Im new to falcons, never owned one but im currently in rather desperate need of a daily driver and have been talked into looking out for a good ef or el falcon.
Iv looked at a couple..one in particular was an el fairmont ghia. It seemed in really good condition asthetically, had new tyres, brakes reg and rwc..and then obviously all the standard luxury items such as leather, premium sound, lsd, tickford motor (im told same engine as xr6?)etc etc. Seemed to drive and ride really well on the very short trip that i was able to test it on..trans was smooth, engine felt strong and ran smooth and everything worked bar the rear right power window. Price seemed very reasonable at $3000 woth reg and rwc.
The main things that i was concerned about are as follows:
-245,000km, is this starting to get a little high?
-no service history past about 80,000km.
-previous owner had serviced it himself aparently, oil was clean and full however air filter was quite dirty, engine belts were cracking and needed replacing and the engine was a little oily.
-was very little coolant in the overflow resivor, should this be full? worried me as i have heard alot about these engines having problems with head gaskets.
-was fresh oil built up under the car around the bottom on the trans casing - possible rear main??
For the price it seemed like an okay car, but i cant afford to buy something thats going to be a money pit..I dont mind having to give it a good service (change coolant, air filter, replace belts etc) but my skills dont extend as far as pulling the thing apart for major work/ if it were required.
Iv looked at a couple of others which also seemed to be quite oily around the engine/underneath, is this common or am i just looking at s**t boxes lol.
What are peoples thoughts? Does it sound like a s**t box that should be steered clear of or should it have plenty of life left in it and im just a fussy bugger? I would have liked to take it to a mechanic to have it looked at for peace of mind but the bloke selling it was a bi funny about it and said he didn;t have time and that it was too cheap for him to be buggering around with that kind of thing..another concern.

Sorry about the long post, hopefully someone can point me in the right direction and maybe give me some insight on what to look out for.
Cheers

The price sounds OK for a Fairmont Ghia. I had 230,000km on my 3.9 motor and it hardly used any oil. If it's been looked after, the engine will be good for another 50-100,000km. Leaking rear seals/sump gaskets seem to be a common problem on Fords. A mechanic can change it easily if it's up on a hoist. If it's leaking from the front seal in the gearbox, then the box has to come out. Is the fluid on the gearbox red or black?

While the engine idling, listen for any noise at the front of the engine (where the timing chain is). If there's any rattling or grinding noises, the timing chain/guides might need replacing (which is usually an engine-out job).

E-series engines can overheat if the radiator/cooling system hasn't been serviced. If you buy the car, make sure the radiator and thermostat are in good working condition. Use a good quality coolant too.

I can understand why the guy isn't interested in taking it to a garage. Most private sellers will say take it or leave it, unless they're desperate to sell. Have you got any friends/relatives that are mechanically minded that can give a second opinion?

Why would he want to go out of his way, using his time and fuel for some third party to look it over so you MAY buy it. I wouldnt do that for someone either.

Anyway, theyre all pretty high km's, 15 years old, expect oil leaks.

Yeah if it's leaking oil is a good sign, when it's stops= top up.
but seriously reg+ road on an EL Ghia for 3k, good buy, and honestly pretty bullet proof cars., not much to go wrong, if your real concern theirs a few mob eg rac that will do indepent on site inspections, if he'll come at one then probably a safe bet but you can sorta understand, he's already gone to the effort of a roady.

So true! This also applies for AU's

dont worry about the oil leaks - i dont remember the last time i saw a SOHC falcon that didnt have atleasta slight oil leak - the sump holds over 5 l and can leak out about 3 of that and still be ok (you can also HEAR when its getting low). just make sure the trans is OK as the EL's upwards had sealed for life transmissions (no dipstick) and if they havnt had some servicing they are usually rooted. if its running good now with no signs of being tired youll get another coupla hundred thousand k's out of it.

My ED has similar K's to the car you looked at, does a LOT of heavy towing and gets driven fairly hard and doesnt give me any troubles - they are cheap to fix so even if things do go wrong its no dramas, learn to do it properly yourself and it will be the best car you ever bought

Firstly, I agree, get an AU if you want longevity and a bit more refinement... Secondly, if the rear main seal is stuffed, the gearbox has to come out, not just if its the front seal on the box as the input shaft goes thru the middle of the O... Sump gaskets tend to leak when they are over tightened, replacement of these is fiddly but not mentally taxing. Timing chains and guide replacement do not require the engine to come out and again, its a fiddly job but not mentally taxing. As far as cooling goes, the older E series are starting to show signs of rooted heater cores, which is a f**k of a job to fix. Also, they have a habit of having leaky heater taps and sometimes like to blow one of the 3 little heater hoses under the inlet manifold. If its got an RWC, buy it, rego it and keep putting oil in it and you shouldnt, assuming the diff isnt full of banana peals or similar bodgey fixes lol, have any problems for another 100K, and last but not least, a repair manual for these cars is about $40 or free if you can find the PDF download online, and it will guide you step by step on bigger jobs like head gasket changes etc. Its really not that hard once you decided to roll your sleaves up and learn. And if your really worried about it, get in sweet with a mechanic and get him to go over it for you.

