I hate newer cars! My '90 chevy lumina has been stalling lately. The dealership charged us $90 to run a test on it, they found out it was teh Throttle Position Sensor. Alright, $250 for everything done, it hurt but what was I gonna do? So they call back, said they took it out for a drive and the problem was still there and that the fuel pump and also the computer chip (ECM) needed to be replaced: a grand total of $750 for these new problems. MY GOD! I'd replace the fuel pump myself, but the ECM must be purchased and installed by the dealership so that they can program it. THere's no way around it. We bought the car for $600, payed $900 for the fuel injectors to be fixed, and now this. I want a mustang! heh, am I wrong to be thinking that a mustang would be somewhat easier on the wallet granted that I do most of the repairs myself? It's gotta be better than this computer crap. Ugh, just venting.

 

You have to think about gas mileage. The money you pay in gas would most likey add up to those repairs over time.

 

I dont know about this dealership has to program the computer ****, i bought a ecm out of a junk yard for a 91 cav and it worked just fine. If your willing to replace the fuel pump why didnt you replace the throttle position sensor after they told u it was bad? thats easy! and 900 for injectors, did youcheck out local junk yards first?

if your 90 has a v6 your probably not gettin great gas anyways. go get a 60 something stang with a straight six and put an aod in it, it might be a dog but you wont get horrible gas mileage

 

Yep as far as im concerned it’s about bullet proof. Get the MSD ignition, disc up front at least, aluminum radiator, performance suspension and probably rebuilt trans if its automatic and has 100,000 + on it.

Yeah its sort of a high initial price but I have not yet encounter a problem I couldn’t fix in the parking lot with a screwdriver and a knife. I have put lots of miles on my stang and trust it to get me to point B and back to A with a high confidence level.


You might find it requires more "regular maintenance" but not by much. You can fix just about anything on your own too, which is cool. Just the other day I was driving and smoke was leaking from the hood and under car (oil smoke), It was shifting late as well and transmission oil would form in puddles under the car and mix with the huge puddle of engine oil. All started about 1 week ago. Sounds really bad....NOT

Valve cover gaskets were shot. Replaced with Fel-Pro silicon gaskets (should last a loooong time) (time required 30 min per side including cleaning) (cost 40.00)
Transmission oil pan gasket was shot replaced with higher quality gasket also replaced filter time ( 45min) (cost 12.00)
Modulator vacuum line was broken in half replaced (cost 1.00) time (10 min)
Transmission cooler line from radiator to transmission was finger tight (time 5min) to retighten
Oil pan gasket is in fair to poor shape needs to be replaced, as does the oil pan (going aluminum) cost 120 for oil pan (time hour or 2)

As of now the car doesn’t leak anymore and I did all that work in my driveway with about 5 different tools once the oil pan is done it should be good for a long time.

As bad as it sounded it was cakewalk to fix. Doing that on a new car would be a nightmare compared to the stangs. Like I said in the beginning they do take work to make reliable but once they are there its just a few minor things that popup every now and then and usually take less than 1 hr to fix.

I wouldnt have it any other way

Gun

 

Well, about the fuel injectors, that was when I was a new driver, I really didn't knwo anything about cars nor did I have a place to work on one. And my dad sure as hell didn't feel like doing it himself! He said he spent enough time working on cars in his lifetime.

I called Schucks about the ECM and he said that the dealership could sell the part to me cheaper than I could get it from Schucks. And the guy told me he advised against me finding and installing one myself that only the dealership could do it properly. Maybe he didn't know what he was talking about. I know nothing about the computers in my car.

And about the TPS, I think my dad just figured after the $90 diagnostics test, having them go ahead and replace adn install the TPS for $150 or whatever wasn't horrible... it wasn't somethign we'd do again, mind you. All these computer sensors and fuel injectors scare me. I'd rather tinker on somethign a little more substantial, like radiators and heater cores and junk.

I don't mind my car's gas mileage, and I'm pretty sure I woudlnt' mind a V8 mustang's either. I'm bummed because I'm thinking my parents are winning the argument when they say I should wait until I'm out of college before I get a mustang

 

sell the lumina and get a 5.0 87-93 mustang a stock one will net u great gas mileasge(as long as u keep ur foot off the loud pedal) i get 28mpg! in my 91 5.0 gt vert my has been dead solid reiable since i had it except for some o2 sensors and the aftermarket is so huge that stock parts are cheap!

 

Thanks for the advice guys. I'm too big a fan of the old mustangs to get a later model, but that is really impressive mileage rmodel65!

My thoughts exactly, Gun Jam, once up and running, it would take normal upkeep plus the usual unexpected things but even so on an old mustang, they wouldn't be nearly as bad to have to take it to an autoshop!

 

I know exactly what you mean...with the amount of money I've spent at the shop dealing with the my car's issues i could have bought another car!