Thinking of buying 88 MarkVII

[blandon7]

I am looking at a 1988 Mark VII advertised locally to me. Mileage on this car is well under 100k.

What I would like to know is are there any known issues with these cars that I should look extra carefully at before purchasing?

I am aware of the suspension airbags in these cars going bad and needing to be replaced. This particular car does sit level all around.

Thanks

[MagicRat]

The air chambers in the suspension is about the only real problem area. The air ride pump and ride height sensors are quite reliable, so long as they are reasonably rust free.
The air spring chambers will wear out at approx. 120k miles. They are very easy to replace, and you can save lots of money if you do it yourself, but the parts tend to cost $150-250 at the dealer.

This is not too bad - everyone knows the air springs will go flat so the resale price of these cars is kept artificially low. The money you save on this offsets the replacement cost.

Otherwise, they are good and straightforward. The engine, transmission, and much of the chassis, steering and suspension are shared with the V8 Mustangs of that year, and are very reliable. Some people think the electronic goodies are occasionally troublesome, but I found them to be fine.

Check out these cars at www.carsurvey.org

[blandon7]

Thanks for the information.

I am going to take a look at the car tonight after work. It is an 88 LSC with 78k original miles, power moon roof and leather seats for 2000 dollars. I looked up the value of this car on KBB.com and it says an 88 LSC is worth $1,630 in excellent condition. After seeing that, the 2k price tag seems high but for this type of vehicle I think it is worth more then 2k despite what KBB says. I'm just hoping it has been maintained well and is as good as it sounds.

What is interesting is that I called my insurance agent to get a quote on it and the insurance is cheaper then a same year Grand Marquis which I had requested a quote on one a couple of days earlier.

[MagicRat]

If the car is truly in really good shape and needs no work, $2k is reasonable.
However, show them the KBB value and try to get it for that price.

Surprisingly, older domestic luxury cars do not hold their value well. They end up at about the same value as lots of ordinary, basic cars of the same age, dispite the fact they cost much more when new.
So if you can find a good one, you can get a really great car cheap, kind of like finding a rummage-sale tuxedo.