1995 Ford Crown Victoria LX 4.6L

Summary:

Very reliable

Faults:

Front and rear window regulators broke at 150,000 miles.

General Comments:

I drive this car an average of 4000 miles per month since 2004. It is very reliable and some what fast. The window regulators can be purchased at local parts stores for about $70.00. Your local bodyshop can install them in less than two hours and should not charge more than $80.00 labor.

The key to a long vehicle life is immediately changing all fluids to synthetics, including the differential and transmission.

Would you buy another car from this manufacturer? Yes

Review Date: 13th July, 2006

1995 Ford Crown Victoria LX 4.6

Summary:

Overall the car has been very reliable, but oil situation could make the car self distruct

Faults:

Uses oil much too quickly.

Sometimes 4 quarts of oil will "disappear" in about 500-800 miles. No puffs of smoke from the tail pipe, no drips of oil on the driveway! It just "disappears"! Other times very little oil will be consumed for a thousand or so miles. Panic! Panic is the feeling when the dipstick shows almost NO oil!

The radio on-off switch stopped working at about 40-50K miles. (Volume works though.)

Headlamp lenses became so discolored that they had to be replaced after 90K miles.

The driver's door hinges or something is worn out so that the door doesn't close smoothly. Situation became questionable at about 120K. (It works, but poorly. Will fix if it fails completely.)

Sometimes the fan or fan clutch makes a mighty powerful (roar) sound at idle. Replaced fan clutch once with an OEM part and the problem went away for about 6 months. Problem started around 80K miles.

Replaced alternator at 140K.

Replaced water pump at 170K.

Back-left window no longer rolls up even though it was probably used only a hundred times for its whole life. Something inside is broken - like a cable. Occurred at 170K.

Driver's window fixed for something (?) some time around 90K.

HVAC system acted weird with heating and cooling getting mixed up or not working at all. Intermittent problem that started at 110K and was finally diagnosed and fixed (?) at 160K.

Engine air filter container mounts broke at 90K.

General Comments:

The car gets great highway mileage at 60mph. I can get up to 28mpg.

The car looks great.

Disappointed with leg room in back seat. Sometimes driver has to move seat so far forward that it is uncomfortable for driver. (Lack of room is because the back rests of the front and back seats are much too thick.

Seats look luxurious, but construction has a significant negative impact on usability.

I wish the car had a pass-thru to the trunk. Our much smaller sports car that does have the pass-thru feature is much functional when it comes to carrying lumber, copper pipe or even skis.

The trunk is quite large and has made it easy to travel long distances with luggage.

The temperature display seems to be a bit "off" sometimes.

Egress/ingress is easy.

Leather seats have performed rather well.

Paint has held up very well.

Never needed an alignment.

When it was fairly new, I think we had three unintended accelerations with this vehicle. Once on the express way twice around a corner. (I was not using the cruise control and braking had no affect on the vehicle's desire to go faster. I don't recall the temperature, but it was not to either extreme as far as I can recall.) (Between 10K and 30K.)

If it weren't for the oil disappearing at a sudden and astounding rate at random, it would be a very good car.

If, in addition to the above, there was sufficient leg room in the back it would be boarding on a great car.

Would you buy another car from this manufacturer? Don't Know

Review Date: 10th November, 2005

15th Nov 2005, 19:08

Oil burning is typical. Check valve guides and valve seals; typical on 4.6 engines 1991 to 1995.

The car is well engineered, and will easily run 300,000 miles.

Check crownvic.net.

2nd Mar 2007, 15:38

Are you checking the oil level with the engine cold and with the vehicle level? All bets are off if you are not.

6th Nov 2011, 12:32

I also have a 1995 Crown Vic where the oil just seems to disappear. Have you had any luck finding the cause?

Mark.

PS you can e mail me @ mark55432@lycos.com

Thanks a lot.