[MarcusV6]

I hope this is the right forum to post this. If not I am really sorry.

Alright so I got a stock 2.5 EU Cougar. Only got 75.000km (47.000mi) and I'd like to get rid of all (or at least most) of the issues they have before stuff starts breaking.
And I know this post will probably annoy some people since its nothing specific and more of a general post but if it means I can keep my car for longer I'll be like that. And I also want it to be a general post for me as a sort of check list to go through and for other people to have one post to help with most of their needs.
I want to learn what there is to learn about the Engine/Car and I am willing to spend the time and money to make it the best it can be in "Stock" form.
I knew what I was getting myself into when I bought a 22 year old car as my first car so please refrain from telling me I shouldn't have bought one if I was looking for extreme reliability or something else. Just tell me what is the best for my car.
And if I sounded rude or anything else I sincerly apologise since that is not what I wanted to give off but I just want to get my point across.
Now back to business.

I know there is some stuff like the IACV or the Fuel Pump just going bad and needing to be replaced but those are the things that won't destroy stuff.

What I am talking about is stuff like the main bearings and rod bearings failing and all the other things that will make you say goodbye to an engine.
I am aware that no engine lasts forever but having just the reassurence that your engine won't kill itself at any given moment would be something. (I know its a little overdramtic)

So what are all the issues that are able to be ironed out? And what can someone do against it? What is something to keep an eye out for and check regularly? (except for normal maintenance) And how can I get the most miles out of my engine?

And I want to thank everyone in advance that is willing to help and listen to all my stupid question and maybe me not understanding everything at a moments notice.

 

[B3NN3TT]

The sintered metal connecting rods are the #1 catastrophic failure point, and there’s no remedy for those. You just need to always keep your oil levels tip top and change your oil regularly. I mean, I HAMMERED on my 2.5 for about 16 years and 200,000+miles with no internal problems because I took care of it.

 

[MarcusV6]

I now check my oil level almost every few days because I had my oil light come on once because of low oil level 7000km after changing it which I didn't expect. Is that nothing to worry about if it only happened once or should I do something?

I also read that a unbalanced crank also inflicts wear on main bearings and rod bearings and a DMD helping with that. Or is that all just nonsense. If theres anything making things last longer I'll gladly try to get it on my car.

 

[mmc757]

These engines are actually pretty great. We cant really tell you how long they will last because nobody knows. With good quality oil and regular maintenance there's no reason to believe they cant achieve 500,000 miles or more. Almost all of these cars get sent to scrap because of reasons other than the engine.
Same for the transmission...if you treat it gently there's no reason to believe it wont hold up just as long as the engine.

Everything mechanical on the car can be fixed as long as parts are still available, its the body that you really have to take good care of.

 

[jaged]

i beat the crap out of my original motor and sold it with 250K on it. Still ran great. Burnt a bit of oil but i wouldnt have hesitated in driving it across the country if i had to. the next owner put maybe 5k on it and hyrolocked it.

 

[mmc757]

I now check my oil level almost every few days because I had my oil light come on once because of low oil level 7000km after changing it which I didn't expect. Is that nothing to worry about if it only happened once or should I do something?

Unexpected oil consumption can happen on these cars if the PCV system isn't working right.

I also read that a unbalanced crank also inflicts wear on main bearings and rod bearings and a DMD helping with that. Or is that all just nonsense. If theres anything making things last longer I'll gladly try to get it on my car.

Pretty sure we're balanced just fine from the factory. The Duratecs were used in tons of cars and most didn't have a DMD.
Its not a terribly difficult swap if you wanted to do it, I just dont think there's any evidence to prove it will prolong engine life. Having said that, I put one on my project car, and I also have another sitting on the shelf for my next engine build so I guess my perspective is I will use one when its convenient but I wouldn't go out of my way for it.

 

[MarcusV6]

These engines are actually pretty great. We cant really tell you how long they will last because nobody knows. With good quality oil and regular maintenance there's no reason to believe they cant achieve 500,000 miles or more. Almost all of these cars get sent to scrap because of reasons other than the engine.
Same for the transmission...if you treat it gently there's no reason to believe it wont hold up just as long as the engine.

Everything mechanical on the car can be fixed as long as parts are still available, its the body that you really have to take good care of.

Yes I know rust is the biggest problem on those old cars luckily mine was a garage kept summercar. Just have some on the fenders and the right door but underbody is almost rust free and already did underbody coating in december. Especially good with how much its snowing over here. My Cougar is now twice its size......