I've changed the timing chain without taking the engine out. As the bottom guide doesn't go back on without dropping the sump about an inch, IMO it's quicker to pull the engine out than lying on the ground undoing sump bolts.

On my ED and then again more recently on the EF I have now, oil under the engine and trans ended up being the front seal thanks to stuffed harmonic balancer.

In both cases a new balancer and seal = no oil. In the case of the EF, mekanix who were doing the roadworthy absolutely insisted it was rear seal and wouldn't believe me that the oil they were looking at near the rear of the sump was residual (I had cleaned it but hadn't been fanatical - a little oil helps stop rust). I put my foot down and refused to let them change it but took it away - put it on stands and went nuts with several cans of degreaser and brushes etc. They finally grudgingly passed it saying that as long as it isn't actually oily when they looked at it.... - but I'd be back to get it fixed.

That was a year ago and now you could still turn the car over and eat your dinner off it...

Also with oil around the trans / rear engine area have a good look at the steering rack for leaks - dirty trans / steering fluid is often hard to distinguish from dirty engine oil.

On an overall note - nothing beats having a reliable mechanic who knows what they're doing have a look at it. Weeding thru all the mekanix to find a decent mechanic is the hard part...

mate ive had EAs to ELs, all of them ran like a dream if you take care of them, worse problem ive had was a block radiator and busted thermo, $400 bucks to fix by natrad, just keep it serviced regularly and it should run for ever, there are E series on here that have gone over 600 thou ks,

you never said if you were mechanically minded?

id say buy it, you could always swap out the engine anyway, there cheap as chips these days....

yep if you get a well looked after example, it will be fairly reliable......... but if you get one from the other 80% group, then by the time you fix it all up, you could have been driving something a little newer, refined and better base to start with.

i bought an EL ghia last year iwth 180ks on it. Was clean and tidy and $3500. Things to look out for and check are:

make sure heater and aircon work. If not its likely your blend door motor is shagged and will cost alot to fix it

my gearbox is almost undrivable at the moment once warm. it had not been serviced in its life before i got it. its because of an electrical problem and it behaves normally when cold and warming up. watch out for this as you cant check what the fluid looks like unless you get under the car.

the rotors warp easily and often. this is a pain. Ive had them machined twice in a year and they have just done it again, so i need new rotors.

apart from that i have done over 50,000ks in a year and havnt had any major issues.

im really picky with my NF (its basically a EF) i mean really picky like even a slightest sign of something being faulty and ill change it/fix it and the only thing ive done besides standard maintenance things like oil, spark plugs etc thats critical to the car working was the water pump and it has 282,000 k's on it and almost everything has its original ford logos on them

they are incredibly reliable and despite common belief if driven properly and looked after well can get good economy to and they can go forever i know a fella with over 1 mill K's on his e series and the motor hasnt been opened but 600,000 k's as mentioned by EFNA isnt terribly uncommon considering

gearboxes are usually a common issue so make sure it changes its gears fast and hard and when you first get the car its ideal to service the gearbox as a part of the little tune up most people give a car they just bought as most people look over the gearbox

one thing you want to do is listen for a noise from the AC compressor as they should be pretty much silent and they are expensive to have replaced (mine has been replaced not by me but by the previous owner but i have priced them)

a noise of a busted bearing from the idle pully or belt tensioner is pretty much expected as every EF EL between me and my dad we have had to always replace them



my EL when i had it never dropped leak on me
and my NF has only ever dropped a few little drops when the power steering hose started leaking that little bit



i know the rotors warp and its common issue but twice in a year mate what do you do brake from 180ks to 0 every day or something ? or are you just trying to scare the poor fella lol

Can't beat any E series as far as i'm concerned.
I bought the EA Gli i've got from my son because he didn't like it even though it was a freebee given to him by my inlaws.
It's got close to 500,000 klms original, a one owner and other than a new auto due to my father in law shoving it into reverse at 110 and a couple of head gaskets over the years, all it needed was a lower ball joint and a windscreen for a roadworthy...........I can't fault it to drive.
As for brakes, all cars end up with warped rotors these days due to the crap they pass off for pads these days....asbestos pads never gave me trouble over the years in any car i've had but things are different now.
So it's your choice to buy or not to buy, it sounds like a good purchase to me

haha yeh tell me about it! Im not very hard on the brakes at all and they keep warping!