Rebuilding 3.8 V6 in 1989 Mercury Cougar LS

Apr 22, 2004 5 Replies
J

I have a 1989 Mercury Cougar LS with 140k on the clock and I'm debating wether or not I should have the engine rebuilt by 150k or 160k. The car runs fine, no smoking, funny smells or odd noises from under the hood and the rest of the car, including the paint is pretty close to perfect.



I am interested to find out how much other Thunderbird./Cougar owners have paid to have their vehicles engines rebuilt and how many miles they had on the odometer when the engine was rebuilt.



I know that the blue book on the car is around $2k and I'm guessing that the cost of rebuilding the engine is around the same amount of money but since I really love my Cougar and I don't want car payments a rebuild is the answer for me.



Am I worrying over nothing or should I start finding a reputable shop to do the rebuild?



Thanks in advance for any advice.


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D

"Jeff Duarte - Robert Bobbitt" wrote in news:qFIhc.9161$ snipped-for-privacy@bgtnsc05-news.ops.worldnet.att.net:

If it ain't broke, don't fix it.

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L

The weak point in your 3.8L is the head gaskets which tend to fail suddenly. Otherwis, the 3.8L is a very reliable long life engine which should be good for 200K easily unless a head gasket turns loose. Keep in mind that the vast majority of 3.8L's never had a head gasket failure. That said, if it were mine, and, it had no known problems, I would drive it until it fails or needs something. The reason is that the repairs, or a rebuild, will be exactly the same when it fails as it would be right now. The miles you get between now and the time it fails are pretty much free miles allowing you to keep your money longer. Who knows? By the time it fails you may be tired of it and ready for a new ride. BTW, you may want to have the cooling system flushed regularly and refilled with a good quality coolant of the proper mix. This won't guarantee prevention of a head gasket failure but, it will help prevent the corrosion aspect that many times contributes to the problem and, help keep it cooler which may help. Never allow this engine to run hot.

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B

Jeff Duarte - Robert Bobbitt opined in

Ditto to the others

If you are doing the normal maintenance, you are worrying over nothing.

I dont do the best job of it, but I run Mobil1 oil and easily have reached

185k on two of them, despite my first 3.8 arriving at my driveway with worn main bearings, then putting an additional 65k miles on it without rebuild.

All you have to do is keep a close eye on your engine fluids. The REAL danger is coolant leaking into the oiling system,

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T

Your a little high on how much the car is worth Blue book, at excellent shape is about 1200. with a trade of about 500. The average cost of a long block is about

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