Bought a Cougar Eibach

[kypez]

Hi Lads and Ladettes,

I bought a 2000 cougar eibach for my sister last week. Couldnt find too many cars with traction control and ABS for similar coin (that didnt look like a whitegood on wheels). Picked it up in Adelaide and drove it back to sydney last Friday. Not the most comfortable car, but it wasnt too bad either. Cant believe how low this car is!! Drive was good but a little noisy with a Remus exhaust on it but it does sound a treat (even set off a few alarms on other cars!).

Getting it looked over by my mech this week to sort out all the niggles it appears to have. It has 120,000kms which i hope isnt a lot for a V6. Oh and its an Auto.

Just wanted to ask the experts around here if there is anything I should check or if there are any surprises to expect with this car?

The steering at low speeds tends to shake a little so I think I need a new lower ball joint. Also, the seat heaters dont appear to be work either. Is this something that can be fixed easily or is it an expensive affair?

thanks all,

Kypez.

[thearrow]

WHERE DO I START ????

Assuming that you understand you have purchased a 10 year old car then you need to understand you will have problems as will any front wheel drive car that is more than ten years old.

With my Eibach most of the problems have been with standard wear and tear but I have to say there has been a BIG improvement since I have replaced nearly all the suspension bushings this has made the car a whole lot smoother and much more pleasant to drive.

The duratec V6 is virtually bullet proof but never the less a hi-tech engine for it's time and vacuum leaks are it's only real weakness. The engine was designed by Porche (Fraud bought the technology and then got Cosworth to design the heads for it) and no need to worry about timing belts cos they used chain.

The gearbox is actually a Mazda box and is another story but as long as you keeep it serviced and it hasn't had a hard life it should be OK.

Things to watch out for though are....the wheels cracking, regular wheel alignments, learning to take driveways and dips in the road sideways, the strut bearings, get a gearbox service, the ABS module, any vacuum leaks, window switches, engine mounts, join the NRMA.

Find yourself a good mechanic and get all your parts wherever possible from here transit time from the US is about 5 days...

http://www.rockauto.com/catalog/rafr...0&model=COUGAR

remembering that our cars were Mercury Cougars in the USA and their drivers side is our passenger side.

Apart from that you have a unique vehicle one of only 100 ever released in Australia and she will get a lot of people asking her about her car and as long as she looks after it the car will look after her.

Post some pics when you can...

[REDDYZ]

before you replace expensive bits and pieces get proper 4 wheel alignment and balancing done and see if that fixes the shake. If it doesn't then go with Dave's advise.

[kypez]

thanks for the responses guys. Picked up the car today after getting a full service, 4 new tyres, alignments, transmission service, etc. $1150 later the car drivers fantastic. The auto is much happier now after the service though the guy said that it had not been looked after and needed another service in the not too distance future so he can flush out all the fluid again and refill it. Dont mind the $165 auto service.

REDDYZ you were right about need the alignment and balancing. New tyres and everything set correctly took away any harshness in the steering.

thearrow - thanks for all the things to note mate. I've got the top cover with NRMA for the car now as well.

Also bought a pair of Bosch wipers (the ones without the harbour bridges) and boy what a difference they made to the car.

All in all, much happier with the car now. Still need to check why the seat heaters arent working but my sister can take care of those expenses!

I'll get some pictures up over the weekend as its all doom and gloom with Sydney's weather for the rest of the week.

[REDDYZ]

Kypez, check fuses for seat heaters and if they are fine, put rear demister on and see if heating works. Give it sometime and see if it works. Somehow on my kat seat heaters are more effective with rear demister on. Try this and see if it works

[thearrow]

Cougars are notorious for faulty seat heaters and the fault is the switch not the fuse. Mine have NEVER worked and I have never bothered to spend the cash to get them fixed.

[baz]

Mine workes to well, wife sat in the car one day,she won't drive it, and must have accidently pushed in the switch. The next time I drove the car I thought it was on fire, got a really hot bum.