jlsdcen2

I am looking into purcahsing a 1998 Mustang for my sons 1st car. I found a nice 1998 with the 3.8 liter and automatic but it has extremely high mileage of 197000. The price is right, good and cheap, but how long will this motor and transmission last? I don't want to buy something that will croak right away, but am on a limited budget. Does anyone have any experience with high mileage 1998 3.8 liter. Did Ford get the head gasket problem cured by 1998? I know the owner of the car and the motor and trans have never been opened.
Thanks in advance for any and all replies.

jlsdcen2

Wow, I guess the lack of response is the answer, I better not buy it, the 3.8 must not be a record setter for longevity

texastboneking

It's bad about intake gasket. Thats about it. The motor doesn't have enough horsepower to hurt itself

kylerohde

Personally, any motor and transmission of that age/mileage is going to be risky at best. You didn't say what the price was so hard to give an opinion on whether it's worth it or not, but I wouldn't count on a 13 year old car with 200K miles being real reliable.

cpotts13

That's a scary amount of miles... have a mechanic thoroughly check it over if you aren't mechanically inclined..

jlsdcen2

The seller is asking $750, tires are decent, body is good with no rust but has a dent in the rear quarter panel (nothing that i would worry about).
Seller has not had to do any major repairs. Everything is pretty well original, with the exception of the normal wear items, tires, brakes, battery, etc.
Biggest issue is that it was broken into and someone stole the radio in a hasty manor, broke the face of the dash up, in attempts to remove it quicky.
I just need to provide my son with some transportation, doesn't have to be super nice, just reliable as he goes to college then in the summer works.

kylerohde

Doesn't sound like a bad deal then - just remember, depending on where you live, that it may not be very reliable/safe all winter without a set of snow tires.

MMR

Ok here are some facts about the SN95 (1994-1998) V6 models.

- They are in no way fast cars, unless you make them fast by spending alot of money on them.
- They are good for a first car, because they are relatively cheap in parts, and parts are easy to find as well.
- The cars are not insanely complicated cars and are easy to work on and fix yourself, and a good oppotunity to learn about working on a car too. A haynes manual is your friend too.
-V6 models did not come with ABS (Anti lock) brakes as standard equipment (they were optional), and if you don't have some decent tires on it, they can become death traps when the road is wet. (Not really a fact that last bit, more like my personal experience, but still).

About gas mileage, my car averages about 8-10 km/l.

EDIT:

One more thing; My transmission went at 140.000 miles, and I and a cracked engine block at 145.000 miles, but I think the engine block were mostly caused by the cold, but I just thought I would mention that...Anyway; my point is; a car with 197.000 miles on it is not something that you should expect to be anywere near reliable.