Skip to main content
Topic: I will never own another tempo again, ever. (Read 1873 times) previous topic - next topic

I will never own another tempo again, ever.

I am so sick of this piece of shiznit car.

I bought this thing in June 2004 with 120K on it, started driving it in October of that year. Before I could even start driving it, I had to replce the exhaust from the rear suspension back because it was completely rotted out.

Maybe a month after I start driving it, the water pump went out.

A month or two after that, the starter died, though I managed to find a used one to replace it with.

Somehow, last year I drove it without incident (that I can remember).

Now this year...I had to replace the exhaust shortly after I started driving it because it was rotted out AGAIN...

Then less than a month ago, the driver's side rear brake line rusted and broke and it cost me $90 to fix.

Last WEEK, the line on the other side broke from being so rusty. I fixed it today, bled the brakes (and they still aren't working right) and as I was attempting to leave the house, the starter died, again. So now I'm looking at $100 for a new starter, for a $650 TURD that I will be driving for another 3 weeks at most.

I wanna push this thing off a cliff.

And this thing is only my WINTER CAR! It gets driven 6 months out of the year at most. I drove my old '90 2.3L mustang year round for 5 years and didn't have this many problems with it! (and if I did, parts are cheaper anyway)

Garrett H.
'94 F250 XLT- 4x4, 5 speed, 7.3 IDI Turbo Diesel, 4" intake, 4" exhaust, 5" turnout stacks, manual hubs, etc.
'87 Thunderbird Turbo Coupe
Engine, wheels, tires, etc!
Exhaust sound clip
Another clip

I will never own another tempo again, ever.

Reply #1
Do it, and make sure to video tape it.

I will never own another tempo again, ever.

Reply #2
tempo's are notorious for being the biggest POS. Thats the one car that the escort is better than, and why i made sure my mom didn't buy my brother a pos tempo
RIP 1988 and 1990 Lincoln Mark VII LSC
I welcomed the dark side and currently am driving a 2000 Dodge Durango SLT plus, with a 5.9, Code named project "Night Runner"
Shes black on black, fully loaded, with headers, 180 tstat, e fan, straight exhaust into a cherry bomb vortex ler, full tune up, ported intake and T/B, MSD coil, and round aircleaner.
Mods to come: Fully rebuilt and heavily modded 46RE, and a richmond rachet locker.
my $300 beater ;)
R.I.P Kayleigh Raposa 12/18/90 - 2/24/07

I will never own another tempo again, ever.

Reply #3
Hahaha, my mom bought one new in '89. It ran pretty good until we got rid of it in '95.

Oh, and if you do push it off a cliff... if by chance it's a two door, can you send me the door rubber drip molding?

I will never own another tempo again, ever.

Reply #4
It is a two door, all the rubber around the doors is cracked and nasty.

Garrett H.
'94 F250 XLT- 4x4, 5 speed, 7.3 IDI Turbo Diesel, 4" intake, 4" exhaust, 5" turnout stacks, manual hubs, etc.
'87 Thunderbird Turbo Coupe
Engine, wheels, tires, etc!
Exhaust sound clip
Another clip

I will never own another tempo again, ever.

Reply #5
I want an AWD one for beater rallying thru the woods and stuff.
93 Festiva L, 193k miles, BP+T/G25MR swap, T3 50trim .48/.42, SRT FMIC, Capri electronics/Rocketchip, 2.5" exhaust
bests: ET 12.86, MPH 110.25, 1.92 short
02 Subaru Impreza WRX, 129k miles
97 Subaru Impreza Outback Sport, 236k miles

I will never own another tempo again, ever.

Reply #6
Surprising you haven't had any of the typical tempo problems yet, including harmonic balancer, rear transmission mount, and the entire front end.  I've got 315,XXX on my tempo and hundreds of hours idling and its still going.

I will never own another tempo again, ever.

Reply #7
@bhazard: From what I'm reading, it'll probably break before you reach any dirt.

I will never own another tempo again, ever.

