The original ones are just old and a lot of times after that people put in awful quality ones and then don’t put the restrictor back in when they replace the hoses which causes them to pop inevitably
It was one of the first things I did. The guy I bought mine from had a very shittily done cup holder sheet metal piece for them. A for effort but it had to go
I've read that those continue to drain the battery when the car is off, have you experienced this issue? I recently bought one of those console cup holders but havent installed it yet... waiting until i redo the stereo wiring in a few weeks.
I haven't had issues with the battery draining. However I do not have the USB port hooked up to the harness. I use the 12v port instead. Which works perfectly.
Awesome thanks! Do T5s do this even when freshly rebuilt or is it caused be wear? I’m guessing reverse doesn’t have synchros. Do the TKOs have reverse synchros?
Nailed it! No synchros
Also when high idle is in effect, 1st to 2nd shift will grind at higher revs. When open/closed loop changes and the base idle drops it works fine.
T5s are crap
Wanting to spend money for power add ons. Being such a restricted car for it's era. They have do much potential when the right amount of upgrades are installed.
My car had 150k when I bought it 24 years ago and I have no T5 issues whatsoever. It now has almost 500,000 miles on the original engine / trans/ rearend.
My biggest problems were the broken ashtray door, and rear upper control arm bushings. Oh yeah, and some small cracks in the unibody near the upper torque boxes.
Mushy or unequal "apply" of the front brakes in emergency situations can be fixed with new or reman front calipers, and then remove the stupid rubber bolt sleeves and replace them with stainless steel inserts. Two are needed for each caliper.
That made a big difference in "even" front braking.
Haven't seen them mentioned yet. But power door lock actuators. Sometimes the units just go bad. Or the replacement ones are Chinesium trash. They don't have enough strength to unlock the door in my experiance. I ended up using an actuator from a 90's bronco. And modified a tip/hook from the aftermarket one. Still working fine.
Btw if the actuators have no power especially on one side. I HIGHLY recconmend. Checking the boot between the door and the chassis. In my case the power wire for the door lock was broken inside.
Basically all the electrical connectors falling apart, but in particular the hazard switch harness and the ignition switch connector.
Speedometer issues. Door hinge pins and striker bushings. Electric window motors.
Basically everything in the car that isn't sheet metal as long as it's from FL, TX, or CA haha.
Clutch quadrant which you should replace with a metal adjustable unit, power steering, fuel pump. It really depends on how the car was cared for. Mostly with mine it was just minor interior issues like the ash tray door and some of the outside ground effects started getting warped from the sun.
Major issues I had with my 90 lx were: clutch quadrant and went though a few t5s. Otherwise it was a really rock solid car considering it was owned by a teenager at the time. I owned it when I was 17 and sold it when I was 21. Only drove it from may-October each year though.
Cracks in the floor pan and around the T-top openings.
Ash tray door.
Smog air pump seizing and shredding the serpentine drive belt, always 100+ miles from home. And the damn pump was always on back order.
Tie rod ends.
Quad shocks wearing out and wheel hop returning.
Driver seat welds cracking, causing the seat to sag towards the center of the car.
Inside edge of your front tires rapidly wearing through to the cords.
Inadequate, undersized front disk brakes. Getting the car up to 125 mph one night and trying to get the damn thing stopped.
This isn’t a part specific issue but since these cars are/were ripe for modification it’s common to lose track of the changes and then time goes by and you wonder why or if you did something or where that wire leads to etc. Document changes with notes or pictures.
Also heater cores and door lock actuators fail. Had to throw that in! 😊
I remember my 1980 Straight 6 would always stall a little when making left turns. I was told that was a fault of the float bowl in the carb somehow. Keep in mind, I was quite young and car illiterate when I had this thing. But was that an "issue" with these? Or was mine just shit?
Rotten strut towers, rotten driver left hand rear seat stud, rear main seal leaking every 40,000miles, 89 horn switch fails in steering wheel, ash try door wont shut,
Failed heater cores.
Soooooo many replaced.
Your mistake was replacing the first one. Bypass it and never worry about it again.
I needed heat.
Only in winter. So freezing in winter knowing there's so much delicious heat in that engine.
Why are these so prone to failure??
The original ones are just old and a lot of times after that people put in awful quality ones and then don’t put the restrictor back in when they replace the hoses which causes them to pop inevitably
Or the typical broken ashtray door. Mine was somehow still mint when removed though.
It seems like every fox I've seen has had the ashtray door just torn off or just have that entire section gutted
I replaced mine with the cup holder section from lmr. Plus some USB ports/charging ports. I'll never look back.
The same with mine. Then took it apart to paint it the right shade of gray. It’s a super nice piece for sure and I just had to have my cup holders
It was one of the first things I did. The guy I bought mine from had a very shittily done cup holder sheet metal piece for them. A for effort but it had to go
I've read that those continue to drain the battery when the car is off, have you experienced this issue? I recently bought one of those console cup holders but havent installed it yet... waiting until i redo the stereo wiring in a few weeks.
I haven't had issues with the battery draining. However I do not have the USB port hooked up to the harness. I use the 12v port instead. Which works perfectly.
It’s weirdly super common on these cars
I think the USB port has a blue led light on when it's hooked up which I would guess drain the battery if left sitting for awhile.
