1986 Ford Mustang LX Convertible review from North America
"Fun car to drive and fix"
What things have gone wrong with the car?
I live in the Pittsburgh area and found this car for sale on the other side of the state. I went over to get it. I drove the PA turnpike to get it home.
When I bought it the window was attached with velcro and it quickly fell out. I had a roof for my previous Mustang so I had it put on. That cost me about $400.00.
Shortly after the roof was replaced I sprung a leak in my water pump. I went to fix it and snapped a bolt. I had to remove the timing chain cover to get the bottom of the bolt out. In doing this I muled up my timing pulleys threads up with a puller which I improperly used. I had to search out a 1.5 metric tap to re-tap the threads. I also noticed that the timing chain was extremely loose. I went and purchased a replacement chain. I reinstalled everything and had trouble getting the engine to start again. Apparently the timing was off because I did not mark the top dead center correctly. So I had to tear everything apart once again and put it all back together.
I finally had the car running good, but had a reoccurring transmission problem. I did not check the fluid level before I drove it to my house when I bought it. It was very low. This screwed up the transmission and it was slowly falling apart, slipping terribly. I took it to a transmission specialist and he replaced a part inside the transmission. It ran fine for a day and started to slip again.
Giving it on last try, I changed the transmission fluid. This was a mistake. When I got it all back together, the transmission would not work at all. The car now sits at my parents house waiting for me to swap my good transmission from my old Mustang.
General comments?
I live in the Pittsburgh area and found this car for sale in northern Philadelphia. I drove the 300 plus miles on the turnpike to get it.
The car is really powerful, handing me 4500 RPM's plus. The old mustang would not go over 3000.
Comfortable seats, fun to drive.
Lots of problems, but lots of them were self inflicted because I tried to do stuff myself.
Recommended reviews
| Possible Vette killer. |
|
| Can you say low 14 teens, 24 mpg, seats four plus your groceries? |
| Would you buy another car from this manufacturer? | Yes |
| Year of manufacture | 1986 |
| First year of ownership | 2003 |
| Most recent year of ownership | 2003 |
| Engine and transmission | 3.8 V6 Automatic |
| Performance marks | 9 / 10 |
| Reliability marks | 6 / 10 |
| Comfort marks | 9 / 10 |
| Dealer Service marks | |
| Running Costs (higher is cheaper) | 6 / 10 |
| Overall marks (average of all marks) | |
| Distance when acquired | 97000 miles |
| Most recent distance | 99400 miles |
| Previous car | Ford Mustang |
| Date of Entry | 6th October, 2003 |