I was in despair, I knew the trusty old "Wolf-Wagon" was on the high side of it's expected lifespan. 150,000+ miles on the clock, the driver door lock was jamming, the passenger front door window won't roll down anymore, the paint has always been an issue (light blue, and faded right out on the hood). A few weeks ago it developed a noticeable miss, which gradually got worse. I avoided driving it on the highway - hoping I could get the F up and going before it finally died.

You see, I was convinced that the lower end was giving out, or that major top end work was imminent. That was how it felt, and I had heard the 3.8 litre was prone to blow head gaskets.

About two weeks ago, a crack started in the middle of the front windshield. As if to put the final touch to the gradual entropy that seemed to be overtaking a car that was once my "Baby".

And the air conditioner quit long ago, courtesy of some "Professional Mechanics" at Pep Boys that were supposed to be diagnosing an idle problem - not monkeying with the A/C....

In a nutshell, I was getting ready to give it up to the bone-yard. Especially since I know these cars can be had for very cheap these days.

Well today I changed the plugs in the car, and the platinum ones I installed personally were not what I found in it. I also saw wire harness supports that were broken, and or conspicuously GONE.

I have driven it a little bit this afternoon, and it runs just as smooth as it ever did before!

DUMMY! It's a [font color=blue]FORD[/font]. It needs reasonable care, not some highly certified ignoramous poking around inside it. This car is like it is because I didn't do the work on it myself, and it deserved better.

Granted, it's a pain to work on because of the way everything is shoe-horned in under that hood. But it is worth the trouble I believe.

150 thousand miles - and it STILL runs like a champ.

THAT'S [font color=blue]FORD TOUGH[/font]!

 

wow! go wolf! all that ar seemed to need was some tlc! ford's never die!

 

Yeah Buddy!

Mechanically - it runs like it just came off the lot...

And since the plugs were swapped, I have watched the digital fuel economy calculater climb right back up to optimal, so it still gets about 400 miles out of about 11 gallons of fuel.

I think I need to replace the windshield, and save for a paint-job.

I still love this car!!!

 

id keep it still. fix it up and you got your self one decent and very reliable car! how bad is the windsheild grey?definatly go for a paint job

 

Split about 8". I think that would be about 15 to 20 centimeters...

The rule is, if a dollar coin doesn't cover it - it's a safety issue and will not pass inspection.

As it stands though, I have bought some time to get the truck together. I always planned to pull that car's motor and rebuild it before anything major happened to the block or heads.

But I can only have one vehicle at the garage end of the driveway at a time.

-Things would go a lot faster if the weather didn't suck!

 

>And since the plugs were swapped, I have watched the digital
>fuel economy calculater climb right back up to optimal...

Hey Wolf, what do you think of your electronic instrumentation. I've always been fascinated by this feature on cars and could never understand why it became unpopular, making it very scarce these days (Crown Vic and Grand Marquis still offer it!). I'm into computers and electronics so this feature appeals to that side of me by offering a high-tech information center that I always felt was cooler than analog guages. Just my $.02, but I'm interested in your's as well.

Glad to hear the Taurus is still going. My Uncle had an 87 Taurus GL Wagon that they had atleast 150,000 miles on when they sold it to their son. Towards the end of the time that they owned it, they mainly used it for towing their popup trailer. That was a nice car, but didn't have all the cool gadgets that the LX models did, like your's.

 

the wether up here sucks too wolf! mpi (manitoba publi insurance)up here covers all glass claims. you pay your deductable whatever it might be and the windsheild is fixed. that's what i did when my trucks galss got shot twice. it cost me 100 bucks tho. but theres nothing i could do about it

 

 

3.8 Hmmmm. Never replaced the head gaskets?????? This might one of the rarest 3.8L Fords I have heard of. Seems all those around me have consumed head gaskets. Infact my caring old mother has her '92 T-Bird in the shop right now having the second one installed. At 65,+++ miles it does seem odd but the first one went under 50,000 miles. It seems to happen just out of warranty in the 40-50,000 range. Take care of that great ole Taurus Wolf they really are a great car, especially when they are running. I'm on my 3rd and looking forward to the next one provided there is a SVT edition.