OK HERE’S THE DEAL IM 18 AND for my 16th birthday my mom bought me a 97 ford mustang v6. at first it was pretty nice then it stared overheat and the block cracked shortly after. my uncle, from whom my mom bought it ( he owns a dealship), put a new block in it and it ran smooth but when me and my girlfriends father hooked it up to a code senor 4 codes showed up. one said that the oxygen sensor indicated lean, another said oxygensensor out of range, one was for my speed sensor and now when i start the car my air bag light comes on. my friend has a 97 mustang gt and he wants to sell it and he told me he would sell it to me for $1500. its only problems are 2 dents in the driver side door and rear fender. and the odometer doesnt work. what im trying to decide is if i should try to get my uncle to fix my car or if i should sell my mustang back to him and get the gt?
the simple question is… would it take 1500 bucks to return your present car to correct running condition or not? if you could get the current car running for the same $$ then keep it. of it will cost more $$ then buying the other one would be a risk that it won’t have same/similar problems. i hope you give your uncle a huge hug for putting in a new engine for you. sounds like you have a friend there!
another thought, changing registration, insurance sales tax and all between cars will cost you a couple hundred. make sure you figure that in if you decide to sell on , and buy the other.
Sell the Mustang back to your uncle, but don’t buy the other car from your friend. The three dents in it might be an indication that it was driven pretty hard. Also, you don’t know how many miles are on it if the odometer is broken. Buy a used car, with a warranty, from a reputable dealer that has it’s own service garage. Don’t buy from friends or relatives. Before you buy from any dealer, call the Better Business Bureau and ask if there were any complaints against that dealer. You need a car with a working odometer so that you can keep track of when it’s due for oil changes, brakes, tires etc. Good luck to you.
it might be more than $1500 im not sure because the car i think has a total of three oxygen sensors that might need to be replaced. also my inspection is due in may so im also trying to do the best and fastest thing. sorry i left the inspection date out
actually he drives it pretty decently. the dents are from people who cant drive in a parking lot. ( high school) but ya your probably right about the odometer. do you kno if there are ways to fix it? or probably not since it wont be accurate?
sorry, in all my long winded response i forgot to answer your primary question: you should take it to get an estimate from another shop. just reading sensor codes is not the ‘magic answer’ to the problems. sometimes it is just an indication, and just throwing parts at the codes doesn’t help.
you don’t mention it, but how long has the CEL check engine light been on? the oxygen sensor codes could be as simple as a buggered up wiring plug, or a rusted connection. sometimes it is not the sensor that is having the problem, but the connection. so taking it to a competent mechanic could save you the cost of unneeded parts replacement. sometimes when replacing the parts the process of unplugging, and replugging is all it really takes to make the connection.
thats the funny thing cappy. my check engine doesnt come on whatsoever. so the first time i hooked it up to the reader was the first sign of trouble that i knew of.
Several things about a GT.
GT’s bring money and I would really wonder about a 97 that someone is wanting to unload for a measly 1500 bucks. There has to be something going on with that car and it’s not likely good.
Two is that the minute the insurance agent enters your age and the VIN of the GT the insurance premiums are going to skyrocket.
I say fix what you have because the option is likely got some problems you’re not being told about.
Overheating is what likely killed the O2 sensors (if that’s the problem) and both those and the speed sensor are not that big a deal. The bag light, who knows.
Blocks seldom ever crack and odds are that whoever made this diagnosis was wild guessing.
my uncle said that the block may have cracked but i think it was something else because when it “popped” what i thought was smoke was actually steam , that part i found out from my neighbor about a week afterward, so i started it and put water into the radiator and after a sec or two water was spilling from the back of the block around the area of the headers from where exactly i have no idea. my neighbor said it couldve been a freze plug but the whole block got replaced so it doesnt have that prob now. and good point bout the insurance. man this is going to be tough but hey the only thing easy bout a car is putting gas in it right? hehe.
Let’s see the Mustang GT has a V8 and the Mustang you have now is a V6. Would more power, speed, and excitement enter into this decision? Let’s put that aside for a moment.
You have a known car, and you have an unknown car. The unknown car has problems, you just don’t know what they are yet. As another '97 some codes are going to show up on that car too. The codes you are getting on your present car don’t seem too awful. And it essentially has a new engine in it. A new block comes with new or rebuilt pistons, rings, bearings, etc. The unknown car is being driven easy or hard by its current owner? How is the tranny holding up? A couple of dents and a non working speedo are not to be ignored. Fixing these known issues is going to cost $1,500.
I don’t think your friend is offering you that great a deal. Stick with your car, it will likely work fine. Excitement aside cars are for getting things in life done, like going to school, work, and snowboarding now and again. Resist the speed and excitement stuff for now, plenty of time for that when you can afford something nicer.
i take it your a snowboarder? havent tried it but i want to.
EVERYONE!!! I FORGOT TO MENTION MY TRANS. ok when i first got the car back and i
would first start it up for the day i would put it in drive and it would sit
there and roll back for a couple seconds )3 or 4) before it would kick in i
checked the fluid level and it was really low i filled it up and the prob went
away now its starting to do it again but thing is when my girlfriends father and
i were under my car we noticed a slow leak and lucky me it was trans fluid thing
is we didnt kno where it was from we looked over it all and saw the leak was
coming from you somewhere in engine compartment my guess is that it hasnt
finished draining the excess fluid that idea got shot. and now its doing the
whole give me a sec thing again.
im sorry i for got to put that in guys! and ladies!.
A transmission leak need to mean disaster. If you are lucky it could just need a new gasket. Have the transmission checked out, if it is operating OK it is likely a seal or a gasket and maybe an easy fix.
Your car sounds like a good project car for an auto shop class. If your high school has an auto shop teacher, that person could be your friend.
now that you mention it i am starting at lincoln tech this summer. but with the inspection due in may its mainly the rror codes im worried about. a leaky trans wont fail me right?
any check engine light will cause to fail inspection, but the transmission problem wont fail you, but what would your GF say (or her father) if you tried that excuse… gee im sorry we spent the night out in the woods, a long way away, because my car broke down!!! some things you DON’T want to risk!
Does the CEL come on when you first start the car? It is supposed to for a few seconds as a self-test.
If the CEL does come on during start-up, then these were probably ‘Pending Codes’. They are codes that the computer has detected a possible problem, but happens infrequently enough not to be registered as ‘official’ trouble codes, and trip the CEL.
Is this a safety inspection or a emissions inspection?
nope no check engine light what so ever. so either its busted or the comp has a big problem with telling me things right?
its the state inspection one so thats like both right? and to answer cappy ill tell me uncle bout it see what he says
First of all say thank you to your mom for a dang better present than anybody I ever knew got. I have to wonder if you are aware of how to maintain a vehicle, as I leap to the conclusion you expect to turn the key and it goes. I think you should keep your car you got and learn how to maintain and repair your most wonderful present or start walkin and quit complaining!
oh believe me i kno how to main tain it ive replaced all the plugs my self changed the oil myself change wiper blades myself ive done alot of the work but i mean if i fix the car with one thing 2 more problems take its place