'93 Cougar V6, common issues?

[dwcopple]

Guy down the road has one, really clean, 62K miles. 3.8 V6 Auto obviously. Said it died while driving down the highway, pushed it to exit gas station and towed it home. Has other cars so just parked it. Says he wants it gone, not gonna put any money into it. Said I can tow it home for $200 clear title in hand.

I'd be a fool to pass that up as I could sell the rims/tires and aftermarket stereo for $200 and scrap/part out the car worst comes to worst. My question is, what are the chances it was just a fuel pump or alternator or something easy like that? I am going tomorrow AM with the truck to look it all over more closely. What can I check, look for while I'm there? Obviously the trans fluid and oil but what fuses/relays should I inspect? Or should I just buy it and do my troubleshooting at home???

 

[eljefino]

TFI ignition module

Fuel pump shock-circuit-breaker thing if he hit a pothole or if he just had bad luck.

 

[justalubetech]

If it has a fuel pump inertia switch, check that first. When I had my Escort sometimes just going over a rough stretch of road was enough to trip it

 

[dwcopple]

Originally Posted By: jsfalls
If it has a fuel pump inertia switch, check that first. When I had my Escort sometimes just going over a rough stretch of road was enough to trip it
how would I find out if it has that? I think they might

 

[Robenstein]

That engine tended to knock out head gaskets also if I recall. They are a nice car to drive and did moderately well on gas.

 

[Panzerman]

It has a fuel pump reset button. Its in the trunk on the drivers side. Look for it, you ll see it. Its a red button and its labeled. I had one. I bought it brand new, drove it till a 120,000 miles. No problems at all. Traded it for a Cadillac Seville which was nothing but trouble.

 

[KingCake]

Originally Posted By: Robenstein
That engine tended to knock out head gaskets also if I recall. They are a nice car to drive and did moderately well on gas.


Yup. They eat head gaskets. You can get the updated head gaskets from Ford if you order them for a 96 I think.

 

[dwcopple]

so if head gasket, look for coolant traces on block correct?

 

[KingCake]

Originally Posted By: dwcopple
so if head gasket, look for coolant traces on block correct?


I think those years also had a recall/tsb about leaking timing cover gaskets letting oil into the coolant. Check the overflow/radiator for oilly residue. But that might have been 94/95. Not sure.

You can rent a block tester from O'reilly to test for combustion gas in the radiator.

 

[krismoriah72]

Take a can of ether, a set of jumper cables, a circuit tester, $200 and a pen.

ether to rule out fuel, jumper cables to rule out battery, circuit tester to rule out fuses.

My guess is that its a ground to battery or a dead cell in the battery.. with that low of miles it may have the original battery or since he doesnt drive it often may have a corroded connection.

Cant go wrong...worst case buy it for $200 and list it for $500 mechanics special.

 

[KingCake]

Check out tccoa.com

It's the thunderbird & cougar club. I used to have a 95 tbird. They have all sorts of FAQ and tech articles related to the 3.8.

 

[Panzerman]

For $200 and you said its clean. I would sending a tow truck for it and billing my insurance. That's not going to last long. all cars have some issues doesn't mean that one does. This guys frustration is your good luck. That deal wont last long. He may have already changed his mind.

 

[dwcopple]

Originally Posted By: KingCake
Check out tccoa.com

It's the thunderbird & cougar club. I used to have a 95 tbird. They have all sorts of FAQ and tech articles related to the 3.8.
I'm there now looking. I see some stuff about distributor modules and it does have a TFI module too.

And Panzer, he won't change his mind. I'll be there in the AM.

 

[Jarlaxle]

It's a 3.8 Essex...if the head gaskets haven't failed yet, they will. Trans will be a non-electronic AOD, which might be problematic at this point.

A 1993 might still have the stupid motorized seat belts and R-12 air conditioning.

 

[KD0AXS]

Originally Posted By: KingCake
Originally Posted By: Robenstein
That engine tended to knock out head gaskets also if I recall. They are a nice car to drive and did moderately well on gas.


Yup. They eat head gaskets. You can get the updated head gaskets from Ford if you order them for a 96 I think.


I had an 89 Cougar with the 3.8. Head gasket is what did that car in. It had higher miles and was getting rusty so it wasn't worth fixing. Definitely a wonderful car to drive though. Nice ride and very comfortable.

 

[dwcopple]

so if it was indeed a head failure, do I pass? If I can make a few hundred off this car in a short amount of time, I'm in.

 

[KingCake]

It's a pushrod motor so pulling the heads is pretty easy.

 

[dwcopple]

does it require machine shop work though or can I just re-gasket it for a couple hundred? What if coolant hydrolocked the cylinders while he was driving?

 

[KingCake]

Originally Posted By: dwcopple
does it require machine shop work though or can I just re-gasket it for a couple hundred? What if coolant hydrolocked the cylinders while he was driving?


Every head requires machine work.

 

[punisher]

This is a confusing thread.

Head gaskets blow on these. Not as bad as the FWD Tauruses/Sables/Continentals, but they do let go. Pull the #4 plug first and ck for evidence of coolant. #4 is the problem child cylinder on those engines.

As far as no start diag: While looking at the MIL light, crank the engine over. The light should go out. If it stays on, look at the stator/pickup as a primary cause. Cycle the key several times, depress the shraeder valve on the fuel rail to see if there is any pressure. Can't remember if the TFI is on the distributor, or if it is a remote mount. If it is a remote, chances are it is OK.

Pull codes, just to ck for any "fuel pump primary" codes. If you see that, look at the IRCM, tap on it to see if a fuel pump relay is sticking.

No starts are not too difficult on these.

Oh, usually they do not require machine shop work, usually. Just depends. The most common blowout is between outboard #4 and the water jacket. We did a lot of them and only replaced the head gasket.

Tough remembering this 20+ year old stuff.