Hello everyone. I came into possession of a 2003 V6 Mustang with 150k miles this week.
The Mustang has lots of issues that the previous owners never bothered to address or fix. I sold a vehicle and asked for the title to this Mustang in addition to the cash I received. They gladly gave up the vehicle because it has caused them nothing but problems.
Unlike them, I see great potential in this vehicle. It is my favorite body style, and while I wish it was a GT, I'll take what I can get. It was basically FREE for me!

The issues that I have found so far are:
Power steering doesn't work. - I believe there is a leak in the line, but because it has been run dry for over six months the power steering pump needs to be replaced too.
Battery wires are SHOT. Definitely need to be replaced.
The headlights barely work.
Large tear in the driver's seat.
I have no idea when the last time the brakes were serviced.
Needs new tires.
Some interior plastic panels were broken and falling out. - Fixed this already.
There is an exhaust leak somewhere in the engine bay that causes a check engine light to come on. - Unfortunately because the battery was just changed I can't get the check engine light to come back on to diagnose the code. I need to drive the vehicle to get the light to come on. I believe that the leak is from the exhaust manifolds.
Rough idle - possibly from the exhaust leak.
Some (all?) the previous owners were lazy when it came to maintenance. I need to change ALL the fluids to be safe.

Here are some pictures!






Here is the very bad battery corrosion: [imghttp://i212.photobucket.com/albums/cc257/trevorpsucks/Mustang/IMG_20141203_124810_zpsedaef8ec.jpg[/img]

First thing I did was replace the interior door panels. I found a set of new ones on ebay for $34 and they were shipped in one day.




Today I cleaned out my garage and moved the old girl indoors so that I could start fixing her up!


I have ZERO experience working on cars but I am very excited to learn and get this car running well again! All I have ever done in my life is change a battery.

 

Apparently I cannot edit posts yet.
Here is a picture of the interior and the picture of battery corrosion that I didn't post properly!

 

After looking at the battery corrosion picture and realizing that I just parked the car in my garage, I went downstairs at 3am to remove the battery from the car haha.

Don't want this project to end with my house burning down!

 

Good luck, it will be nice to recover this one from obvious years of neglect!

And good idea disconnecting that battery.

 

Yikes, what's up with those cables lol. Good call on pulling the battery.

Welcome to the forum and congrats on that Mustang deal, I would have grabbed it in a heartbeat also.

 

Thanks guys.
Yeah I'm not really sure what happened there with the battery.
I'm trying to cut and splice the cables but I don't have a lot of cable to work with. I have a feeling that they've already been cut once or twice. I need to add length or replace the entire cable for the positive terminal.

 

Welcome to the forums! Keep us posted n your project.

 

Those cables are shot. Do not waste your time trying to repair what is there, just replace with new. Good luck with the project.

 

When I started in with my '04 GT a couple of years ago, job one was battery cables.

After shopping around a bit, I found the best deal to be at the Ford dealer. The kit included both positive and negative cables terminated to the correct length.

Also included was the lead from the oil pressure switch to the connector near the battery.

This cured both a fluctuating oil pressure gauge and wasted terminals.

Thank me later.

 

Welcome. good luck with your car. Good deal in buying.