Help me weigh the sensible beater

[Gary Allan]

Quote:
Gary IMO, if the body is clean (unusual for a Tauri of that vintage)and everything works,


Yes, aside from a couple of non-scar dents on one door, the thing is perfect. No rust. No paint fade. The interior has no rips or stains and shows no UV damage or fade. The AC/cruise/windows/locks/trunk release/etc. all function.

Now I'm one of the more paranoid modern automatic type people, but I really can't see a weak link not showing itself before 168k. I don't know the full history of the car ..but by the apparent condition it's been well cared for.

The worst thing I could complain about is that there are some Cheerios in the back seat from where they pulled out the child safety seat.

 

[JTK]

Yeah, I would think that AX4S or what ever FMC used then would have gone out by now or has already been replaced. It's also pre-OBDII which is a really good thing.

Joel

 

[alanu]

check the inner/outer tie rod ends. Common to see those go.

 

[gavinl]

I'd avoid all Ford 3.8 V6 like the plague

 

[mrsilv04]

Gary-

If you think that the total bill to get it back on the road is $1,000 (or less), I'd go for it. $1,000 any where else isn't going to get you any more of a car.

Sounds like you've thought it through. However, it would be nice to know some more of the repair history on the car.

 

[Tommyboy]

By the sounds of it, you've already made up your mind. I'm not sure why you've solicited comments.

 

[Gary Allan]

mrsilv04: That's my limit ..$1000. I think I can do the entire thing, including title transfer, for $800. I'll find out the history of the car tomorrow. It's just so clean I really have a hard time figuring it was neglected in terms of service.

Tommyboy: No, I haven't made up my mind. My soliciting of opinion was to see if anyone presented anything that I could not cope with. So far, I haven't see too much that tips the scales against it (read as "informed and advised").

Hey, if I had more money to throw around, I'd do it. I don't

 

[Cutehumor]

have you been checking criaglist? Before the latest gas crunch, you could find beaters under $1000 there.

 

[JTK]

Too bad it's not a 3.0L, but if you can tackle that timing chain cover, you can tackle anything on the Ford 3.8L.

Joel

 

[alanu]

You dont have to touch the timing chain cover when you remove the butter soft heads.

 

[Gary Allan]

But you may if you can't get the broken dissimilar uncoated assembly fasteners out of the timing cover when doing a wp. I think that Ford, above all other manufacturers, has refined the assembly process to the nth second and places more time on the after sale service/repair end of it. It's always a dollar waiting on a dime (like if there was 3mm more clearance you could service it in 5 min instead of 3hours type thing).

In my frame of mind .... these types of jobs just mean you aren't going to have a good day ..but ..that's the way it goes. I'll whine anyway. I'm lazy

 

[Gary Allan]

Well, my decision may be made for me. I talked to my son's friend and told him about the blown head gasket. I also told him that I'd be willing to tear it down to see if there's any detectable damage to the pistons/cylinders ..etc. He's got a relative that needs a cr and her ex-boyfriend (there has to be some Gerry Springer thing here) wants to look at it. He also stated (and I take this as a "up bid move") that a junkyard offered him $600 for the carcass.

I told him to figure out what he wants to do ASAP since I'm going to probably either buy something else or patch the 3.0 91 Taurus for a bit longer which will exhaust my funds for such matters. I also said for him to take whatever deal makes him the most money. He owes me $35.

The oddity is that this was his wife's daily driver. She's driving a minivan @ (currently) $125/week in gasoline. He just impulsively bought an F150 with his perfectly good paid for Dakota as trade for $269/month in payments.

I love people scrounging for more money so that they can urinate it away foolishly.

 

[TheTanSedan]

The answer is easy: another 4.0L Jeep.

 

[meep]

my 4.0 won't die. It prolly should... the car around it is. 240,000 miles. If it wasn't so darn thirsty...

Mike

 

[Cutehumor]

Gary,

so what happened?