Reply 160 of 955, by SpooferJahk
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wrote:That era of Thunderbirds (I guess they're called "MN12") are great cars. We've had a few of them in the family, but they're all […]
wrote:A 1997 Ford Thunderbird LX. Scored this first car of mine for 4,000 USD with only 48,000 miles on it initially and a practically brand new engine.
That era of Thunderbirds (I guess they're called "MN12") are great cars. We've had a few of them in the family, but they're all gone now.
Keep an eye on the cooling system. From the problems I've most often seen with old cars, I've come to the belief that the gradual decay of aging cooling systems is at the root of most of their suffering. They start to run hot which leads to a domino effect of more serious problems that eventually send them to their grave.I remember one V6 Thunderbird that a relative bought. The previous owner was a bit of a car nut, which seemed like a good thing because that's the type of person who probably looked carefully after his car. Unfortunately that reasoning backfired because the car nut had thoughtlessly installed a radiator from a V8. That was a big mistake - the V8 radiator was meant to be used with a pressurized overflow tank, but the V6's tank is unpressurized. So every time it got hot it would blow coolant. Who knows how long it had been running like that, but it turned out to have lots of overheating inspired problems, plus all the electrical headaches that were caused by some aftermarket security system somebody had installed.
That particular car was problematic, but I can't blame any of it on the car.
It's a V8 and the previous owner barely drove it as it is, and it has been doing well so far. Good tip on the heating thing, I know it runs warm but I have yet to see it overheat though, so it is probably just my general inexperience in the field of cars talking there.