Not to come racing to Ford's defense.... I've had mixed results with their
products and am happy with the performance of all but one of the Ford
vehicles I've purchased over the years.
My first Ford was an '87 Escort. I got it used (ok, used up) with 97K on
the clock. Ran ok but did require a new engine at 120K. It replaced an '78
Buick w/ 190K miles on the clock so just about *anything* seemed an
improvement.
Purchased a brand new '91 Taurus and had no problems for the first 30K
miles, then all h*** broke loose: the transmission, AC compressor, power
steering, and transmission (second time) all died in less than 24 months. I
sold the car w/ a little over 60K miles. Body and interior was near perfect
but the mechanicals sucked, which explains why a $22K car was only worth
$2800 six years later....
Purchased a '96 Econoline conversion van. Went back to Ford for this
vehicle because I needed a wheelchair lift that wouldn't fit in the
Chevy/GMC at that time. Never had a problem until it was t-boned/totaled at
45K miles. 351 Modified engine and the OD trans seemed to be bullet proof.
My only complaint was that the oil filter was directly above the front
suspension, making a big mess every time I changed the oil.
Currently have a '02 F-150 Supercrew. Chose this over the Chevy Avalanche
because their reliability was rated higher (consumer reports). It's still
new (17 months, 16K miles) and we absolutely love it. Triton V8 and OD
trans work great, fit and finish is very good, and (hopefully) all of the
bugs have been worked out since it's a late model run truck.
Sorry for being long winded, but from my experience it seems that Ford does
pretty good w/ their tried and true products: Trucks, vans, large sedans.
Newer designs and light duty vehicles seem to give them real problems.
Known problem areas include the original AXOD trans (Set your watch, it will
blow up at 36K miles) and the Windstar V6 was well known for blowing head
gaskets regularly at ~30K miles among others.
Cheers
Chris Sharp
'64 Spitfire4
'80 TR8
-----Original Message-----
From: owner-triumphs@autox.team.net
[mailto:owner-triumphs@autox.team.net]On Behalf Of Graham Stretch
Sent: Saturday, February 14, 2004 3:48 PM
To: List
Subject: Re: head gasket
Hi All
I once drove a ford car for 30 minutes, I would sooner crawl on hands and
knees, however I had to drive a ford Transit van for work and that was
comfy, and the only thing that happened was the exhaust fell off!
Graham.
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