'97 Ford Probe

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Colt45ws

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Ive been kinda looking for avehicle for my brother. My original intent was to let him drive the Saturn, but he had surgery on his ankle and since it was a manual, that was out. So we ended up selling it. I have a coworker that has a 1997 Ford Probe with 130k. Im helping him with it abit as he is trying to get it in shape to sell here in a month or two. He is going to put in a CV shaft and a radiator hose which is the extent of what I could find wrong with it. Its had a water pump recently as well.
What are some issues with these and is it any good?
 
Sisters Boyfriends 96 Probe Radiator Rusted out bad, only issue he had with it, he bought it at 75K miles and when he traded the car in it had 275K miles on it as he was a Dominos Driver.

It was a Florida car, Title was from Miami, Old guy had it prior, so IDK why the radiator rusted on it.

Sturdy car, still ran when he got rid of it, replacing the Radiator at 120K, A/C died at 270K miles, Ran its life on Walmart OC's and/or OCOD/ST filter and Whatever Walmart had cheap at the time (Supertech, Quaker State, Motorcraft)

This was a few years back, he would go 200-400 miles a night on it.

I dont even think the Transmission Fluid was ever changed, nor was the Power Steering.
 
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Run, do not walk, away from this car. Parts are made from unobtainium. Luckily we are both a Ford and a Mazda dealer so we can get some cross over parts.
 
I liked it, and the 2 people I know (one mentioned above) and another who had a 93 one all liked them

to each his own, Id take it over the Mopar Equivalent Stealth anyday
 
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The rear quarters rusted bad on those.
To think,Probe was supposed to be named Mustang and replace the Fox based Mustang in the mid 80s....Ford was overwelmed with complaints and had to separate the two.
 
2.0 I4 or 2.5 v6?

Autos were weak points, I've got 341k miles (original clutch too) on my 2.0 mtx MX6 - worst thing was the distributor needing replacing 3 times (the re-designed one lasted longer but still went out). Lifetime mpg avg of 34, fun to drive, looks good, nicely laid out interior with leahter.

*shrug* must only be the Ford versions that were POS's
wink.gif

Never knew they were hard to find parts for, either.
 
Originally Posted By: surfstar
2.0 I4 or 2.5 v6?

Autos were weak points, I've got 341k miles (original clutch too) on my 2.0 mtx MX6 - worst thing was the distributor needing replacing 3 times (the re-designed one lasted longer but still went out). Lifetime mpg avg of 34, fun to drive, looks good, nicely laid out interior with leahter.

*shrug* must only be the Ford versions that were POS's
wink.gif

Never knew they were hard to find parts for, either.


Mazda was the vendor for Ford on almost everything on that car. At some point Ford did the "tag you're it, no tag backs" and ran away.
 
Originally Posted By: bdcardinal
Run, do not walk, away from this car. Parts are made from unobtainium. Luckily we are both a Ford and a Mazda dealer so we can get some cross over parts.


Thank you for this post. I had to try to find an opportunity on a call today to use the word unobtanium. The customer found it hilarious.
 
Originally Posted By: Nick R
Originally Posted By: bdcardinal
Run, do not walk, away from this car. Parts are made from unobtainium. Luckily we are both a Ford and a Mazda dealer so we can get some cross over parts.


Thank you for this post. I had to try to find an opportunity on a call today to use the word unobtanium. The customer found it hilarious.


I love it, that and Disco Duck for an obsolete part. Usually I get the laugh then the crying on the other end of the phone.
 
I've heard pretty good things about these cars.

AFAIK, both engines came from Mazda, and were reliable.
 
Originally Posted By: addyguy
I've heard pretty good things about these cars.

AFAIK, both engines came from Mazda, and were reliable.
you heard wrong, unfortunately.
 
My roommate in college had a Probe of this vintage, a Probe SE with the 4-cylinder automatic. An original poster was right: the automatic did feel like it was filled with gelatin, but the rest of the car was otherwise okay. His was reliable. We wrecked it on a 2-lane road one time into a rock out-cropping. He was driving and I was in the passenger seat; it was a fast left hand bend with rocks up the right side of the road. The right side tires moved over the white line and that was it. It slid into the rocks. My door caved in some and a rock caught the B-pillar and spun the car back into the road. I'd say we were going 25-30 mph at the point of impact. It was a pretty big hit, but the car protected the occupants. The car was a total loss due to the unibody damage.
 
I had a 1994 2.0l 5 speed manual. The worst issue I had was the horrible, fading paint. My paint oxidized to pink. I had to keep it waxed with that colored wax all the time. I had two issues that were long term annoyances. The idle air control never worked properly. I had it replaced twice and threw up my hands after that, just flipping off the a/c or keeping my foot on the gas when I came to a stop. Second, I got a misfire that no one could track down. That went on for about a year until I finally traded it in for $500 (woot!) on my CR-V in 2002. Another weird issue that popped up once was alleviated when the starter was replaced. I would get a small shock every time I opened the car door from the outside. Don't know what that has to do with a failing starter, but... Bright spot was awesome gas mileage compared to my previous car, an 82 BMW 320i. And you could throw a heck of a lot of stuff in the hatch of that car. But I drove all over the country in that car and other than the battery dieing on me a few times, I don't think anything else bad ever happened...
 
Well, [censored]. Something Ive also been looking for is a MN-12 Thunderbird or Cougar with the V8. Only reason for the V8 is the V6 is a POS. But, Im having a hard time finding a example in reasonably good shape.
 
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