Every once in a while a vehicle enters your life and you wonder "how did it last that long?" well......for us it was our 1995 MYSTIQUE which proved to be NO-MISTAKE!!
Sure, by the end the door pins creeked like like crazy and the seat head rests would just flap in the wind. But what would you expect from a CANADIAN car that rolled over 500,000 kms'?? 347000 Miles for our USA friends!! We had 2 of these but this one was a one family original owned car. Purchased new May of 95. In its early years it was a long 8 hour drive commuter for dad to go to work out of town. Its later years saw me take it over and I too was using it as a out of town commuter. 4 times a month it would go back and forth talling over 1000 kms for 1 round trip. Im guessing thats why she lasted so long?? they say highway miles are best?? In theory anyways......
I enjoy wrenching in my garage as a hobby. While I would never consider myself a licenced mechanic by any stretch I was always able to tackle any issue the Mystique threw at me.
Front suspension pretty much rebuilt a couple of times in this time frame. One fuel pump (god bless ford right under the back seat with access hole), 2 alternators, 2 radiators, 3 timing belts (got good at changing these), and by some miracle the original Motorcraft stock starter NEVER needed to be changed once in 19 years!! Go figure!! the AC/pump seized at about 280,000 kms to the point that the belt would just burn up and not even rotate the engine. I simply purchased the smaller belt that fit the non A/C models and just bypassed the A/C pump all together.
Other then normal wear replacement parts the only major work was done at a ford dealership. tranny was replaced while it was under warranty. After that the original 2.0 Ztec was left un-touched. at about 300,000 I had a slight knock. Of which i used Lucas oil additive which quieted (probably just masked) the knock. From then on I would just use a half bottle of Lucas additive with the cheapest conventional oil I could find on the shelf. Some mechanics swear by the stuff while other dismiss it as an unnecessary expense. Me??? well......I figured "lets not fix whats not broke" and just kept using Lucas. By no means am I suggesting its a miracle in a bottle!! The final year I pretty much just nursed it along just to squeeze a few extra miles.
In the end....it was just time. The Mystique was driven to the wreckers on its own power and I was cut a whopping $50 cheque for what would now be crushed and used for scrap metal. They were just removing the gas tank as i was pulling away to prep her for the crusher. the owner of the yard was fairly surprised to see the mystique has gone that far. "most contours and mistakes croak long before that mark" he claimed.
Had to drive away, even though they had asked if I wanted to watch my 19 years of memories be crushed in seconds!! Couldn't do it!!:blackeye:
Sure, by the end the door pins creeked like like crazy and the seat head rests would just flap in the wind. But what would you expect from a CANADIAN car that rolled over 500,000 kms'?? 347000 Miles for our USA friends!! We had 2 of these but this one was a one family original owned car. Purchased new May of 95. In its early years it was a long 8 hour drive commuter for dad to go to work out of town. Its later years saw me take it over and I too was using it as a out of town commuter. 4 times a month it would go back and forth talling over 1000 kms for 1 round trip. Im guessing thats why she lasted so long?? they say highway miles are best?? In theory anyways......
I enjoy wrenching in my garage as a hobby. While I would never consider myself a licenced mechanic by any stretch I was always able to tackle any issue the Mystique threw at me.
Front suspension pretty much rebuilt a couple of times in this time frame. One fuel pump (god bless ford right under the back seat with access hole), 2 alternators, 2 radiators, 3 timing belts (got good at changing these), and by some miracle the original Motorcraft stock starter NEVER needed to be changed once in 19 years!! Go figure!! the AC/pump seized at about 280,000 kms to the point that the belt would just burn up and not even rotate the engine. I simply purchased the smaller belt that fit the non A/C models and just bypassed the A/C pump all together.
Other then normal wear replacement parts the only major work was done at a ford dealership. tranny was replaced while it was under warranty. After that the original 2.0 Ztec was left un-touched. at about 300,000 I had a slight knock. Of which i used Lucas oil additive which quieted (probably just masked) the knock. From then on I would just use a half bottle of Lucas additive with the cheapest conventional oil I could find on the shelf. Some mechanics swear by the stuff while other dismiss it as an unnecessary expense. Me??? well......I figured "lets not fix whats not broke" and just kept using Lucas. By no means am I suggesting its a miracle in a bottle!! The final year I pretty much just nursed it along just to squeeze a few extra miles.
In the end....it was just time. The Mystique was driven to the wreckers on its own power and I was cut a whopping $50 cheque for what would now be crushed and used for scrap metal. They were just removing the gas tank as i was pulling away to prep her for the crusher. the owner of the yard was fairly surprised to see the mystique has gone that far. "most contours and mistakes croak long before that mark" he claimed.
Had to drive away, even though they had asked if I wanted to watch my 19 years of memories be crushed in seconds!! Couldn't do it!!:blackeye:
