Need a car and thinking about buying one that belonged to my boss’s Dad who passed on two years ago.
It’s a 96 Grand Marquis that has always been taken care of, but hasn’t been started, driven etc since.
The car has been under a car port in Tallahassee, Fl.
I’ve heard and read that brakes, hoses, fluids, gas tank et al would be problematic and costly.
Also, I’ve heard, I would be a dummy passing up this car for $1900 bucks.
Help me out here guys.
Thanks,
James (40 + years in Ma, now a damn Yankee in Fl)
Ps You do know the difference between a Yankee here in the south and a Damn Yankee, right?
Just in case: a Yankee visits and goes home. A damn Yankee stays.
That '96 probably has the Ford 4.6l V8 engine. Ford put those in just about everything. Parts will not be hard to find or expensive. If the maintenance was current until 2 years ago when it was parked, I’d be mostly worried about the gas and the tires. The gas is stale, and hopefully not much on it. If it is low on gas, you mau be lucky with a full tank of fresh with a dose of Techron. Tires may be flat spotted and need to be replaced. The brakes, cooling system, transmission fluid, and power steering should be Ok to start with, since these fluids tend to last much longer than 2 years. However, I’d plan on changing out all the fluids just to be sure I know how old they are. Of course, do an oil change as soon as possible. Belts and hoses are much better products these days, and I’d check them for obvious signs of distress, but only replace them right away if they look bad.
Just a good car overall. I’d buy it and troubleshoot as needed to get it running smoothly. Biggest issue is the condition of the gas. Agree with Bustedknuckles above on handling the gas now in the tank and putting the car back in service.
With a freshly charged or new battery it might just fire right up and run fine. Expect some roughness in the drive train as the tires get round again and the transmission relearns the shift points.