Last year around March I bought a 2002 Mustang, when I bought the car it had roughly 54,949 miles on it. When we bought that car, we brought a mechanic with us to make sure the car was in good proper working condition before we bought it. The only noticeable things wrong with the car was a little bit of surface rust on the passenger side door, and the brakes in the rear were a little squishy. Now at this point, not even a year later the car is now up to 57,000 miles. We got the rust taken care of on the door and had it repainted, and the breaks are fine. All it needs now is an oil change. Although for not owning the car even a year it has left me stranded twice already within the past month. Last week the battery completely went, so we got a new one. And last night the alternator started to fail. Luckily I knew the symptoms of a bad alternator and caught it before the car was completely not functional. We also had to get it a new thermostat last week as well. Anyway I just have a couple questions:
1. Am I in for it? (is this just a preview of what is yet to come)
2. Are these common Mustang maintenance parts?
3. Are these normal parts to go on a 10 year old car?
4. Should I get a newer model Mustang?
5. Would you reccommend a transmission flush at this age, and this many miles?
Thanks in advance!

 

I've got a 98 V6 with 273,000 miles on it and everything seems to run ship shape for the most part, I've got a check engine light related to the smog pump that goes on and off and some rough idle every big once in awhile I think is due to a partially clogged injector.

I would think you just got unlucky with the parts you had to replace so soon to each other, I just bought my car so I can't speak to when it had to have things replaced but it does seem like you have a string of bad luck going.

I would absolutely reccomend a tranny flush as Ford transmissions are known to be their weak point and when my dad flushed his 91 Ford Mercury Sable it stopped his tranny from slipping which probably saved him a LOT of money in the end.

My Mustang is not a new edge mustang (99+) so I don't know if they had a different reliability level than the old ones but other members will probably fill you in.

 

id get an oil change soon usually when buying a car from someone thats the first thing i do because you dont know how long they ran that oil for

 

The wife had a 2001 v6 that she bought almost new. The only things we ever had to do to that car were change a tube that got a pin hole in it, change the alternator and buy a new battery. That car survived her wrecking it 4 times, somebody else wrecking it 1 time, and her driving it like she was racing everywhere she went. That car was bullet proof! It had almost 200,000 miles by the time we had to get rid of it, we would probably still have it but the last wreck messed it up too bad to justify fixing it again. Everything you described is normal, I wouldn't worry about it. I can't imagine the transmission fluid really needing to be changed with that mileage, but it couldn't hurt.

 

Those aren't just Mustang problems they are simply car problems. everyone gets them. Got my 01 in 2010 and other than having the dealer help with a gas tank gasket I've gotten the alt rebuilt, 2 batteries(1 was bad and free) and a couple oil changes. I have to get a tune up early next year. Other than that with 140k on it the only prob is a small ping in the engine which may be the exhaust.

 

what he said ^^^^^

 

hate to beat a dead horse...but yeah typical maintenance issues.

 

Thanks again everyone!
The one thing I like about this site is that there isn't any scrutinizing other people for not knowing and everyone is generally really friendly! But thanks again everybody I like to know my baby is okay as it is my daily driver, daily driver that I take crazy good care of!

To the last poster-
Don't you mean hate to beat a dead mustang XD

 

No, he meant horse.............

How do YOU know that we arnt making fun of you behind your back or at our computers?

 

We all had to learn what we know....no one is born knowing about cars. Besides its best to ask what you dont know...esp when dealing with cars.