JUST CURIOUS

Well...

My '87 LX N/A has just a tad over 204,000 miles on it.

Since I bought the Mustang secondhand (as most of us here did) and didn't get any service records, I don't know all of what's been replaced on the car. Visually, I can see that the alternator was replaced, and I know that the water pump was replaced, and that the A/C was converted over to R-134a some time in the past.

As far as I can tell, it still has the original A4LD automatic transmission. I can tell you from firsthand experience that yes, you DO want the manual trans if you have a choice. My A4LD is slipping a bit and the local trans shop says it's due for a rebuild, to the tune of $800 to $1,000. Maybe has 6 months to a year of service life left before it becomes undriveable. I'll swap in a manual before I pay to have the A4LD rebuilt.

All in all, the 2.3 is a bulletproof engine. I regularly shift at 5,000 rpms (Only after the engine is up to operating temp though) and the engine takes it with no complaints.

I've owned the Mustang for almost 5 months, and all I have done is change the oil and put gas in it. Speaking of, it's due now for another oil change.

As many people here will confirm, the Mustangs of this era and engine have chronic problems with a few areas, and a few key items to keep an eye on.

1) Replace the timing belt every 60k miles. If you buy the Mustang and have no service records regarding it, replace the belt for peace of mind and start counting off 60k miles.

2) These engines do not deal well at all with a shortage of oil or coolant, unlike some newer, much MUCH more expensive vehicles that can drive for a very short time to a service station under those conditions. Keep the engine oil and filter changed out, at every 3k miles. Flush your cooling system and refill it every year.

3) The automatic transmissions will also react extremely badly if the transmission fluid is low, overheated, or otherwise contaminated. Change the ATF fluid and filter every year. And also, avoid overheating, at all costs! These engines (and automatic transmissions, which share the engine cooling radiator) will go in short order if you beat on them in an overheated state.

4) For some strange reason, these engines seem to have negative reactions of varying severity to aftermarket (i.e, non-Motorcraft) spark plugs, wires, and ignition modules. When you replace any of these items, save yourself the headaches and buy the original Motorcraft parts. The cheaper aftermarket stuff is a bad deal in these cars.

Other than that, just do regular tuneups and maitenance (plugs, wires, belts, hoses, battery, wiring, distributor, air/fuel filters, etc...) and a 2.3 Mustang will most likely outlast its body.

276,311 Miles on the 88 coupe whne I transferred the title this morning. 5K of that is on the turbo motor and the last 500 miles were from going down the track.

351wcoupe said:

276,311 Miles on the 88 coupe whne I transferred the title this morning. 5K of that is on the turbo motor and the last 500 miles were from going down the track.

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Wow, that thing was in good shape for having that many miles. Did you do the paintjob on it? It looks good.

158k on the body about 70k on the engine

I will have 175,000 by the end of the week. Tranny was rebuilt when my grandfather had it so probably only 15,000 on it. Runs great.
Knock on Wood

I'm on my third engine right now. First one only lasted about 78K, the second one about the same. The third one I'm on right now has about 20k on it. Total mileage on everthing is about 180K miles.

just turned 90k on mine, but who knows how accurate it is....

notched86 said:

Wow, that thing was in good shape for having that many miles. Did you do the paintjob on it? It looks good.

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It still looks ok. Needs door hinges though. No big deal. Yeah I've painted all of my cars and the green one even got painted outside. The more you look at it the more you see stuff wrong with it, but I've tried to keep it cheap. After the truck is done I think I'm going to repaint it.

Nearly 160K on body and motor, about 145K on the T5. Need to replace my ticky lifters soon, and I should do the timing belt as well. Other than that, most stuff is wear items and mods.

Ash

my '88 had about 150K on the clock when I did the swap. The TC motor had about teh same ammount of miles so my clock is pretty accurate The '93 has 180K and it runs like a charm

A Couple of weeks ago I diden't know how much oil the turbo acctually ate so one day I took outside of the lot at work and beat the piss out of it doing donuts and burnouts galore. The next morning I noticed it had only 1qt. of oil in the motor while beating on it. I added 4qts and the ticking went away, Compression was perfect...although my turbo is shot... so I'm looking for a used IHI or T3 to just slap on (moneys tough right now).

Basically, Treat em' good, do routine mantanice, and the'll return the favor.

145,000 miles

Dr.