1980 Ford Fairlane ZJ review from Australia and New Zealand
"Big, expensive beast"
What things have gone wrong with the car?
One of my hydraulic lifters collapsed and the rest got very noisy.
The end con rod bearing failed and wore a large trench in the crank.
One head completely failed, warped, and the valves burnt out.
The flexible steering coupling was so badly worn that I had almost a half turn of steering play.
My diff was not the original, and it had extreme amounts of play in it.
The gear box lost first gear and reverse for a while, but now it still has a rough up shift.
The engine mounts break all the time, probably because of the rough up shift.
The exhaust gasket blew out, (big deal)
Timing chain was pretty dead.
General comments?
The car was in need of some serious help when I got it, but after an engine rebuild she goes like a dream.
Very reliable, very comfortable, and reasonably fast, but mostly torque.
It's an early ZJ Fairlane, so the doors are as rusty as an old jetty, but I've had no trouble with the door handles or electric windows.
The car does drink a lot of fuel, thank god for LPG.
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| Power, timeless styling and robust reliability |
| Would you buy another car from this manufacturer? | Yes |
| First year of ownership | 2000 |
| Most recent year of ownership | 2002 |
| Engine and transmission | 4.9 Automatic |
| Performance marks | 7/10 |
| Reliability marks | 9/10 |
| Comfort marks | 9/10 |
| Dealer Service marks | |
| Running Costs (higher is cheaper) | 3/10 |
| Distance when acquired | 120000 kilometres |
| Most recent distance | 350210 kilometres |
| Date of Entry | 12th August, 2002 |