going to look at a 1999 MGM tomorrow- need advise PLEASE

[tedrohedro]

Hello all. Im looking to pick up a lincoln town car or a Mercury Grand Marquis. Im leaning towards the GM because they seem to be a bit cheaper and a lot easier to find with low mileage.

So tomorrow I am going to Look at a 1999 grand marquis. I believe it is the LS version. It has leather interior. From the pictures i have seen it looks to be in nice condition. ONE owner car. family is selling because the owner died. It has 35K miles on it. Looks like the interior is cherry … the bumpers have a few minor scrapes that i can see from the pictures.

I have been doing some research about the 4.6 and have heard the biggest problem seems to be the intake manifold. I can't seem to get a straight answer as to what year the bad ones were used. can someone tell me? also If '99 has the bad manifold, and has yet to be replaced, should that deter me from buying the car?

When i go look at the car… can you tell me what to look for that should indicate i should NOT buy this particular one.
They are asking about 4500 dollars … what would you pay?

Thank you in advance for your help. I look forward to being on here from now on… and hopefully have a Grand Marquis !

Ted

(sorry about the typo in the title…spelling… should be "advice" don't know how to edit that part)

[marquisman]

The intake was an issue from the 1996 to 2001 model year. If the car is in real nice shape, I would not run away from it, just because of the manifold. In fact, you can use it as a bargaining chip. The manifold is not that expensive and is straight forward to replace. You want to look for an aluminum coolant cross over on the front of the intake. If its all plastic, its original.

As for the price. In my opinion, $4500 is a bit much. You can have a '03 and up model for that money.

[84GrandMarquis]

Welcome! If it's a true 35k mile car then it's worth 4500 even with a few scrapes, although I would still try to haggle down to 4 grand just to make it an even more awesome deal. All '96 to '01 Grand Marquis, Crown Victorias, and Town Cars had the plastic intake manifold, so this '99 is no exception. I wouldn't let it stop you from buying this car though as long as it's clean. It all depends, I've heard of some of these manifolds fail at 50k and I've seen others last to 100k miles.

It's not that hard of a fix when the time comes, although it's possible that it was already replaced. The factory ones were all plastic if memory serves me correctly, but the aftermarkets had a metal bracket that the alternator bolts on to. I think that's where the whole problem stemmed, from mounting the alternator onto the plastic intake.

Edit: Oops I was too slow and I see I've already been beaten to answering the question

[marquisman]

I miss read the mileage. I thought it said 135K for some reason. I guess I'm not used to them numbers lol.

[tedrohedro]

I miss read the mileage. I thought it said 135K for some reason. I guess I'm not used to them numbers lol.

Thanks for both of your input!

Was there anything else that was a problem/failure w that year(s)? Something that maybe i can't look for, but something i could expect to have to address. I am going to be buying this car as my daily commuter.

Thanks
Ted

[79lincolnlover]

Ask for service records. Check body and frame for rust.

[Ziggy]

You want to take it for a thorough test drive... In some cases, a car with exceedingly low mileage can be as bad as a car with very high mileage. Like 79lincolnlover said, ask for service records. with only 35k miles, I suspect that the vehicle spent most of it's time sitting, and given the fact that the prior owner has passed on, it is likely that those 35k miles occurred 3-4 at a time at speeds of under 35 mph. The brake fluid should be clear or have a yellowish tint to it. Dark colored brake fluid indicates moisture in the system and will need to be flushed out. Again, with 35k miles, the car is probably sitting on original tires. If so, I'd replace them immediately. 14-15 year old rubber is not to be trusted for dd use. You'll want to ask how long on average between fill ups. If the old man/lady that owned it only put gas in it once a month, you'll want to get some seafoam into the tank and really take it easy on the car as you start to drive it. You'll probably put more miles on it in one month than it has seen in some of the prior years. Unfortunately, you may find that some of the rubber, bushings, greased components could wear at a rate that you wouldn't believe possible once you start driving the vehicle daily.

I've seen (and owned) low mileage cars that have had more issues related to lack of use than similar average mileage vehicles have. Miles aren't necessarily something to be afraid of... It all has to do with how the vehicle was treated.

Be careful is all I'm saying. Don't shy away from a well maintained and documented '02 or '03 with 85k+ in favor of this '99 with 35k if it has no docs to support maintenance. Also, don't be afraid to take your time and really go through the records that they give you. A stack of paper is easy to accept, but if it is all maintenance from the last 6 months fixing stuff that has gone wrong, that'll tell you that the first 35k miles they may not have been as religious about maintenance as they said.