2001 Lincoln LS - Overheating

Maintenance/Repairs
1

I own a 2001 Lincoln LS 3.0L (v6). Today the engine overheated. I had driven on the highway for 15 min (it was fine through this), then sat in the parking lot for 10 min and thats when it happened. There was coolant on the ground behind the driver’s side front wheel, and spread towards the middle of the car.
After the engine cooled down I filled it back up with coolant and gave it a test run and it was fine. It still leaked slightly, but I could not determine from where (it was dripping from behind the driver’s side wheel). Drove it home and it did fine. Any thoughts on what it is? And what is the probability it will happen again?

I know the v8 model is notorious about having the plastic coolant parts break but I wasn’t sure if this translated to the v6 model.

2

If you have plastic coolant parts… then they, too, can break. 18 year old plastic exposed to a ton of heat cycles makes them brittle. That said, if the car overheated while you were sitting still, I’d guess this is an electric fan issue. Check them.