Reply #8
I don't think Tempo's are a POS. Granted they aren't a top notch car. I bought one new in 1993 I put 280,000mi  on it delivering pizza in Branson MO traffic. So if your tempo is a POS it must be that the P.O. just didn't take care of it. The one major problem I had was the Harmonic balancer. That did start acting up until  250,000 miles. So sorry to here about your tempo giving you such problems. Just cause the one you have sucks doesn't mean they are all bad.
84 Turbo coupe 2.3T Modded with 88 upper and lower intake, 88 injectors, E6 manifold, T3-4 AR.60 turbo, 31X12X3 FMIC, Homemade MBC , Greddy knock off BPV.
4 eyes see better than 2! 
Da Bird!

FreeBird

I will never own another tempo again, ever.

Reply #9
Well some of the problems are related to the fact that the entire underside of this car is rusted out...in fact the floorpan is rusted clear through behind the front sears. I don't know how it got that bad because the body has relatively little rust.

At any rate, I still never plan to own a tempo ever again. It's slow, handles like , suspension is way too soft, and doesn't even get very good mileage for being a four cyinder with a stick. And it's ugly.

Garrett H.
'94 F250 XLT- 4x4, 5 speed, 7.3 IDI Turbo Diesel, 4" intake, 4" exhaust, 5" turnout stacks, manual hubs, etc.
'87 Thunderbird Turbo Coupe
Engine, wheels, tires, etc!
Exhaust sound clip
Another clip

I will never own another tempo again, ever.

Reply #10
Sounds like your Tempo has seen some rough winters on VERY salty roads.....

I bought a '92 Topaz with the v6 and auto trans in '02 with 100K on it for $600.  3 years, a ton of miles, one starter.  I donated it and got a $1500 write off.  I beat the tar out of that car too.  Best $600 I ever spent.
-- 05 Mustang GT-Whipplecharged !!
--87 5.0 Trick Flow Heads & Intake - Custom Cam - Many other goodies...3100Lbs...Low12's!

I will never own another tempo again, ever.

Reply #11
my dad saw all kinds of tempos come into the dealer ship he worked at. sooo many problems alot resulting in the need for a new motor. they are good beat the shiznit out of cars though. My uncle had one. within 2 weeks he had it blew the motor
RIP 1988 and 1990 Lincoln Mark VII LSC
I welcomed the dark side and currently am driving a 2000 Dodge Durango SLT plus, with a 5.9, Code named project "Night Runner"
Shes black on black, fully loaded, with headers, 180 tstat, e fan, straight exhaust into a cherry bomb vortex ler, full tune up, ported intake and T/B, MSD coil, and round aircleaner.
Mods to come: Fully rebuilt and heavily modded 46RE, and a richmond rachet locker.
my $300 beater ;)
R.I.P Kayleigh Raposa 12/18/90 - 2/24/07

I will never own another tempo again, ever.

Reply #12
Just run the exhasut out the side where it turns to the side. Thats what I did. I also have a white 2 door tempo. It now has a blown engine. Rear floor right where the back seat starts is gone. Has a new starter, new fuel pump, new clutch, short throw shifter, TC bucket seats. I ran the piss out of mine for a year before the first problem showed up.

Plus the AWD tempos also came with a V6 and you know the Vulcan 3.0 that came in those have the same bell houseing bolt pattern as an SHO. I think it would be fun to build a one that way and see how it measures up to an Evo or Sti.

I will never own another tempo again, ever.

Reply #13
Well, I've heard the V6 cars are decently fast...and I've seen AWD cars with a 2.3 in them for sale. But yeah I've heard the AWD Tempos are very pr0ne to blowing up the AWD system.

I've also heard of a couple people that have put 2.3 Turbos in them using an Escort transmission.

BTW about the exhaust, did you know the complete exhaust from the cat to the ler is something like $35? I just bought that whole piece and replaced it all.

This car is about shot anyway...when you take off the oil fill cap, hot air (and some smoke) blows out of it. I know that isn't a good sign.:toilet:

Garrett H.
'94 F250 XLT- 4x4, 5 speed, 7.3 IDI Turbo Diesel, 4" intake, 4" exhaust, 5" turnout stacks, manual hubs, etc.
'87 Thunderbird Turbo Coupe
Engine, wheels, tires, etc!
Exhaust sound clip
Another clip

I will never own another tempo again, ever.

Reply #14
Its about dead then if exhaust is comeing out the valve cover. Thats how mine started to die.