I've had my eyes on this 1999 mercury mountaineer 5.0 V8 for a while now. The guy selling it isn't driving it, so it's still at 143,000 miles and $3000 (We negotiated for $2000). And while Mercury is discontinued (Even though it's basically ford), I still wanna know if it's a good truck or if it's just crap no matter how well maintained it is. Would there be any point in going to take a look at it?
It was a decent car but realize that now, it is 23 year old and all the plastics and rubbers are deteriorating.
With few exceptions any vehicle over two decades old is going to be at or near the end of its expected service life. Even if engine and transmission are still OK expect to be nickel and dimed to death on everything else, especially if you don't work on it yourself.
@chucktobias “end of it’s expected service life”
Is that primarily due to the deterioration of the plastic and rubber parts as @yaser mentioned?
That's a good part of it, but cars are just not designed to last much longer than that. Everything wears out and deteriorates over time. You can push them of course (I have cars over 50 years old here and daily drive one that's 25) but in general the older they get the needier they get.
@avalon04
At that age it's not just the soft parts. Metal fatigues too. I've seen doors stop closing because they just sag too and there's nothing you can do to repair them.
@chucktobias and @mmj
Thanks guys for your responses. I suppose it was disappointing/alarming to think about my 19 year old Avalon closing in on it's final days. I have always tried to maintain it properly in the hopes of reaching 300k miles, even 250k would be satisfactory, but always thinking in terms of longevity and reliability in terms of mileage. At my current usage of 5k miles per year in my retirement, the 250k milestone would be another 7 years and the car would be 26 years old; the 300k would add another 10 years to that. Anyhow I never really thought in terms of the entropy due to time alone. Yet, I see it's effects in the mirror every day. But, I'll just keep maintaining it the best I can and 'time' will tell. 😉
@avalon4, that Avalon might make it, heck there are people still daily driving Studebakers and Ramblers. Even saw a video about a guy recently daily driving a Model A Ford for year. However you have to set your expectations for how much work it's likely going to take to keep a car going as it ages. (I know what you mean about the mirror - when I shave in the morning there's some old guy looking back at me!)
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mB6ReOj7qEE
IIRC, the Mountaineer uses the Ford Windsor V8?
If you are looking for a semi-project semi-knock around it may fit the bill.
It can be possible to see it run for another few hundred thousand miles. Best you can do if you want to get that vehicle is to change the oil, transmission fluid, brake fluid, timing belt, etc. ASAP and do it as religious as possible!
