Dave Ney

I own a 35th annv. V6 conv in pretty good cosmetic shape.
Just informed the #3 cylinder is about to give up. Car currently runs, but not well and not for long apparently. I'm thinking of 4 possibilities:
1 Sell car as is. Wait a couple of years to afford another one.
2 Pull and fix cylinder issue. Hope other 5 cylinders are ok.
3 buy a junkyard motor. Won't know of any issues with motor.
4 buy new motor from ford. Even though expensive, has 8 year 100,000 mi. warranty.

prices from 2 to 4 seem to range from 3K to 5K. Not sure how to proceed. Only have limited funds. Not enough to buy a different car. Plus really attached to this one.
HELP!!

mustangman02232

you should be able to find a junk yard motor for $4-800 with lower miles, i personally wouldnt buy one from ford, your other option is sell it and buy a beater

Xemeth

What do you mean cyl 3 is about to give up? What exactly is wrong with it? Is a valve sticking? Is a spring broken? Is a lifter stuck? Does it need a spark plug? Or is there an actual problem with the cylinder wall itself?

Find out what it is. It could be a simple fix that's cheaper than any of your options.

jthorn9

Yeah your description of whats going on with the #3 cylinder leaves a lot to be desired and can wildly vary the proper way to fix the problem.

One thing is for sure I would not buy a new motor from Ford for a car that old, it will not really help the value at all so it's gonna be a sunk cost. If you want a "newer" motor then get one out of a junk yard, get a motor puller, and swap it that way.

Frantz

I'll take a stab and guess someone did a compression check and cyl 3 came out low... that being the case it's most likely a head gasket as they are known to fail (I have a failed one myself at the moment). 75 bucks for all the gaskets ya need I think and another 16 for new bolts. Worth the fix.