1989 Ford Crown Victoria Country Squire review from North America

The fuel pump relay failed so the fuel pump would continue to run after the car was shut off. A new relay was inexpensive and easy to replace in a spot next to the car battery.

I replaced the valve cover gaskets in an attempt to fix a chronic oil leak. The valve cover gaskets needed replacing, but were not the main source of the leak. It took a lot of time to replace the valve cover gaskets because the upper intake manifold had to be removed first. Not a difficult job, but just a lot of time.

The oil pan gasket was the main source of the oil leak. The oil pan on this version of the Ford 5.0 is u-shaped and impossible to completely remove from the car without partially pulling the engine. Luckily, I was able to replace the oil pan gasket by removing all the oil pan bolts, lowering the oil pan the maximum 1.5 inches or so, pulling out the old gasket and sliding in a new gasket. The new gaskets I used for both the valve covers and oil pan were by Fel-Pro. I believe they were called Perma-Dry and I found them at www.rockauto.com. I highly recommend these particular gaskets because they have a rigid metal core covered with some rubbery substance. I could never have successfully installed a flimsy cork gasket in the limited space I had with the oil pan.

I bought this inexpensive station wagon thinking I would use it to haul the occasional load of lumber or visiting group of relatives (it holds eight).

It is so comfortable, roomy, and pleasant to drive that I have ended up driving it more than my other two cars. It even gets over 20 mpg on the highway loaded up with people and gear.

The interior, upholstered in a red velour type fabric, has held up extremely well and no one believes the car has over 200K miles on it.

I wish Ford was still making a Crown Victoria station wagon!