98 Mustang 3.8L V6 Engine

Copy and print this out. Have your BF read this over as it is very detailed and long.


Has the head gaskets ever been changed? If not then thats a big suprise. The head gaskets are good for roughly 70K miles. They usually don't last much longer than that due to a slight flaw in the cylinder head design. I've had my 96 for 10 years. I bought it back in 2000. It had 61K miles at the time. Now, it's around 160Kmiles. That's a big guess because my odometer broke 5 years ago at a little over 100k miles. I just tallied up my daily driving miles to and from work through out the years.

I'll give you a run down of all the items I have fixed since owning this car. 99.9% of the work I did myself. The only thing I did not fix was the head gasket replacement a couple months after purchasing it. This repair list will give you and your bf an idea of what to expect..or what may or may not go wrong with it in the coming months. This is in no particular order unless otherwise noted.

Alternator - Replaced 7 times. 5 of them were Reman units from Disscount Auto Parts. The 6th was defective, and the 7th was a brand new unit from Advanced Auto. Had that for 3+ years so far.

Replaced Voltage regulator on alt a few months ago as it had failed.

Replaced fuel tank grommet where filler neck enters. Done a few years agi as it was leaking gas.

A few years ago one of the fuel lines at the tank had to be replaced. It had dry rotted and a split developed causing gas to spray everywhere.

Misc brake repairs inc. complete front brake overhaul in 2004. Overhauled rear brakes this year. That inclued new calipers.

Rear coil springs replaced 1 year ago due to rear end sagging.

Front struts replaced in 2001. Originals were damaged from an unknown accident prior to me owning this car.

Getting ready to replace the front struts again. Strut cylinder has internal damage from accident in 2004.

Replaced front sway bar bushings and end links in 2007. Old bushings were tore. Bought urethane bushings now.

Replaced water pump in 2001. Was leaking from lower weep hole. Pump still going strong today..and no leaks.

Replaced ignition coil pack 2 years ago.

Replaced plugs and wires 3 times.

All 4 O2 sensors 2 years ago.

U-joints rep'd 3 years ago. That could have been prevented had the joint caps had enough grease in them.

Radiator rep'd over a year ago. Original had developed a severe crack in the plastic 4 inches below the cap. Too much pressure in cooling system.

Heater hose near temp sensor rep'd 5 times. See Radiator above for details. Removed T-stat for perm fix. Suspect clogged heater core.

Idler pulley rep'd 5 years ago due to bearing wear.

Tensioner pulley rep'd 4 years ago for same reason. Tensioner ass'y now gettting noisy and jumping frequently. pulley was only replaced..not whole ass'y.

Steering rack rep'd twice. Second rep was own fault from smacking speed bumps too fast at work .

Rep'd oil pressure sender ...twice. Second one was due to a faulty sender seal which eventually caused oil to leak heavily all over the place.

Rep'd hi-pressure power steering line + nylon fittings.

Other than misc maintainance done through out the years along with new vac hoses. Ball joints are ok still but have destroyed boots. Engine is still sound. No knocking. There is a little noise coming from valve train that comes and goes. Believe to be a valve or 2 partially sticking. Oil pressure is still good. Vacuum is still good within 20Hg. Transmission is a 5 spd manual. Clutch is still original from when I bought it 10 years ago. Replacing transmissin soon as the 2nd gear synchro is shot and it grinds EVERY time in that gear. 1st gear isn't far behind. Can't tollerate driving it like this much longer.....

I hope this helps you out well.

a 96 would have head gasket problems ford completely redid the engine for 1999 my 99 is at 110000 and have not had any problems esp with racing it

im at 300,000 miles , still runs great , ive repaired alot of stuff , but the block pistons rings heads and intake are all real sound