1996 Ford Thunderbird 120k mi; Mobil 1 5W-30 Extended 3k mi

[MitchB]

1996 Ford Thunderbird 4.6.

Noteworthy:

Vehicle is completely stock. Speedometer stopped working, so 3000/120,000 are estimates.
Oil last changed 4 months ago. Car was garaged for almost 8 years off the road and started and run occasionally.
Vehicle in steady use now for 1 1/2 years.
Oil changed regularly when vehicle was in use.
ECM flashed with my custom tune changing, among other things, injector timing.
Vehicle has seen 30/70% high speed highway use/urban slow speed driving.
Cold starts fast idled engine at 850 RPM until up to operating temp and 700 RPM.
Engine had a misfire for a short while in a few cylinders until spark plug wires changed.

 

[himemsys]

Wear metals look very good.

Oxidation seems too high for only 3000 miles. I believe virgin oxidation is in the 7-8 range.

That weird thing with Calcium and Magnesium in Speediagnostix reports. Especially Ca, which seems to drop 50% on their UOAs, but not on any other labs'.

I'd love to see a picture of this vehicle if you can post one!

 

[Slick3914]

There is no way the calcium number can be correct.

 

[JavierH19]

Nice tbird. I liked these modern ones.

 

[ka9mnx]

You can send off your spedo to have it completely rebuilt. I just sent my 93 F150 off for a rebuild. Prices range between $100 and $200.

 

[Michigangster]

These are great cars. I miss my 97 with the 4.6L.

 

[fantastic]

Results look okay for your 3k. I bet there's not that many of those birds flying around up north so yours must be pretty rare.

 

[MitchB]

Bought car from the desert southwest in 2010 with 79,000 miles. Car runs very well.

 

[Michigangster]

A 96 sport package! IMO the best non-SC T-Bird out there.

 

[The Critic]

Calcium seems way too low-- ask for a re-run. However, it is possible that this is a new formulation of M1 since the P/Zn levels look almost correct.

 

[OilStainedNapkin]

Nice looking car! I just realized how much the front end looks like the mustang of that era.

 

[raaizin]

I had a 1990 with the 3.8 v6. Drove it about 230k miles. I think the V6 had head gasket problems but mine was troublefree. It was a great car. I thought Ford was moving in the right direction with that car with independent rear suspension and rearwheel drive but that was short lived. It handled pretty well for a mainstream vehicle.

 

[Brons2]

Drove one of these that was a rental from Portland to San Jose once in the 90s, I think maybe summer of 94. Good highway cruiser. The 4.6 wasn't going to win any drag races but it had plenty enough power to get the job done, 75-80 no problem up and down the mountains of Southern Oregon and Northern California. Only filled up once, in Medford and was able to cruise into San Jose on that gas. Didn't calculate mileage but it seemed good at the time for a V8.