Reliability and Repair Costs

[adrianfward]

Soooo...

I've found an '89 Bill Blass with just over 87k miles on it at a dealership about 20 minutes from my house...

I'm pretty sure I'm going to go for it - does anyone with experience have any advice about what to pay special attention to when test-driving the car and looking it over? I'm assuming the air springs are the main deal, but are there other parts or functions that have a tendency to fail?

And on a related note, how reliable should this car be in general? How much money should I expect to put into maintenance/repairs per year if I'm willing to do most of the work myself?

And is there really much of an incidence of the air springs going out with low mileage on them and no warning? I plan on driving the car from Columbia to New Haven (about 800 miles) and back this summer for a summer research position I have - should this be a problem? I'm assuming it shouldn't be, but I figure it doesn't hurt to ask.

I probably won't be able to check out the car until next weekend because I have to sell my current car first, but I'll be sure to post with the results...Hopefully I'll have some pictures of my new Mark VII.

Thanks,
adrian

 

[Awesund]

Hi, Welcome to the site.

The quickest way to see if the airsprings are near death is to crawl up under and look at each one, as it sits, normally (not on a jack).
Where the lowest part of the airspring rolls under, look for dry rotting and cracks in the rubber. If you don't see any of that...Good! They've probably been replaced, recently. Even with low miles the years can age the rubber.
Look at the outside rubber window scraper...is it still soft and pliable? Or brittle and broken like ceramic? Soft is good, Brittle indicates car was left outside for some years.

As for repairs, other than suspension, I'd personally say that they're very reliable cars. Save for an occasional window motor, door lock, ect...
It's basic Ford running gear...302 engine, trans, rear end and most other parts that aren't design oriented like interior parts. Climate control, Dash...

 

[JoshMcMadMac]

Check all of your idiot lights. Make sure that they turn on when you start the car, and then turn off. It is also a good idea to spend $25 on a code reader and learn how to use it. Not only can you check for existing issues both with engine on and off, you can even go so far as to check to see that the eight cylinders are running within close variance of each other.