The Devil is in my 98 Mercury Sable!

My '98 Mercury Sable has over 200,000 miles on it now. It's not rusting yet, but it's starting to get that old car sound. And I have very little money.

<b>What should I do with my run down '98 Mercury Sable?</b>
<pre><font color=orange> ∩_∩
Ω Ω
(=¥=)</font color=orange> - Cedrik says SP should ditch it in a bad neighborhood, torch it,<font color=orange>
_Ū˘Ū_</font color=orange> and collect the insurance money.</pre><p>

یί∫υєг ρђœŋίχ
The <b><font color=red>Devil</font color=red></b> is in my <b><font color=red>'98 Mercury Sable</font color=red></b>!
<b>@ 201K miles!</b>

Everyone should drive a car into the ground at least once.

<font color=red><b>Long live Dhanity and the minions scouring the depths of Wingdingium!</b>

XxxxX
(='.'=)
(" )_(" ) Bow down before King Bunny

I ones had a car, Fiat,Ferrari, whatever. Anyway the last time I was involved with it
was when breaking, the right rear wheel overtook the rest of the car and disappeared in the horizon. I can never forget that.
So take it to the bitter end and after that, never look back[/advice].

Yeah, I kinda deserve that. Not only did I buy American, I bought <i>Ford</i>. You'd think after my Ford Tempo (Sir Leaks-a-Lot) that I'd have learned <i>that</i> lesson. But a friend of mine got the new Taurus when it came out and it looked so cool and I liked the heavy feel it had when driving. Plus the sound system was good. So when the time came, I got an upgraded version for myself.

No one believes I even got it to 200K, let alone that it's still running pretty well.

But actually, this Sable has run through a lot of punishment with a pretty small amount of problems. The only 'biggies' that I've had were:
* The alternator bearing going (which was a cheap fix)
* The cooling pump seal going (another cheap fix)
* The same part breaking on the left and right rear suspension assembly, but at different times (another cheap fix, especially as the replacement part was boxed as a pair)
* The head gasket going (at $1000, it's been the only expensive repair yet, and I let a pro do that one)

The rest of the problems are crappy little things, like a door open sensor that sometimes thinks the door is open when it isn't (take out the interior light's bulbs and the battery is safe), the window frames not holding the windows firmly in place anymore (a little wind noise isn't so bad), the Mercury label coming unglued, a cruise control button cover breaking (but I can still press the metal contacts to use it), etc.

I think this fall I'll replace the battery. It's starting to leak a little around the negative contact. It's been a hard summer on the poor car. If I can find the money I may replace the spark plugs and belts too. I might even just take it into a shop for that since I don't have good tools.

I'm afraid to have my brakes looked at though. Not that they're giving me problems yet ... but I worry, especially in Wisconsin winters. But shops always seem to find enough problems that you end up replacing everything and I don't have that kind of money at the moment, especially for disk brakes.


یί∫υєг ρђœŋίχ
The <b><font color=red>Devil</font color=red></b> is in my <b><font color=red>'98 Mercury Sable</font color=red></b>!
<b>@ 201K miles!</b>

Which 6 Cly do you have?

The crappy one. No DOHC for me.

It's better than that though. I also managed to get the model during the like one year when Ford experimented with a five speed automatic transmission. (Which they promptly went back to four speed because it was touchy as hell and arguably one of the worst automatic transmissions ever invented.)

I readily admit that my car sucks. But it's been cheap to maintain... so far. **knocks on Cedrik's head since it's the closest thing to wood around**

<pre><font color=orange> ∩_∩
Ω Ω
(=¥=)</font color=orange> - Hey!<font color=orange>
_Ū˘Ū_</font color=orange></pre><p>
یί∫υєг ρђœŋίχ
The <b><font color=red>Devil</font color=red></b> is in my <b><font color=red>'98 Mercury Sable</font color=red></b>!
<b>@ 201K miles!</b>

Is it wrong to want to win the lotto so that I can put in a small block V8, a new transmission, rework the suspension, put on wider wheels, install better brakes, repaint the red to be more flaming, and chrome the black parts? Is it wronger that I've actually raced using the Taurus in Gran Turismo 2 ... and <i>liked</i> it? I should have at least held out for the Taurus SHO, but I wasn't sure if my Tempo would even make it to another dealer or hold up another day. I was desperate.


یί∫υєг ρђœŋίχ
The <b><font color=red>Devil</font color=red></b> is in my <b><font color=red>'98 Mercury Sable</font color=red></b>!
<b>@ 201K miles!</b>