thrashed vs. pristine EA's - Ford Forums - Mustang Forum, Ford Trucks, Ford Focus and Ford Cars

09-07-2003, 18:19

Hey all
I was just wondering whether the working life of a car effects its performance. I have and EA II and bought it off my grandparents. It was bought new by them and when i got it (1 yr ago now), it only had 56 thou on the clock and in showroom condition, hardly done any work. Only used for goin to shops etc. I was drivin a mates EA the same as mine the other day, his had 250 thou and he absoloutly trashes the crap out of it. I noticed a bit of a diff between the two. His was sort of more responsive than mine to my surprise even though his is a clapped out peice of crap. Hows is this? should i then trash the crap out of mine to get it to run better or what?

SiX_iN_a_RoW · 09-07-2003, 18:34

Some engines do turn out being very different, especially during the running in period. I dont suggest you start thrashing the crap out of yours, but with 56k on the clock its still got alot of "loosening up" to do

b-juggles · 09-07-2003, 21:35

IMO a lot depends on how the car is run in, and how it is looked after and serviced....if its had the shit thrashed out of it when its still tight, and not regularly cared for (oil change etc) then you can have problems down the track, in saying though if its driven like granny, the rings wont mate to the bore properly and you'll never really make optimum power. you really got to find a happy median between the two (ie: trashing and taking it easy) to make sure engine is happy at all rpm.

as for 56k id say its done a fair bit of loosening up already, and wouldn expect any more out it...
and to be honest, older cars with VERY low kms are a turn off to me...driven on weekends to the shops for short distances means much more wear at startup etc and always start stopping as opposed to car thats done a few more highway kms.

but yeah, just my opinion!

09-07-2003, 22:09

Has grandma been doing donuts again?

cArSiK · 09-07-2003, 22:31

an engine needs to be run in for all conditions like short bursts of high rpm , occasional high load e.g. climbing a hill and highway driving - but not at the same RPM for too long.This with regular oil changes should produce good power and a nicley broken in donk.

james

mongrelEB · 09-07-2003, 22:44

There are other factors too...for instance he may have bashed out his cat :)
Or your regulator might be a little sticky.
I suggest you try driving it a bit harder, the computer may just need to learn how to run it at high RPM, something which it sounds like it hasn't done yet.

galapogos01 · 09-07-2003, 23:13

is his an equivilant engine/transmission/diff package? you cant compare a 3spd to a 5spd, or mpfi to cfi for example...

eagt · 09-08-2003, 01:54

mongrelEB is correct in what he says, disconnect the batt for a minute, then after reconnecting the leads go for a hoot straight away. make sure you give her a bit of a work out (not thrash) as well as noramal driving. disconnecting the batt will reset the puter, then driving the car will teach the computer. simple eh. then you should notice an increase in response

PHoeNiX_EB · 09-08-2003, 01:57

I just think it was the Manual. If yours is an auto then it will feel very slow compared to the 5 speed!