Original engine mileage

[91_festy_Gl]

Im sitting alittle over 170 thou right now and my car is a 91.

[boydg1]

No, I mean a four legged scared rabbit being chased by a dog.:toothy7:

Do you mean it diesels??? LOL

[ventura_ace]

New member / first post.

Hello to everyone. My question is: What is your highest mileage on your original engine of your Festiva? I have, and bought new, a 1988 Ford Festiva LX, which now has 476,000 miles (PLUS on it). This car has been parked for twelve years and I have decided to reactivate it. She runs like scared rabbit!!

476K miles in about 10 - 11 year of driving. That's about 45K miles per year! Would that mostly be highway driving, cruising along in 5th gear, or does it include a lot of stop-and-go?

Alvon

[boydg1]

Yes, you are correct. 220 miles a day, 1100 miles a week and roughly 60,000 a year. With stop and go driving on both ends and some week end driving to boot. It was four hours a day on the road leaving at about 4:30 AM in the morning. Sometimes, depending on work, we wouldn't get home until 7-8:00 PM in the evening. We would occasionally have dinner on the road as well.

Thanks

476K miles in about 10 - 11 year of driving. That's about 45K miles per year! Would that mostly be highway driving, cruising along in 5th gear, or does it include a lot of stop-and-go?

Alvon

[batstiva]

My 89 has 248K miles on it. It's parked for the moment because it pissed me off. :roll: My 90 has 275K miles. We've got one that runs around here, I've talked to the owner a couple of times, it was just about to roll over 500K the last time I saw it. Proper care, and proper maint. are the keys.

[91_festy_Gl]

Wow alot of WV members comming out of the wood work, nice! We all should get together and compare milage lmfao!

[boydg1]

Before I give you the details of how I re-activated this

Festiva let me give you some background.

This Festiva has the original engine, transmission, clutch, and

muffler.

The pipe between the catalytic converter and the muffler

FRACTURED 360 degrees around the flange of the muffler from the constant

running.

They drew the metal so thin on that bend around the flange that

it finally fractured all the way around. I had two choices, either to

repair it, which I could have done but that would take longer than replacing

the pipe which I did.

I burned a valve by using high test gas on occassion and wasn't going to do

anything about it, it only suffered from a little bit of performance. But

it slowed me down going over the two mountain ranges on the way to

work. And the car pack (group) that we traveled in including the State Police

in the morning did NOT appreciate us slowing down just a little bit, lets

say approx. to 70 MPH. This was at a time when CELL phones were just

getting started. So when Christmas vacation came that year, I removed

the head off the engine and had it milled and the bad valve replaced. I

re-assembled the head and it has run just fine since.

Along with all of this I did the regular maintenance: oil, oil

filter changes, timing belt every 60,000 miles and REPACKED all the

wheel bearings, roughly 35,000 to 50,000 miles. Pulled the front end

apart, cleaned and repacked the CVC joints etc. And of course, replaced

brake PADs and Shoes. Car still has the original ROTORS and they have

NEVER been turned. I think this pretty much covers the background.


Thanks

Awesome mileage. EFI cars tend to last longer. Post more pics and let us know how you "re activate" it.

[JoDan]

Got 2 90's One has 143k and the other I think has 161k. 143k One has original motor, tranny, and clutch and only has had the vc gasket go bad. The 161k just got pulled so I could change the clutch and seals in it since I just bought it about 6 months ago but everything is original on it too

[neanderpaul]

There's nothing wrong with changing a timing belt that often but just for your information I drove one recently with 275,000 on the original everything. That includes the timing belt. More importantly the festiva has a non interference engine. If the belt breaks nothing happens. Put on a new one, reset the timing and you're good to go. That's perk # 1,000,006 about the festiva.

[boydg1]

I've always wondered how far a timing belt would go. I have a number of used ones. Aside from that, at that time we could NOT afford to break down on the road. And unless you're privvy to insider information (manufacturer) you just don't know what the reliability is!!

Thanks

There's nothing wrong with changing a timing belt that often but just for your information I drove one recently with 275,000 on the original everything. That includes the timing belt. More importantly the festiva has a non interference engine. If the belt breaks nothing happens. Put on a new one, reset the timing and you're good to go. That's perk # 1,000,006 about the festiva.

[Darlo]

Mine just passed 251,000 kms (156,000 miles)........

[kumalaba]

^

thoughtmy 88 lx had a lot 439K but at fm4 one red car 500K & another red car (won most miles on a festy trophy) OVER 600k! MAN I WANTED THAT TROPHY!

[neanderpaul]

I found one the week before fm4 with 465,000 original miles on the original clutch!!

[deathegg]

Damn, I just missed 222,222.2 by a few miles...I wanted a pic. Oh well, this is good though. Original clutch etc. But she's low miles compared to others.

[Darlo]

Yeah I know how you feel......I just passed 250,000.0 and I wanted a pic too, but I missed it by 2.6 drool:pukeright::banghead::angry5::violent1::sad2: