I'm angry at Ford!

My 78 couriers 2.3 eventually flattened a cam lobe and ran like shit. Got another one at the junk yard and made it live until the rest of it self destructed.

Bob

That's a completely different engine than the 2.3 used in a Tempo. Bob Bob

Just for the record Joseph, my eyes are still glazed over and I still couldn't understand your jive.

I concur. Keep knocking on wood though.

Well, Tom, it's good to see you're continuing with your typic acrid responses. Not really providing any positive input. just generally trying to put people down in a roundabout way.

For instance:

If you read closer in the original message I said it was TOWED to my HOUSE on a Friday morning.

Another:

Why the hell would I want to give you my address. Why would I feel the need for you to check anything? Why do you even begin to think anyone needs to justify themselves to you?

What is this babble about? Price is 250% of what it was a year ago. My mistake, that's only a 150% increase.

Sure. Imagine removing all the fasteners that connect the transmission to the engine block. then drive the vehicle. It looked like this: engine/\trans

Again, read a little deeper. ==>Hobby, not a main source of income. Not interested in making a killing. Just tired of seeing people ripped off.

Again read what I wrote: I felt like doing other things with my free time. Is there any need to get specific?

See, you can't resist being abrasive. Which, I'd be willing to bet is why you're here in the first place. You're not here to help or to learn or to share. You appear to be (maybe) one step above the common troll. You're here to make smart ass comments to help yourself feel smart. Every post you make shows it. Say or write what you want. you may even make yourself believe it. Why don't you reread every post you've made just on this thread. You are very abrasive. You obviously have a lot of free time to be on this group. Why don't you try to be a little more helpful and a little less prickly.

Sorry, forgot some of the reply for this one. Since you asked, here's how it went down as it was told to me: His wife took it in for an oil change. They talked her into doing an engine flush also. Couple days later, it started running badly. Being mechanically declined, he took it back to them to have it checked out, thinking it was probably something they did. He said it was blowing smoke bad enough he couldn't see the cars behind him. They checked it and said there was no way thier service could have caused the problem and told him it had a dead cylinder. He drove it home, during which it had a minor fire from oil blowing out onto the exhaust manifold. Pulled over into a gas station and put the fire out, jumped back in and drove the rest of the way home. (I never said he was the brightest candle out there). Car sat in his yard for almost a year. It came up in discussion one day after he had heard I did some work for another guy at work. The rest is history. Good enough? You want his phone number so you can call him? Go ahead and say yes, because you know I won't give it. And as a matter of fact, this Tempo was the car that actually started me asking about IRCMs.A few months after the piston issue, he had a problem with the car dying. Ended up being a bad IRCM. Do you remember that discussion? About swapping ircms that are not exact code matches? That was fun. Still running though.

No, they just use recycled steel instead of new. Outsource plastic to China instead of Taiwan or domestic.

Last I checked, no.

Ok Bob, ya got me on the exaggeration thing. Three. Four if you count the one in the salvage yard when I was looking for a replacement head. Then again, lately, that may actually be more than I can remember. And if TM wants to know why I was getting one from a salvage yard vice buying a rebuilt one, it's because the guy I was doing it for was on a very tight budget. But, being the flat rate/hourly rate/whatever gets the most money rate, maybe he doesn't understand the majority of people don't have a couple K sitting around.

I'd put the metal in my 1987 Buick's doors against a new Focus anyday.

I've had tree branches an inch thick land on my roof and not make more than a tiny dent. My ex kicked the door as hard as she could and made a scuff - no major dent. The focus can be dented with a couple of fingers. Even my old Buick issn't half as good as my old Volvo 240. That thing had major steel sheets - just a tank.

Simple.(I've cleaned up the math)

$8 item sold at $10. $12 item sold at $15.

2% price increase per year means: $9 sold at $11.25(6 years)

5% cost decrease means: $8.80 sold at $15(6 years)

Eventually the Hyundai or Daewoo(Aveo) will be built with as much money in raw materials as the Focus. Yet, the price will remain the same.

Daewoo maintains a 25% porfit margin in this example and the quality remains the same.

Ford increases their profit margin to 70% and decreases build quality by a bit over 25%. Ford's going to implode like Chrysler did in the 80's at this rate. Big profits and then a huge problem as the company crumbles. All due to bad management.

And it's pretty cheap to get the 60K warranty boosted to 100K on a Kia or Hyundai. Smart money is on the 100K/100K option, IMO.

See if you can get the comprehensive warranty increased as it is still under the main one. If it's only $1500 or so, it's likely a good deal to get another couple of years out of the vehicle.

And what exactly do you do, Mr. expert?

Matt,

If it makes you feel any better when I had mine rebuilt at 192,000 miles the shop was rebuilding one in a 96 Seville after mine was done for $3600.00

========= Harryface =========

1991 Pontiac Bonneville LE 3800 V6 ( C ), Black/Slate Grey _~_~_~_~276,905 miles_~_~_ ~_~_

I had the broken piston that shot out of the engine housing - at 26k!!!! The car was properly maintained throughout!

Yup that post was designed to be just as you took it. If you read my first post my comments were short and to the point, nothing to entice any ill words. You got your panties all in a bunch simply because I said that the 2.3 is not known for what you say is a common problem.

Your post 2/17/04 @ 7:57 pm "I can't count the number of 2.3 liter Ford Tempo's I've worked on that had a broken piston, although the last one was about 2 years ago for a friend and it was a 1994. Don't do side work any more. Did Ford have a warranty to cover it? Sure they did, if you chose to pay an extra $1800 when you bought the car."

My post 2/17/04 @ 8:18pm "I cant remember a time in thirty years I found a broken 2.3 Tempo/Topaz piston. Not a common problem."

The fact is, by your own admission, you have not seen that many 2.3 Tempos.I'm sure you can count the numbers on one hand. Very typical of the average back yard mechanic. You work on one maybe two and now you have seen all of them. The fact is you have seen a very small cross section.