"New" 2003 300A Marauder Owner here!

[fbird18]

Hey all, just picked it up on Saturday and have put a few hundred miles on it already! Love driving this thing! Fantastic car. 112,400 mi. and mostly stock, for $8,200.

I had a 1997 Grand Marquis LS with 215,000 miles on it that I sold to a friend. A Lincoln LS, Taurus SHO, and a couple mustangs. Guess I'm a Ford guy :). As much as I am loving driving it, there are a few issues. I'm going to be researching this forum for answers, but if anyone wants to help out, that would be awesome.

Driver window doesn't roll up right away, has to wait a little bit before trying. I believe that is the window motor?

Adjustable pedals don't adjust. They move about 1/2" and that's it.

The hood has a ton of little tiny 1/2" long marks in the paint. Kinda odd.

Oil pressure gauge doesn't light up.

The exhaust looks stock, but it definitely isn't. It is nice and rumbley, but the tone can be REALLY high pitched in the cabin during slower acceleration at the top of each gear. Not sure if the mufflers were gutted or high flow mufflers were installed, but I really don't like the tone it makes. Love the rumble, but not that high pitched squeal.

The biggest concern would be the transmission. After one spirited trip down the on-ramp, about 85 mph, as I slowed down to 65 the rpm's stuck at around 3,100. I couldn't get it to shift back into 4th. Exited the freeway and stopped at some lights, all good after that. Also, cruising at 55, just slightly speeding up to 58 or 60, and it would down shift to do so. What the hell? These two things only happened once each. Throttle positioning sensor maybe?

Sorry for the long post, just wanted to get some opinions on this stuff. Thanks in advance!

[lji372]

Welcome to the modness!!!!!

Congrats on your new ride :beer:

[RubberCtyRauder]

Welcome and congrats on purchase. NOt sure about window issue..motor/regulator??? Adjustable pedals..there is a plastic gear that usually breaks over time which doesn;t let the pedals move or just a ilttle bit. There is a member here.. Curless.. that is in Grand rapids, MI and has made a brass gear to replace the plastic one and it works. he has some available still to purchase and has install instructions here onthis site..we call it the "Curless Cure" works for Cv, GM, marauder. Send him a pm or look inthe marauder parts for sale section for a thread about it. If yours is an 03 then it sounds like the infamous paint issue..sort of like crows feet? it was a paint or primer issue and many here have it. Noty sure about the trans issue, other than the factory trans tune in based for economy and goes thru the gears pretty fast to get to OD. I recommend a tune for the PCM done thru a SCT unit thru the OBDII port. a tune will add some hp and change the trans shift schedule to more apporopriate and really waken up the car. Two vendors here can help (no need to take your car to them, they send it to you) Alternative Auto in MI or Mo's Speed shop in GA. Alternative is not active onthese boards so much, but he can be called, Martyo fromMo's speed shop is active on the board and a pm can be sent or call the shop. Plenty of very knowledgable members here to fix about everything.

[RF Overlord]

Adjustable pedals don't adjust. They move about 1/2" and that's it.As RCR said above, contact member "Curless". It's a very common issue.

Oil pressure gauge doesn't light up.Replace the bulb.

Also, in case you weren't already aware, the oil pressure gauge is a fake. Many of us have replaced it with a real working one that matches almost exactly the factory one. AutoMeter #4327.

[fbird18]

As RCR said above, contact member "Curless". It's a very common issue.

Nice I'll have to check that out. Thanks.


Replace the bulb.

Also, in case you weren't already aware, the oil pressure gauge is a fake. Many of us have replaced it with a real working one that matches almost exactly the factory one. AutoMeter #4327.

I was just listing the issues I've already found and yeah I figured that it was just a bulb. Didn't realize it was a dumb gauge though. Does it work at all? If the oil pressure gets too low, will it eventually show that info?

[fbird18]

Thanks for the info RubberCtyRauder!

[MERCURY 2003LSE]

Welcome :beer:

Congrats on the new ride :coolman: