87GTVert

I have a 1995 Sunfire GT 5-Speed, and I found a Black/Red 87' GT Convertable 5-Speed. The Mustang has 95,000 miles on it, and no rust and a perfect interior and top. The guy is a small car dealer, and he said he would take my sunfire on a trade in. The mustang only has one problem, when (he drove it a little in the parking lot) he drove it, it sound like a really low popping noise, and a puff of black smoke came out of the exhaust. I was just thinking it needs the spark plugs/wires replaced, and the spark plug wells cleaned, thinking there was oil in them. Maybe it needed a tune up also. I was wondering what you guys thought, and I think its a pretty good deal because think about it, Sunfire for a Mustang? The car is perfect other than that little problem. Let me know what you guys think.

I posted that in the New Member area, but I'm hoping to get more responses in the 5.0 forum.


Alex aka "87GTVert"

nitrous_bob

look at the exhaust, see if it has cats....probably doesn't and possibly causing the popping.

i would do a carfax on it for sure, i don't trust those small dealerships at all.

he said str8-up trade? he will probably try to get you to throw a few bones at him, get you excited at first then act like someone is interested. whats the asking price...an '87 gt 'vert in good condition is worth about $3000-$3500

Tronick

My two cents,
"low popping noise" with black smoke - can be caused a cold, overly rich engine(stuck injector, leaky fuel regulator, etc.), possibly with out of adjustment timing. Look for a failure causing the car to run rich. OR, if you mix up spark plug wires, you'll hear the same noise. You'll definatly want to get to the bottom of this before you buy or trade. Oily plugs should NEVER be dismissed as just needing a tune up, espescially when looking at buying a car. Oily plugs come out of damaged engines, there is no other way around that one (except a bad PCV, which can on some setups, cause crankcase vented oil to be sent into the intake). If you pick up the stang, have fun! Good luck!

Nick,

87GTVert

Well I figured that these 5.0 engines are a dime a dozen (I think this is true), and parts are relatively cheap, am I right? Also, it hasn't been driven in a few months (Causing what Tronick said), the battery was dead, he charged it up and it fired right up. Some white smoke came out for a few minutes while it was warming up, but it was pretty cold yesterday. The puffs of black smoke and the low popping noises only came when he started to drive it. Hope this info helps. Oh and heres a pic of my "fun" car. 1973 Dodge Charger SE 400 4bbl..