general problems of the 2003 Lincoln Aviator

After owning a 2003 Lincoln Aviator close to 4 years it is now down. I took good care of this SUV and always had changed the oil with synthetic oil . With only 79,000 miles it now has a engine knock . I took it to the Lincoln dealer and they said I need a new engine and it would be 8,800 dollars since my extended warranty just ran out. I have been reading other people had this experience with this SUV and year but Ford does not want to correct this.

My 2003 Lincoln Aviator acquired a crack in the engine while my wife was driving with our children. Upon further research of problem, it shows in Ford's TSB's that this is a known issue with the engine. The repair will cost approx. $5000 to fix, the problem here is Ford is aware but denying the problem when repairing the engine. How can they do this.

The contact owns a 2003 Lincoln Aviator. The contact experienced a coil issue with her vehicle, in terms of misfiring. When she would accelerate, the vehicle hesitated. The dealer was initially unable to determine the cause of the failure, but after further diagnosis, discovered that two coils were defective. The coils were replaced, but the failure recurred after 30 miles. The contact returned the vehicle to the dealer. The failure occurred a total of five times and the vehicle was taken to the dealer after each occurrence. They continued to replace the coils, which did not remedy the issue. The failure occurred at all speeds and the air conditioner would shut off simultaneously. The manufacturer has not been notified. The current mileage was approximately 80,200 and failure mileage was approximately 60,000.

My 2003 Lincoln Aviator had a rough idle and was a little sluggish. With only 92,000 miles on a $45,000 car, this surprised me. This is a high performance engine. Upon accelerating to enter I-20 the vehicle almost died. Luckily ,there were no vehicles coming - had this been during rush hour it might not have been so lucky. I took the vehicle to city garage to have it checked out, and was told it had a major engine problem. The #8 cylinder had on 70 lbs of pressure, and the vehicle needed a valve job. I called Lincoln customer service after find on this web site that mine was not the only Aviator with this problem and with the exact same cylinder. I was told by Lincoln to take it to the dealership where I paid another $100 to have it scoped again - only to be told by Lincoln that they didn't intend to do anything about it. This appears to be another one of Ford's major mistakes that they are not willing to take responsibility for until someone gets killed. People who own these vehicles do not expect them to die on acceleration, and it is just a matter of time before someone gets hurt. That - coupled with the fact that this is costing people who own these vehicles a good deal of money and Ford's attitude was tough.

10/26/06 # 8 coil failed 11/8/06 #6 coil failed 12/15/06 # 7 coil failed 1/24/07 cylinder head cracked total cost $4,943. 53 for repairs.