Should I buy it???

DarkBuddha · Sep 8, 2004

Well, I've been thinking about buying another car since the Mach still isn't done (it's still sitting in Tampa, I'm in Seattle). Pops says he'll get it on a transporter by mid November, but he's been saying stuff like that for near 2 years now.

To the point, I've found an '89 AOD 5.0 Mustang coupe for $1000 here in Seattle. I haven't looked at it yet, but the owner says it runs good, drives well, doesn't burn oil, and is generally in decent shape for having 164K miles on it. The only issue he indicated in his email is that it does have a cooling problem. He says it gets hot enough to push fluid into the overflow and leaps the divider barrier into the washer fluid container (since they're a single unit).

Now I don't have a ton of experience with 5.0s specifically, but regular overheating on a high mileage motor concerns me as it typically means a bad head gasket or the like. Sure, I know it could be a bad water pump, bad radiator, bad cap, etc, but can anyone with more experience offer any 5.0 specific sources or reasons for overheating? Other than water in the oil, or oil in the water, or leaks, what else should I look for?

Thanks in advance all.

bnickel · Sep 8, 2004

generally if it is a bad head gasket, it will smoke (steam actually) pretty badly, also with a blown head gasket you will likely have to add water pretty regularly. another thing to check to see if it is a bad head gasket is pull the radiator cap and let the engine get to operating temp and watch the flow of the coolant, if there is a bad head gasket you should see bubbles, like the water is boiling at a pretty rapid boil. if none of these issue are present it is unlikely it is a head gasket but it is still possible. i would be leaning more to bad water pump, thermostat, rad.cap or plugged up radiator

pabear89 · Sep 8, 2004

Prob head gasket time,
When you start getting a coolant pump/purge with engine run
it is a seeping leak that pumps compression air into the cooling system.

Most likley had a overheat problem and has not fixed it,
which has resulted in a seeping head gasket.

This type of problem will not always have coolant in oil or steam out the tailpipe.

PB

bnickel · Sep 8, 2004

pabear89 said:
Prob head gasket time,
When you start getting a coolant pump/purge with engine run
it is a seeping leak that pumps compression air into the cooling system.

Most likley had a overheat problem and has not fixed it,
which has resulted in a seeping head gasket.

This type of problem will not always have coolant in oil or steam out the tailpipe.

PB

it won't always have smoke or water in oil but if it doesn't it will most likely have bubbles in the coolant, which is the reason i suggested it. i would look at the car more closely before condemning it as a head gasket case. but even it does have a head gasket leak if the rest of the car is in pretty good shape it might still be worth 1000 bucks. might even be a good excuse to put on a decent set of heads like gt40-p's or some roush 180's or something like that. me personally if it is indeed a coupe and not a hatch i'd be all over it, the coupe makes amuch better race car, either drag or corner carver than the hatch since the unibody is much stronger

Ozsum2 · Sep 8, 2004

bnickel said:
it won't always have smoke or water in oil but if it doesn't it will most likely have bubbles in the coolant, which is the reason i suggested it. i would look at the car more closely before condemning it as a head gasket case. but even it does have a head gasket leak if the rest of the car is in pretty good shape it might still be worth 1000 bucks. might even be a good excuse to put on a decent set of heads like gt40-p's or some roush 180's or something like that. me personally if it is indeed a coupe and not a hatch i'd be all over it, the coupe makes amuch better race car, either drag or corner carver than the hatch since the unibody is much stronger

If it gets hot with the coolant level full, I'd pass on it. If it gets hot because the coolant is low, then there is a leak and or head gasket. Is it really getting hot as indicated by the temp gauge, or is it pressure that is over flowing the coolant?

DarkBuddha · Sep 9, 2004

So I've been debating... The pros for buying it is that it would be a car I could drive until the Mach is done and then either sell it, or pull the motor and strip the EFI stuff off and junk it or part it out for another $200. I figure as a donor car it's probably worth $500. Then if I get a few months driving out of it, that's probably worth the other $500. I want to convert to EFI eventually, so I can't see how I could really lose on the deal.

The cons say spend the $1000 on the Mach, hope pops gets it done when he says this time ( ), but I'm not sure what $1000 will really get me at this point. It might just cover an EFI conversion if I've got to source everything separately, or it might get me an AOD rebuild, or maybe most of a set of heads, but I'm not sure that is really worth much on a stock '70 302. Makes that 5.0 sound better and better.

BTW, the guy says it's an ex-cop car... does that make it any better a deal?

mustang70 · Sep 9, 2004

With it being a cop car it has an upgraded cooling system (water pump, rad, fan clutch, etc.), but that seems besides the point now. The seats should have some extra bracing and the suspension is usually a little heavier duty to handle the weight of radios and stuff like that. If it was me, I'd go for it. Even if it is a head gasket, they're not that hard to replace. And like bnickel said, it's a good excuse to throw on some GT40's or something like that. The only downside is that the AOD really isn't much of a performer. But it'll make for a good traffic car that you can have fun with.

Ozsum2 · Sep 9, 2004

so.................what's the deal? Was it full of coolant? Were there air bubbles? Maybe the block is warped from too many high speed chases. Check it out man.

DarkBuddha · Sep 9, 2004

Well, it's over... I didn't buy it. When I showed up to check it out, it was a '85, not an '89. It was an early ex-cop CFI car as best I could tell. It had holes on the pillar from the pillar mounted spot light, and the floors looked reinforced, but damn if I know for sure. Just as well really, but I did see a Merkur XR4ti around the corner...

Still, $1000 on the Mach could get me that anticipated AOD rebuild and maybe a Lentech valvebody. Dammit, pops better get the car done this time!!!

WORTH · Sep 10, 2004

Take it to anyone with an exhaust sniffer, or inspection machine, if you open the rad cap and run the engine at idle, hold the exhaust wand over the rad, if there is any HC, it's a head gasket. 100% sure way to tell. Never fails.

mustang70 · Sep 10, 2004

Did he rebody the 85 or was it a misprint? There's a pretty big difference in the looks not to get that screwed up.

Something I've been wondering, how come you don't have your car with you?

DarkBuddha · Sep 12, 2004

I think he just misled me a bit to keep me interested... I think it was a hand-me-over from a family member from what I could follow from his vague story. He obviously knew enough to ask $1000 for it being a V8 Mustang, but beyond that I don't know. It's probably still worth $1000 but not to me... now I'm looking at getting a '89-'92 Lincoln Mark VIII LSC. Same 5.0HO as the Mustangs (as I recall) except in a nicer package (with rear discs to boot!). The best part is that they are tons cheaper than 5.0 Mustangs. I found a '91 with less than 100k miles for $1500.

Should I buy it???

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