How's the reliability of

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How's the reliability of

September 24, 2005, 03:58:55 PM

An 87-88 TC?

I am pondering possibly getting one and selling my 1987 5.0L XR7. It would be used as a daily on my 40 mile one way commute. Any common problems that I should know about?

Re: How's the reliability of

Reply #1 – September 24, 2005, 07:14:16 PM

Mine's been good so far...aside from some electronic bugs (abs pump went on the fritz, replaced with vac assisted brakes) and your regular Fox-platform stuff (heater core plugged up, AC didn't work, etc). However I think my heater core plugged up because the car sat all winter long with no coolant in it (long story).

As long as you leave it mostly stock (bolt-ons) you should be quite happy with it.

I've been averaging 25-26 mpg with my car doing mostly backroads driving on my 25-30 mile commute to school.

Re: How's the reliability of

Reply #2 – September 24, 2005, 10:23:52 PM

as long as you leave it basicly stock you will have a pretty reliable driver

Re: How's the reliability of

Reply #3 – September 24, 2005, 10:49:22 PM

Having owned MANY Turbocoupes for some time now...I find the reliablity is based on how the car was maintained by previous owners. My experience has always been good. Maintenance is MY game! Yes I have had the usual concerns with the heater core, window motors,door lock actuators,TFI,fuel etc...but I do this for a living and I do enjoy what I do...and remember that ALL CARS BREAK at some time or the other.You can modify a little and have reliability AND 30 MPG AND look good doing it! These cars LOVE the highway...that's where I get the 30 MPG in my daily driver or in the daughters AUTOMATIC! It's real easy to become frustrated with ANY automobile...time and money spent...but you have to remember that 1987 was 18 years ago and EVERY car wears out...it's up to you to help them to do it GRACEFULLY or not! ramblin on again... just my .02...

Re: How's the reliability of

Reply #4 – September 25, 2005, 12:36:14 AM

HEY! Garry! good to see you make it over here, im V6Tbird87 on NATO, met you at the cecil meet

Bill, like Garry said, it all depends on how it was previously maintained

my car was owned my a schmuck, a total idiot, and mine has been pretty good to me, had to replace the TFI/PIP, using motorcraft parts, the wires with motorcraft, some autolite plugs, had an electric fan go up on me, and a few other stupid things

basically, there pretty reliable as long as you take good care of them

Re: How's the reliability of

Reply #5 – September 25, 2005, 01:20:56 AM

My Cougar was maintained perfectly and I only get 20 mpg on the highway, 12 in town. What the hell.

Re: How's the reliability of

Reply #6 – September 25, 2005, 09:36:16 AM

Quote from: cougrrr302

My Cougar was maintained perfectly and I only get 20 mpg on the highway, 12 in town. What the hell.

Something is definitely amiss there - my heavier '88 5.0 T-Bird routinely gets 28 highway and has seen as high as 34. Around town 17 seems to be the norm. Your lighter '84 should do better than what you're getting

Re: How's the reliability of

Reply #7 – September 25, 2005, 10:12:50 AM

Quote from: Thunder Chicken

Something is definitely amiss there - my heavier '88 5.0 T-Bird routinely gets 28 highway and has seen as high as 34. Around town 17 seems to be the norm. Your lighter '84 should do better than what you're getting

Yes, but he DOES have CFI. Best I ever did with my 85 5.0L cougar was 22 on the highway. I'm not even going to post what I got with the a/c on :disappoin. Thanks for the input y'all. Seems that the toughest part is just finding one!

Re: How's the reliability of

Reply #8 – September 25, 2005, 11:32:29 AM

my 3.8L with CFI averaged 27mpg with both highway and stop-n-go, but i was REALLY nice to it

its not hard finding TC's, its hard finding nice ones at an affordable price

Re: How's the reliability of

Reply #9 – September 25, 2005, 07:53:04 PM

My Bad...Just reread posts and you said 5.0...I'm speaking of 2.3 turbo...anyway...had 62 Falcon 2dr wagon that I did a small block swap...289 4v c-4 and 57 Ford 9" with 3.0 gears and always got 20 mpg around town and 27 on highway...don't have current doc's to back it up long time ago...but do have the combo in the basp00get for a 65 VW III!

Re: How's the reliability of

Reply #10 – September 25, 2005, 08:31:50 PM

ive got a 87 turbo coupe 400,000 miles with orginal everything except for brakes,tires,clutches ext, its wreacked now but they are great cars make sure you know its been in good hands though and you get a good history of the previous owners,

Re: How's the reliability of

Reply #11 – September 26, 2005, 11:00:35 AM

hijack: I had an 84 with cfi and that thing was a dog around town, only got like 12 mpg, but it would hum on the highway I would get 24/25 mpg.