good thing is that the engines overall, mechanically, are solid. I haven't seen any engine failures that weren't caused by the owner, like trying to cross a frickin' river or something. One of our customers bought one of the first LS V8s we got in 2000, and he's almost up to 200K miles with just basic maintenance (and a lot of the problem items mentioned earlier).

 

Good stuff to know -- one of these days I might just make good on my threat to buy a low mileage "retro 'Bird" to team up with the F-150 and the Mustang that are already in my stable. It looks like if I do I need to shoot for an '04 or '05 model. The only problem is that the color I really want (Inspiration Yellow) was only offered in the '02 model year.......

 

All this stuff crosses over to the DEW based T-Bird, along with a couple other T-Bird specific quirks.

For the first year or two, the hardtops had inexplicable water leaks, but the soft tops sealed up good. Figure that one out. I have one customer with a black '02 I think it is, he loves it.

 

My dad has an 04 ls v8 and it has been a great car.

The only problem was the mass air floor sensor went out but that was miner and went bad because of the dirt on our country roads.

He has 75,000 miles on it, it has never seen a drop of premium gas either always 87 at bp or shell runs just fines. Imo it is a great car and it will move for a four door. I am talking it likes to go it will spin off the line if you arnt careful

average mpgs

city 17-19
highways 24-27


thats what we have observed with a best milage of 31 on the highway cruise at 65 over a 400 mile trip. Made it from Charlotte NC to a little short of canton ohio on one tank