Well I do sometimes punch it.... its just to much fun... and yes I know that won't make it last longer. But getting like 250.000 kms (155.000mi) before rebuilding would be good enough for me. I don't really see alot with over 160.000 kms (100.000mi) around and alot of people over here talking about their V6s failing because of the main bearings which just makes me concerned. But if there is nothing I can do other than keeping the oil level at MAX guess thats what I'm gonna do.

Also just out of curiosity. Whats the max power the transmission can handle?

i beat the crap out of my original motor and sold it with 250K on it. Still ran great. Burnt a bit of oil but i wouldnt have hesitated in driving it across the country if i had to. the next owner put maybe 5k on it and hyrolocked it.

How did he Hydrolock it? Well burning oil would be bad for me because of emission testing. But I guess at that point I would rebuild it.

Unexpected oil consumption can happen on these cars if the PCV system isn't working right.

How can I check any faults in the PCV system? also now it doesn't seem to consume any more.

Pretty sure we're balanced just fine from the factory. The Duratecs were used in tons of cars and most didn't have a DMD.
Its not a terribly difficult swap if you wanted to do it, I just dont think there's any evidence to prove it will prolong engine life. Having said that, I put one on my project car, and I also have another sitting on the shelf for my next engine build so I guess my perspective is I will use one when its convenient but I wouldn't go out of my way for it.

Does it then even do anything if they are balanced right? And why do people then put them on? Also if its something good to do when rebuilding, where could I get them still from?

 

[B3NN3TT]

Nearly 20 years on this forum and I have never seen or heard about any main bearing failure on the 2.5.

 

[mmc757]

How can I check any faults in the PCV system? also now it doesn't seem to consume any more.

Just make sure its put together correctly and replace the PCV valve tree every few years. If its not burning oil, its probably not an issue.

Does it then even do anything if they are balanced right? And why do people then put them on? Also if its something good to do when rebuilding, where could I get them still from?

Well, Mazda or Ford thought it was a good idea to put them on the MPV so somebody out there thought they had value at some point. I can only guess that there was a reason for it. Thats the easiest way to find one; look for a crankshaft pulley from a Mazda MPV.

 

[jaged]

I have emissions as well, still passed with headers and a full exhaust.

He hydrolocked it driving home from Cougarfest in a very bad rain storm. He hit a giant puddle and sucked water into the CAI

 

[MarcusV6]

Nearly 20 years on this forum and I have never seen or heard about any main bearing failure on the 2.5.

If you know redcougar.de there is the story on her website of her cougars bearings failing at 97.555 kms, the crankshaft having play and the crankshaft giving off knocking sounds. That came form main/rod bearings going out. And thats what everyone is talking about.

Just make sure its put together correctly and replace the PCV valve tree every few years. If its not burning oil, its probably not an issue.

Well, Mazda or Ford thought it was a good idea to put them on the MPV so somebody out there thought they had value at some point. I can only guess that there was a reason for it. Thats the easiest way to find one; look for a crankshaft pulley from a Mazda MPV.

mine probably havn't been replaced in the 22 years the car existed. if somethings bad where can i get stuff?

alright maybe I find one for cheap who knows

I have emissions as well, still passed with headers and a full exhaust.

He hydrolocked it driving home from Cougarfest in a very bad rain storm. He hit a giant puddle and sucked water into the CAI

if you got cats in your exhaust manifold you cannot do anything other than replacing them. its illegal. the only thing you can mess around over here is mufflers and pipes. no egr delete, no cat deletes nothing in the exhaust system that could change emission values. you might get trough if the inspector doesnt know your car and doesnt know they have cats in the manifolds and it makes it through emission testing otherwise you need to let your car get tested on a rolling road in a test environment to see if it still meets emission standards for that car and that alone is like 1200€ so burning oil will definetly make it fail emission testing.

good thing i decided to not get a cai and opted for the SVT air box

 

[dallarace2]

the engine has a sacred reputation as a reliable engine.
the valve IAC is pure **** and you know.
in my opinion a basic principle of mechanics is the following: DONT' CHANGE WHAT WORKS

my 2 cents: mount a digital oil pressure and temperature sensor and a digital water temperature sensor.
they are the key to feel the needs of the engine.
done this you will only spin hard the engine once you reach certain temperatures, and the engine will last much longer.
and change the oil every 5000km

 

[MarcusV6]

I wanted to mount a oil pressure and temperature gauge anyway but I don't want it to look bad so I am already searching for a A-pillar trim piece for mounting extra gauges but it seems like no one has one for sale.

