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My 96 3.8 Camaro was wrecked in a freak accident. A girl I know got in the passenger seat to turn the cd player on, turned the key too far on accident and cranked the engine. I wasn't in there to have the clutch in, and I have no safety sensor on the clutch, so it popped over a curb and down a small hill into a truck. Didn't total it, but it had high miles (230,000 and still outran newer 3.8 Camaros), so I decided to junk it and get something else. Tough decision though, it was a really nice Camaro, as opposed to a lot of the junk ones you see running around.
My friend has a 2000 v6 mustang that looks amazing and is well taken care of. The drawback is that it has 150,xxx miles. He's only asking 2 grand for it though, and that makes me want it. Like I said, it's been well taken car of, and garage kept as far as I know. So what do you guys think? Are the ford 3.8's a reliable engine? What's could I expect out of this car in terms of mileage? I take care of my vehicles, so take that into consideration as well.
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I've got a 2000 with 123,000 and still going very strong. Replace the drivers side valve cover, change the oil regularly and you can expect it to last as long as you want it to!
Why the driver's side valve cover? And what are things to look and listen for when I drive it, if there are any specific things about these cars that is?
The 99 and 00 Mustangs had a faulty drivers side valve cover that allowed oil to be sucked into the pcv and into the upper intake which caused spark knock. You can install an inline filter between the valve cover and the PCV valve, but I'd rather just replace the problem all together...
Listen for any pinging/tapping upon acceleration, and check the date on the valve cover. It's explained better here. Also listen for an exhaust leak which is a common problem on the passenger manifold. The AC compressor seems to drip right on the pipe... It's a good excuse to get long tube headers, though
i'm definitely buying that mustang. the owner said the driver's side valve cover was replaced, along with the computer. it was done at a dealership a couple years ago. it's been sitting for a year, but he's started it and drove it a little each week, so it's not so bad.
Spark knock (detonation), or pinging is when you accelerate and the car makes a wierd noise(almost like the predator movie where he makes that noise before he kills his prey), the cylinder pressure is at peak levels This usually happens from cheap ****ty gas as well. There are a ton of reasons that can cause pinging(overheating, air/fuel, etc), and don't buy am/pm gas, a buddy of ours was running that crap, clogged up his fuel filter(massive sludge), and killed his fuel pump. It left him stranded in between Oregon and the CA state line on his way home from a baseball tourney, which is in the middle of NOWHERE. Not cool to say the least, it pays to buy the stuff that's 10 cents more a gallon. You will get better mileage with better gas anyway, that cheap ****, goes QUICK.
I'd go for it for 2k, if you treat her right, she will love you forever. Our cars go over 200k no problem, there's a guy coming up on 500k soon, use the search feature if it's working.
Last edited by JKs95stang; 08-25-2009 at 07:22 PM.
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Need some opinions...
