1990 Ford Probe GL 2.2L Non turbo from North America

Summary:

If you looking for a car that's hard as a coffin nail get a probe

Faults:

CV joint is bad, has been driven for a year with out replacement or repair.

Muffler recently fell off, I replaced it with a cherry bomb glass pack.

Hatch back has a leak, I have been unable to find where it leaks from.

Power antenna motor has failed.

Totaled a 98 Toyota in a recent crash, the Probe shows very little damage.

Brake rotors are out of balance.

Head light would not come up when turned on, an arm slipped so I ductaped it back in place.

Several electrical shorts. i. e seat belt, driver side turn signal and brake light, windshield wipers stay up when turned off and the list go's on and on.

The motor has been rebuilt 2 times and the tranny was overhauled once.

Body suffers from hail damage and Kmart rash.

Blown head gaskets 3 times.

Destroyed the motor 3 months ago while racing a Honda CRX. the damage was severe, blown head gasket, detonation of one of the pistons, threw a rod. crankshaft came apart in 3 pieces and punched a hole in the block, and blew a hole in the header. I still beat that CRX.

General Comments:

I liked this car. this car was bought by my parents when it was new, but due to its poor lack in care it was not long for this world.

This was my first car given to me for my birthday. I found its performance surpising. The car handled like it was on rails, except when driven in the rain the rear liked to swing out when taking a turn at high speeds.

The car was a bit slow off the line, but really opened up in second gear.

The cars body was in very poor shape along with the rest of the car.

I am very surprised to see that the car has held up for this long under its neglect. the cars oil was changed maybe 3 or 4 times since it was bought new.

I was planning to spend a lot of money to turn this car into a high performance car, but due to the lack of aftermarket parts and cost of repairs the money would better be spent on another platform.

My plans for this car now is to part it out and sell the rest for scrap.

Would you buy another car from this manufacturer? Yes

Review Date: 22nd April, 2003

1990 Ford Probe LX 2.2 Liter from North America

Summary:

A good first car, but lacks power

Faults:

The radiator leaked and failed shortly after I bought it.

Fuel indicator broke.

General Comments:

I believe that Ford made a decent car with the Probe.

Although it is an automatic, there is a manual shift option that can be used.

It has nice acceleration with the manual shift, but it won't be close to enough for the power hungry.

The back lacks leg room, but the trunk can hold a lot of cargo.

Would you buy another car from this manufacturer? Yes

Review Date: 29th March, 2003

1990 Ford Probe GT 2.2L SOHC turbo from North America

Summary:

Fast for a Probe, but still a Probe!

Faults:

When I bought the car, the ABS unit wasn't working, so I replaced it with standard power brakes.

It needed new ball joints and tie rod ends.

Replaced the clutch in it.

On the chassis dyno at school, my rad blew, so had to change that, the thermostat and all cooling hoses.

And just recently the boost dropped from 9 pounds to a shady 6, not nearly as fast any more.

General Comments:

The car has a lot of cool features, like the in dash trip display, the overhead warning lights, and the ride control with soft, normal, and sport modes.

It was pretty fast when I was getting full boost. I ran the 1/4 mile in 16.2 seconds at about 80 mph.

The car is pretty hard on gas though, not nearly as good as most people say. I use as much gas with this car as I did with my 1986 Buick Regal with a 305c.i. V8. And I must say, the Buick had a much more comfortable ride!

The Probe does have pretty good handling, only spun it out once, and I push it hard.

Would you buy another car from this manufacturer? Yes

Review Date: 6th January, 2003

23rd Apr 2003, 13:02

I have a 1990 probe gt turbo too and all of those same things have gone wrong with mine and it has 147K miles on it. I love it though, even though my boyfriend thinks I need a newer car. Oh and there is that annoying ding-ding-ding for no reason sometimes even when none of my indicator lights are on. Nice car though and it is a good daily driver, even at 6 pounds of boost.

30th Jun 2004, 19:30

My friend has a probe GT and I am reading reviews of whether I should get a 1st or second gen, not sure yet, either way the car will zoom. but anyways, you need to use better gas to get rid of the knock, my friend had the same problem, you need to use 89 or 90 and up to get rid of it, try 89 and that doesn't do it go to something in the 90s.

3rd Sep 2004, 12:08

I have read some reviews though this not officially a computer mechanic help page, can some one at least tell me what is wrong with my ford Probe because the whole engine is fine, the battery is good, but it doesn't start up and I think it has a problem with some little switch near the gear, but not on the man shift. Please help me. I love it though, its been modified to a good sounding spot car with new features and blazes on the exterior, I love this thing.