How long does the 5.0 really last?
 

Hello I have recently purchased a 95 GT w/ 103,000 miles on it and was wondering how much longer you think the moter will last. It has had 4 owner's including me, The first was a small buisness purchased it and put 11,000+ miles a year:eek:, then some old guy owned it for about 10,000 miles:D, then a college kid owned it for 2,500 miles[:@]. Based on this info how much longer do you think it will last? The reason im asking is it misses a bit and ive changed the distributor cap/roter and the plugs are almost new Bosch Platinum and the wires are Autolite 8mm and if that isnt causing the problem do you think a piston/the whole moter is going bad?

RE: How long does the 5.0 really last?
 

theirs no magic number, an engine could last 50k miles or 300k miles depending on how it was cared for. best thing to do is to check all the routine mainenance and do a compression test on the engine.

RE: How long does the 5.0 really last?
 

They can last a very long time if you keep up with it and do the routen maintainence

RE: How long does the 5.0 really last?
 

First off a motor can go for as long as you maintain it. Think of this...if a motor fails it is not the whole motor that goes bad. It is usually one part causing the entire mechanical engine to not work properly...or not work at all.

You have no Idea how long it will last. That is because you don't know how the previous owners drove it.

Example, the college kid could have beat it to death and did more damage to the engine than all the previous owners combined.

I have read about a Chevy truck hitting 1,000,000 miles. YES one million miles. But he changed and maintained his car like he was supposed too, and even better. There were scientist that wanted to know the secret to his high milage and pulled the engine apart. The engine only showed signs of approx 60,000 miles. That was because he changed his fluids like he should, and drove it normally.

So no one can tell you how long your car will last. That can only be answered if you know exactly how the previous owners drove it and how they took care of it.

I purchased my stang with 120,000 miles on it and it runs flawless. That is partially due to the previous owners.

Your stang may last to 200K miles, or may give out tomorrow. You never know.

The only thing you do know is how YOU are taking care of it. So properly maintain your car and if nothing is seriously wrong now...it will last you as long as you want.

RE: How long does the 5.0 really last?
 

Plus it doesn't matter that age.

We take care of our cars...because we love them. We occasionally take off fast but we keep them clean and maintained. I bet the average age in the forum is low to mid 20s. Few teenagers too. So our cars are being taken care off, which means longer life.

Now my I purchased a 82 caddy off of a one owner old lady. The car had only 28,000 ORIGINAL miles. She only drove it to the grocery store. Problem was she never changed her oil. Oil looses its properties after a certain milage or certain time. Hers was both.

So guess what...she caused a valve to warp causing excessive damage to the cylinder head and the cam.

The car only had 28K miles on it. But that doesn't mean that the engine wouldnt run without the valve "floating"

So don't assume the old guy did better for the car than the college student...but then again we have seen dumb*** students in mustangs and know what they do. Just food for thought

RE: How long does the 5.0 really last?
 

Pistons don't usually go bad unless there is/was heavy detonation and assuming the engine is NA. For a miss start with the ignition. If you haven't already, check the coil. You can measure the primary and secondary resistance and check for cracks.

A well maintained 5.0 can go well over 200K.

RE: How long does the 5.0 really last?
 

you never know i have heard some may last forever

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RE: How long does the 5.0 really last?
 

Your main problem is the miss. You said that was why you where asking. Does it miss all the time? Does it miss here and there. First thing I would do is try to find what cylinder is missing. You can pull a plug wire off till you hear no change in sound and that will be the one. Could be a fouled plug, a bad plug, a bad wire, no matter how new they are. If the miss keeps moving around from one cylinder to the next it could be something with the coil or dist. Try to trace it down and do a compression check on the motor like mdvaldosta said. Also, I`m not a real big fan of Bosch plugs either. I would swap them out for autolite 25`s.

RE: How long does the 5.0 really last?
 

Oh I didn't read that you had Bosch plugs. I would change them out. That should FIX the missing problem.

They are horrible plugs. I had some one time and they started to make my car miss at 5K miles after they were put in.

Also make sure none of the wires have the insulator burnt off. The spark could travel to the engine before the plug.

There are two things that cause a piston to go bad. Detonation and the thing that can make they go out the fastest...worse than detonation...driving a over heated car. Will melt the piston.

RE: How long does the 5.0 really last?
 

Hey,
I was wondering why everyone doenst like bosch, Ive had 2 sets of platinums in my mustang and Im about to put the 3rd set in and I had a set in my firebird and they never gave me any trouble. I dunno maybe Im just lucky.