Yet another reason that FORDS are my least favorite...

(some quick background info lol) Although my first car was my 1972 Dart, that I kept for 17 years, I've owned quite a few cars. Built quite a few. I'm only 33, but I've owned more cars that years I've been alive. I grew up with tire smoke and the sound of a q-jet wanting to suck in the hood of a 72' Buick GS, and every car my dad got he had to take my brother and I out to see how well it would burn the tires. The year I graduated, I built a 455 Olds for my winter beater (yeah, talk about a project "snowballing"!). I've had plenty of mopars, some nissans, a few chebbies, oldsmobiles, you name it. Know thy enemy, I guess. In reality, all of the brands have some pros and cons, and my attention span is pretty short and my brain is like a sponge when it comes to cars. So I like to try them all.

My least favorite is Ford. I try to like them. My uncle works at the Ford plant in Louisville, KY so I even try for family sake. I owned a 95' Probe (called it my Anal Probe because it was a biiiig pain in the butt) that had problems so bad I'd have to pull over sometimes, unhook the battery to reset the computer, just to keep driving it. Dealer was supposed to fix it, but couldn't figure it out. Then I had a 95' Mustang, with a 3.8 V6. It was a cool car, ran good, good mileage with the 5spd, handled nice, and was just a cool little car. Until the head gaskets started to blow out. After the second time, I got rid of it. I had the heads cut flat, everything you are supposed to do I did. I'm guessing the block probably wasn't flat. After that, I had a late 80's Ranger with a 4cyl/5spd that couldn't get out of its own way. Not only that, but it wasn't made for someone with size 12 shoes, as I almost wrecked several times because my foot would get stuck in wiring/ductwork, etc.

Well, I tried again. My fiance' got a good deal on a 1997 Explorer Eddie Bauer AWD with a 5.0/auto and 73k miles. Leather, all the options. I know, and I try to explain to her, with a car that is 15 years old, you will have to replace stuff and do normal maintenence. It needed shocks, the front end links were broken, and the pass side exhaust manifold/header has a crack in it. It has new tires on it, and the only rust is from the running boards holding water and crap near the rear tires on both sides. I can weld and paint, easy fix. She ended up hating the gas mileage, so I got her a new Nissan Sentra and I've been driving the explorer.

So here goes. Due to unexpected financial difficulties, I still haven't been able to replace the things that were wrong with it when we got it. Well, that and I keep buying Dart Sport parts lol. Since we got it, the A/C quit working, I figured "it happens, not a big deal". My brother got me a Flowmaster for it, so it sounds awesome (other than the slight ticking from the manifold). After the muffler install, it did jump up to 15mpg city/24mpg highway, which I thought it was pretty goood.

One more note, I hate electrical problems. I just dont have the patience. One day a few months ago the headlight went out. Just the low beam, pass side. I figured I'd buy a new bulb, and it would be fine. Nope. So every day, I've had to deal with the stupid thing beeping and on the screen it says "check headlamps". I finally had the chance to mess with it yesterday. Did some searching around with my test light, and figured out what wires did what. Wasn't getting power to the bulb socket. Got online and downloaded a wiring diagram. Started tracing that wire every where, and checked all the fuses as I have done a few times before, just to be sure. So i did a google search for anyone else that has had this problem.

Sure enough, they have.

The stupid thing that tells you the headlights are out is the biggest problem for headlight problems! Located under the cupholders, the power goes thru that before it goes to the bulbs. Seems the circuit boards/solder gets brittle, loses connection, and you lose your headlights. New part....$80 friggin dollars!!! If you jump it, from what I read, it opens other problems up and as I mentioned, I hate electrical issues. Why in the hell would they put something like that in there? First off, most people don't need a car to tell them the headlight is out. You can notice it, when you are driving, parking, etc and it is dark out. Thankfully, for now, after messing with the plug a little, its working again. When it quits again, I'll take it all the way out and do some soldering.

I know, it probably isn't as bad as I am making it out to be. But I've had late 90's Stratuses go almost 200k miles with barely any problems, my Nissans always seem to go forever. The GMs that I've owned have their own issues, but I seem to always have bad luck with Fords. Tell me if I'm just bitching too much...