I didn't think about the coolant temp sensor. Is the stock one not good enough?

I also don't push the engine if its cold. I am not THAT crazy. I always drive it really carefully for at least 20 min. at That point I know that the engine is warm enough and then I slowly start shifting at higher rev points until I am sure I can rev it out to 6700 rpm and thats if I wanna have fun. Most of the time its just normal daily driving, always shifting at around 2k maybe sometimes when overtaking letting the IMRC do its thing but most of the time I drive it like a normal person.

Yea I wanted to do oil changes every 10k since I rack up KMs really fast (its not rare that I do 500km roadtrips) but might aswell do 5k.

Do you go after the the oil level when the engine is warm or cold? Seems like my oil level is a tiny bit lower when the engine was running but thats probably because some of it is still in the head or somewhere else in the engine obviously.

 

[mmc757]

I wanted to mount a oil pressure and temperature gauge anyway but I don't want it to look bad so I am already searching for a A-pillar trim piece for mounting extra gauges but it seems like no one has one for sale.

These ones are a pretty good fit.

Universal Triple Gauge Gray Pillar Pod

GlowShift's Universal Triple Pillar Pod is molded from high quality ABS plastic, finished in a sleek gray color and will securely mount three 52mm gauges.

www.glowshiftdirect.com

If you cant get it on your side I can relay it for you.

I didn't think about the coolant temp sensor. Is the stock one not good enough?

Coolant temp seems like overkill. You already have a temp sensor on the dash, thats good enough. Our most common failures are fuel or electrical so a fuel pressure gauge and voltage meter would be the first choices. The next priority to me to fill that third slot would be a vacuum gauge or oil pressure gauge.

Yea I wanted to do oil changes every 10k since I rack up KMs really fast (its not rare that I do 500km roadtrips) but might aswell do 5k.
.

5k is excessive unless you're rarely driving the car. That's dinosaur thinking from the days when engines got rebuilt every 50k anyway. Just change it at the interval specified in the manual and check the oil level regularly between changes.

Do you go after the the oil level when the engine is warm or cold? Seems like my oil level is a tiny bit lower when the engine was running but thats probably because some of it is still in the head or somewhere else in the engine obviously.

Technically cold is more accurate but it doesn't really matter. New oil is filled to the line on the dipstick when its cold so that should be your reference point, but its not that much different. Oil expands about 6% when its hot so roughly a tenth of a liter...negligible. There will be a big difference with the engine running though...always check oil with the engine off.

 

[MarcusV6]

Is it the same color as the other upper trim pieces? I hope so since if its not I am gonna hate looking at it. Also it seems like they are "stick on". If possible I don't want to drill anyholes or change the stock pieces in case I wanna go back.... guess I'll have to keep looking

I also thought the coolant temp gauge on the dash was enough.

I thought about getting oil pressure and temp. Third would probably be best to do fuel pressure since I have a little voltage display with USB ports that you just stick in the cigarette lighter and it reads the cars system voltage completly accurate.

I regularly check it now even did so this morning.

Sorry bad translation. I meant I checked the oil right after shutting the engine off. And my level at cold is right at Max but after the egine ran its like 2-3mm lower but its probably just my anxiety kicking in.

 

[mmc757]

Is your interior trim gray or beige?

I believe some two-sided tape would work fine, but I picked up a spare pillar trim piece just in case. I haven't installed it yet because I kind of lost interest in the project.

 

[MarcusV6]

I have the beige roof trim. Didn't even know there were grey ones.

You mean a normal trim piece or one for extra gauges?

 

[mmc757]

Not sure if anybody makes them in beige or not. You could paint a gray one though.
What I'm saying is I understand not wanting to permanently damage your cars trim, so one option is to find a spare piece of trim. That way if you have to damage it with screws or other devices, you will still have a an undamaged one on the shelf if you need it.

 

[MarcusV6]

I think i saw someone who had a full pillar trim in the matching beige but it could just be custom made

 

[MarcusV6]

I remebered right

FS: Roush sway bar, dual gauge pillar pod, and cup spiller

Name: Kevin Location: Northern Virginia Items: Roush sway bar with brackets, dual gauge pillar pod and cup spiller center console Description:I have for sale a couple items. Roush rear sway bar with greaseable brackets for bushings. I also have a pillar pod for two gauges and I also have a...

www.newcougar.org