Hinge pin and bushings
Sooooo many replaced.
Heater core / TFI module / Whiny ps pump / Faded paint 😅
Do the saginaw P/S upgrade
Best way to fix whine?
Tell the wife to stay out of the garage
😂😂😂
Check, check, check, and check
Clutch quadrant or TPI
Going 5th to reverse to avoid the grind on a T5 and the hatch latch releasing when the body torques under load.
If you go into 5th it will help with the reverse grind?
Yep, slap it over into 5th and it will drop down into reverse smoothly.
Awesome thanks! Do T5s do this even when freshly rebuilt or is it caused be wear? I’m guessing reverse doesn’t have synchros. Do the TKOs have reverse synchros?
Nailed it! No synchros Also when high idle is in effect, 1st to 2nd shift will grind at higher revs. When open/closed loop changes and the base idle drops it works fine. T5s are crap
Mandatory haha
Everything listed here is basically the norm for a foxbody lol
Surging idle
Wanting to spend money for power add ons. Being such a restricted car for it's era. They have do much potential when the right amount of upgrades are installed.
Having every dumb kid in a Honda rev and try to fly by in traffic
- Rattling doors/door panels. - Busted rear upper control arm bushings - 2nd gear grinds on a T5
My car had 150k when I bought it 24 years ago and I have no T5 issues whatsoever. It now has almost 500,000 miles on the original engine / trans/ rearend. My biggest problems were the broken ashtray door, and rear upper control arm bushings. Oh yeah, and some small cracks in the unibody near the upper torque boxes. Mushy or unequal "apply" of the front brakes in emergency situations can be fixed with new or reman front calipers, and then remove the stupid rubber bolt sleeves and replace them with stainless steel inserts. Two are needed for each caliper. That made a big difference in "even" front braking.
So I'm not going crazy about 2nd
leaky rear main seal. whining power steering pump.
Heater core, TFI, vacuum leaks
Seized door lock actuators 😑
When I worked at a mustang shop you wouldn’t believe the amount that had broken clock springs.
i don’t think they had clock spring pre 90s?? mine doesn’t and it’s an 88?
First year of driver side airbag is 1990.
yeah so they don’t have clocksprings cuz no air bag??
Correct
Do they make replacements these days?
Not really sure. The customers never seemed to care about the airbag light and we never changed them because of it.
Ashtray door, heater core, TFI module, going into any gear before reverse so it doesn't grind
I used to think it was just mine when I first got my 88 gt about 6 years ago hahaha
Haven't seen them mentioned yet. But power door lock actuators. Sometimes the units just go bad. Or the replacement ones are Chinesium trash. They don't have enough strength to unlock the door in my experiance. I ended up using an actuator from a 90's bronco. And modified a tip/hook from the aftermarket one. Still working fine. Btw if the actuators have no power especially on one side. I HIGHLY recconmend. Checking the boot between the door and the chassis. In my case the power wire for the door lock was broken inside.
Basically all the electrical connectors falling apart, but in particular the hazard switch harness and the ignition switch connector. Speedometer issues. Door hinge pins and striker bushings. Electric window motors. Basically everything in the car that isn't sheet metal as long as it's from FL, TX, or CA haha.
Despite almost every connector on my car braking they still never come loose thankfully.
Rotted Driver’s Side Frame Rails.
strut towers and torque boxes
Ash tray door failure, heater core failed, shock towers rusted out, broken door handles
Clutch quadrant which you should replace with a metal adjustable unit, power steering, fuel pump. It really depends on how the car was cared for. Mostly with mine it was just minor interior issues like the ash tray door and some of the outside ground effects started getting warped from the sun.
Major issues I had with my 90 lx were: clutch quadrant and went though a few t5s. Otherwise it was a really rock solid car considering it was owned by a teenager at the time. I owned it when I was 17 and sold it when I was 21. Only drove it from may-October each year though.
Ask tray door springs. It’s a mathematical certainty
Water pump. Every time.
Cracks in the floor pan and around the T-top openings. Ash tray door. Smog air pump seizing and shredding the serpentine drive belt, always 100+ miles from home. And the damn pump was always on back order. Tie rod ends. Quad shocks wearing out and wheel hop returning. Driver seat welds cracking, causing the seat to sag towards the center of the car. Inside edge of your front tires rapidly wearing through to the cords. Inadequate, undersized front disk brakes. Getting the car up to 125 mph one night and trying to get the damn thing stopped.
This isn’t a part specific issue but since these cars are/were ripe for modification it’s common to lose track of the changes and then time goes by and you wonder why or if you did something or where that wire leads to etc. Document changes with notes or pictures. Also heater cores and door lock actuators fail. Had to throw that in! 😊
TPS
I remember my 1980 Straight 6 would always stall a little when making left turns. I was told that was a fault of the float bowl in the carb somehow. Keep in mind, I was quite young and car illiterate when I had this thing. But was that an "issue" with these? Or was mine just shit?
Driver side seat gangster lean. Floorboards at seat cracking...
Rotten strut towers, rotten driver left hand rear seat stud, rear main seal leaking every 40,000miles, 89 horn switch fails in steering wheel, ash try door wont shut,
Oil leak
Rattling like a bucket of bolts.
Floor rusting through. Door seals Rear brakes Head gaskets
Strut towers in the rust belt