[4x4chevette]

@.3's are great little enignes, not a power house, but run forever... I threw a timing belt in a mud hole in my 2wd ranger, ende dup bending the valves, i pulled the head striaghtened them bes TI could, re seated em, and drive the thing daily... And they will pull 4 4wheelers, at 85 mph for a 6 hour trip down the interstate as well... and still get over 20mpg

[gotischetier]

My 2.3 is the most gutless car ever (besides a merto) im not a fan of the 2.3s. Its a convertable though so ya cant argue with dropin the top in the middle of the winter.

[Twister]

Originally Posted by gotischetier

My 2.3 is the most gutless car ever (besides a merto)

obviously, you have never driven a Renault

[funkbuster]

my brother used to have a 1992 2.3L and that car was nice and it ran good and only had one problem out of it, and that was with the rear end, not the engine. That + this is mostly used for SVOs I think which are very fast and I would much rather have an SVO than I would my 5.0.

[cj1977]

My third car was a 2.3 too but the only problem it had was a blown head gasket. It was a good car.

[moodydiesel]

Hey bucko, my 1st car IS a 89 2.3 mustang and
it has 190,057 MI. on it. It has been in the family
forever, has had the motor rebuilt 20,000MI. ago
and has NEVER had any problems ex. maintance
(given). I don't pamper it and I like to beat the
piss out of it every once in a while. The fastest
I've been in it was about 123MPH. My best time
in the 8th was 11.32 at 63mph.(Yeah, slow)
but the turbo is coming. O yeah, it is a 5 speed
with 3.45 7.5 rear.

[lamrith]

Originally Posted by 4x4chevette

@.3's are great little enignes, not a power house, but run forever... I threw a timing belt in a mud hole in my 2wd ranger, ende dup bending the valves, i pulled the head striaghtened them bes TI could, re seated em, and drive the thing daily... And they will pull 4 4wheelers, at 85 mph for a 6 hour trip down the interstate as well... and still get over 20mpg

I thought the 2.3L were NON interference motors?? Meaning pistons and valves do not touch.

[LXR4Ti]

Note...

1988 Mustang LX 2.3L - 267000kms to 460000kms... R.I.P.

Finally Layed to rest after a long life of abuse... Over revving... Mis Shifting... Racing... Overheating... yada yada yada...

I beat the hell out of the car and it still ran to the day i parked it and dismantled a running motor for the Serpentine pulleys, PS Pump, Crank Pulley, and stuff for my Merkur.

3 Oil Changes.... 1 Set of improperly Gapped Plugs... 6 Sets of ignition Wires... 1 Cap and Rotor... 2 Water Pumps (Replaced both under Warranty of the manufacturer of the water pump)... and 2 TFI Modules.

Gee... I got 1 Hell of a Life out of my POS 2.3L Stang... I would buy another in a heartbeat.

[sk8erofjm]

i have a 1989 mustang lx with a 2.3l,it say's it has 25k miles but i dont think that its right.i want mine to be a little more powerful.i just got new tires for it.

[lcurle]

a turbo swap on a 2.3 is tooo easy, take about a weekend. a brothel of parts on ebay for the conversion as well.

[dirtysr]

I don't know what to tell all you negative owners about your problems. I purchased a 89 stang after driving my sons. It has 214,000 on it and still runs great. 2.3s are great little motors. SOO MUCH that I bought a 93 ranger with a2.3. It has approximately 189,000 w/ no major problems. If you keep everything greased and change the oil ever other month it will run forever & ever.people think changing oil that often isn't needed, BUT, those seem to be the people that say their motors are junk. Solution? spend $20. every two months and problem of costly repairs solved.

[turboeeyore]

i've got a few tricks up my sleeve for my 87 2.3 auto wit 114,000 kilometres. first a cold air intake. not a crappy open air filter.cold air out from under hood. next my friend lxr4ti will be gutting my upper and lower. next take out the 4 banger fuel pump for a 5. 0 190lph and change the 12 lb stock injectors to the stock 5.0 19lb injectors. then i'll be looking into a mass air conversion from a 91-93 but leaving the distributor, and did you know a 91 to 96 2.3l ranger or 2300 mazda came stock with a header? ha ha ha! everything for under $500 and i paid $400 for the car. so it'll run like a scared 6 cyl.

[01 cobrasleeper]

2.3 is that th size of the gerbal under the hood? if it a'nt at least a 3.5 and has 8 cylenders than i'd rather walk.

[ponyfreak2300]

Originally Posted by Fordracing2

MY first car was a 2.3 liter Mustang. It has 88 hp, but that is beside the point. I drove it for three weeks at a time because every three weeks something new would go wrong electronically. After I replaced everything electronic, the car broke a rod and the crankshaft, that is after a headgasket went bad and I had it replaced. I then bought another 2.3 and the head gasket went bad in a week. My cousin bought a 2.3 liter mustang and it had all sorts of electronic problems. They are junk. Sorry if I offended anyone but I am venting my frustrations on the most useless engine.

I have had 5 2.3 engines in mustangs ranging from 89 to 93 never had any problem,they can be awesome engines in the right hands ,there is one that runs at I77 speedway in Chester S.C. 240HP holding 8000RPM been running almost 2 years, sorry you found a lemon

[turboeeyore]

i can't see them being junk...this is an engine that didn't need a harmonic ballancer OR ballanceshafts...and a talon 4 banger had major issues with the balance shaft belts breaking, getting stuck in the timing belt, and taking out the head. so really is it so bad? i can take the timing belt OFF my 2.3 stang and crank it 100 times with NO damage...maybe a dead battery....lol.