Faults:

- Two driver's side window motors fried.

- Had to replace tires due to a nail.

General Comments:

I love this car to death. Paid $500 back in May 2014 and I am extremely happy with it. Very little rust, the drive train is great, and it's by far the most comfortable car I've ever sat in.

At 150 HP it's no speed demon, but it gets the job done.

I will own this car till it dies... which doesn't seem to be happening anytime soon.

Future plans involve swapping in an Explorer 5.0L in place of the wimpy 5.0L that is already in the car.

This thing gets a lot of attention around here, especially when they see a 19 year old driving it.

Faults:

Fuel pump inertia switch: replaced with a salvaged one.

Transmission oil cooler had ruptured inside the radiator before I bought it, causing loss of transmission fluid: replaced with an external oil cooler.

Oil pressure sending unit gave a false low oil pressure warning while driving. Converted to a mechanical oil pressure gauge.

Replaced thermostat.

Replaced power steering pump/hoses.

Vacuum lines under upper intake manifold were cracked and causing poor idle. Removed upper intake and put on all new lines and gasket. Also replaced idle air control valve.

PCV valve screen was clogged. The valve and especially the screen under it is almost impossible to get to unless you remove the upper intake manifold. This will cause oil leaks if the system is neglected.

Air conditioning quit working; did not bother to get it repaired. Automatic temperature control is not functional.

Driver's door trim panel fell apart.

Ignition switch started smoking while driving! (easily fixed though by replacing the ignition switch)

Headlamp switch relay circuit/auto dimmer quit working, headlights flickered off and on.

Alternator quit working (knew about it as I installed a voltmeter along with oil pressure/temperature gauges).

Gear shift indicator not working.

Replaced usual maintenance items like tires, hoses, belts, battery.

General Comments:

I bought this car at an auction for $260. I always have liked the old Lincolns and Mercuries.

When I first was able to get the engine started, the car would not move. Found out it had almost no transmission fluid in it as the cooler inside the radiator had ruptured. I converted to an aftermarket external cooler only and it worked great, even in 110 degree Texas summers.

It already had the brass throttle valve grommet on it for the transmission. If you own or are looking at one of these cars, make sure it has this modification (search on Ford AOD TV grommet or TV Cable).

The factory grommet is plastic and it will end up falling apart, and will destroy the transmission if it does. The brass part will help prevent this.

The engine on this car is still in great shape, has 55 PSI oil pressure while driving cold, and 45 driving/22 idle when hot. The engine cooling system works great, it barely goes over 200 degrees even in the hottest weather.

The multi-port fuel injection gives it a good amount of power. Transmission still shifts smoothly. The car is extremely quiet inside.

Unfortunately this car has had a ton of electrical problems. I completely rewired the headlight system with all new switches/relays/circuit breakers/heavy gauge wire bypassing the factory system. There are a lot of components in the car's automatic headlamp/auto dimmer circuit which can go bad. I put in an aftermarket mechanical gauge panel for temperature/voltage/oil pressure to help give me better instrumentation after the OIL warning light gave a false warning while driving.

It will start and run great even in cold weather after the repairs I have made.

Still has good gas mileage for such a big car, about 19 MPG. It probably could get even better with a little more tune-up work. I feel like I have gotten almost all of the problems caused by age and previous owner neglect corrected, and the car has been very reliable.