1988 Ford Tempo from North America - Comments

Headlight switch melted.

Alternator Belt Broke.

Heater core leaked.

Rear wheel bearings went out.

Inner tie rod wore out.

Half-shaft (driveaxle) wore out.

Brake shoes wore out.

Clearcoat and paint peeling off the top.

Throttle position sensor went out (if you have stalling problems when starting from a stop or just idling... this is most likely your culprit... see notes below... it's an easy do-it-yourself fix.

I bought this car for 1,500.

I got rear-ended, replaced the damaged taillight assembly with one from a junkyard for 20 bucks, and happily accepted the check for 1,800 from the other lady's insurance company.

It got rear-ended again last week... the kid didn't want to tell his insurance company, and offered to pay me $800. Another junkyard run this afternoon!

Since I've made money on this car (all the work above I've done, and parts haven't been more than a few hundred), I can't really say anything bad about it.

If you have a stalling problem... particularly when starting from a light or a stop sign... don't adjust your throttle linkage like some of the bozo's on the internet will suggest... go spend 20-40 bucks (it pays to shop around!) for a throttle position sensor. You can install it yourself. It's right on top, right in the middle of the engine compartment. Just unplug the connector, take out the two screws, put in the new one, screw it back on, and hook the connector back up. The bottom screw is hard to get to so either use an angle-head screwdriver, pull the valvecover, or do what I did and take a phillips driver bit and hold it in the jaws of a pair of vice grips. You might want to replace the bolts with hex-drive so you can just use an allen wrench in 60,000 miles when it goes out again. You may uncover other sensor problems when you do this... my O2 sensor was out, but didn't pose any driveability problems until I replaced the TPS.

A great point-a to point-b basic transportation unit.

I just wanted to say thank god for this site. My 1988 Ford Tempo just started stalling when the gas is applied. I have been driving myself crazy trying to figure out what was wrong with her. Thank you for your advice to change the throttle sensor.