Ive owned my 89 Bronco 3 1/2 years, put 20,000 on it, and never been annoyed with a vehicle like this one. The aluminun paddle in the column snapped, couldnt start with the key. ($7 part) $60 for the mechanic. 2 starters, both pw gears,and later 1 motor. Pitman arm seal, wiper motor just went. It falls out of 4 w-hi into a phantom neutral and wont go into any gear but 4wh-l and is stuck there until I hit the thottle hard and coast. Then it to falls into a phantom neutral and I can then get it into 2wh-h. 2 oil pan gaskets. The truck has 116,00 on it and Im about ready to swear off Fords for good. I read these post and see alot of these nuisance problems, Isnt anyone else annoyed as Iam?

 

Last really decent car to maintain I had was a four door '51 Merc, 3spd w/OD. Only major problem was a frayed ground wire to the dist plate. Took a long time to find because it failed intermittently. Kept it running once between San Antonio and Kansas City on a bent paper clip! But, that was a long time ago.

Yah! I got an '89 Bronco, too. It's currently in the shop.

 

Despite the Bronco's various problems (which there seem to be quite a few, I know...) ya just gotta love 'em!

 

Don't get me wrong, jacque_strap, I got my '79 Bronco workhorse while the '89 is getting fixed. 725,000 miles says I gotta love the '79.

 

I wont be without a Ford, but my '49 F-1 will be GM powered, have most of the stuff already. Here in Penn the winter can be harsh on vehicles. I washed it so often maybe I was the cause for the rust. My '88 1 ton Gmc has near zero rust, original engine, never apart and runs like a bear, Go figure???

 

To me, Bronco or otherwise, a good vehicle:

• goes where you want to when you want to,
• is rugged and requires little maintenance,
• doesn't cost an arm and a leg for normal in-shop maintenance,
• isn't so complex that replacing minor items requires major down-time and a college degree.

In short, I hate power thingees that aren't necessary like windows, door locks, brakes, steering, etc. My '89 throttle body/EFI isn't an improvement over my '79 Motorcraft 2150 carb and I can rebuild the 2150 myself with a kit from a parts store.

An excellent example is a Cadillac an old USAF buddy of mine bought new a few years ago. He bragged that it didn't need a tune-up for 100,000 miles. Remember the ads? What he didn't brag about, and the ads didn't tell you, was that the "tune-up" was the replacement of several major components with a several thousand dollar price tag!

I priced a new F-150 from the local dealer a couple of weeks ago. All I wanted was the biggest V-8 available, std tranny and 4x4. No radio, no power anything, no A/C, no velour seats, etc. Then he told me how much it ADDED to the price NOT to include those items.

The world is ready for another "Model-T"! I have my dad's tool box from his first Model-T. It's no bigger than fishing tackle box, the small kind.

Please excuse me for getting this off my chest.

 

Glad to know I'm not alone Marv0. I did the power window motor and gears, at least they put dimple in the door shell where I had to drill access holes for the removal of the bolts. My bitch is- If the took the time to have the dimples stamped on the shell, why not just punch the friggin' holes. Its just too stupid to understand. As for the oilpan gasket thats been beat up pretty well on this forum.

 

ive had my bronco for a few years now. its an 88 with 211,705 miles on it and the guy that i bought it from hasnt done anything major to it other then a new timing chain and tune up. and im not always nice to it and it just keeps running very smoothly. so i think that there great trucks

 

I was about to burn my '93 last year because, after 5 years of flawless travels across the entire country, it started getting into the usual nickel-and-dime-at-110k. Finally got ****ed enough to buy a new F150. Yet, I cannot part with the Bronco, and want to dump the F150.

We're all sick. Very sick. But who cares when the top's off. Find a $100k H1 that can do that!

 

I passed a big rig on the interstate yesterday, on a hill, and heard a rush of air under the hood. Got home, opened the hood, surprise!!! Cracked exhaust manifold. Just another lovely day

 

I think your bronco is an attention seeker, I'll bet if you leave the manifold cracked nothing else will go wrong with it.

Ray71.

 

My '88 has a 3 page maintenence log to go with it...I will say that, I do love driving the girl, love the ease of fixing some of the things, love beasting snow drifts from the plows here on the city streets, and love the fact that I can carry 3 people, 11 kegs, 4 cases and 4 bags of ice at once on a stock suspension and all of it in a cab that makes city driving feel like an arcade game. But now, the easy things have been fixed, there is no snow, and my back window doesn't go down. I'm getting ready to get a new car from work, and have to sell the beast (in the classifieds, help send a man to college), but I'm going to miss it and will DEFINITELY buy another one when I have the money. As for this particular one, I love her so much and put enough money into, I want to track it down in a few years and get her back. Have to finish college first (visit classifieds)