Warning to Tempo owners

[dxrflyboy]

Thanks to a problem I was unaware of, my 1992 4cyl Tempo is done delivering papers. The engine lost oil pressure while I was driving on the highway. The crankcase was full. Since a tow would cost as much as I paid for the car and I didn't have time to wait, I limped it home. The oil pressure came back several miles later, but by then it was too late. The engine now knocks and has lost compression. Unfortunately for me, I've only been working at a Ford dealer for a few years and am not familiar with the idiosyncracies of older Fords. My service manager came back from vacation this week and I told him what happened to my car. He told me that Tempos (4cyl) were notorious for the oil pump pickups plugging up with sludge. Had I known this, I would have changed my oil more frequently and flushed the engine regularly to prevent this from happening. Fortunately, this car is a cheap beater and I bought another Tempo from a coworker, so the parts I put into this one can be used on the new car. But I want other 4cyl Tempo owners to be aware of this problem so you can prevent it from happening to your car.

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Thanks For The Tip. I Have Two 92 Mod Tempos. Got Both Used From Friends. I Thing I'll Go Change My Oil Now.

[Markgase2000]

I heard alot about this before and since i bought my 93 tempo gl I use a liter of Lucas Heavy Duty Oil Stabilizer with my oil changes and it made the compression even and made the valves and cylinders a bit quieter.
I am having trouble with my front springs , there strong as they can be but they are too long so its like driving a spring board. I need to know what to do about the springs before I replace my struts.

[dxrflyboy]

If your struts are worn out the car will be bouncy. My '92 was, with 217K on it. My "new" '94 is much more stable at 145K, except for the back, since the LR is blown. I'll be swapping the backs from my '92 before I scrap it, along with a bunch of other parts. BTW, if anyone needs any parts, let me know, and soon, because the car has to go.

[UnexplodedCow]

I never had a single problem with my oil pickup tube plugging, and the original owner told me that they had only changed the oil every 30k, and no, that is not a typo. They kept adding oil. I was cleaning sludge out of the oil pan for a while, but I never had bad pressure. My gauge read around 60-65 psi all the time. It was an aftermarket mechanical gauge I put in.

[Doc_Ratchet]

I had an 88 2.3L 2WD 2-dr 5-spd that i went about 20k (20,000) miles between oil changes once by accident of shear laziness. The whole time I did this, I think I had to dump one whole quart in her. When I finally did the oil change, I flushed the motor using #2 Deisel (don't attemp this unless you know exactly how to do it.) and it cleaned her right up. I finished the change by using a 50/50 synthetic blend. This car was my daily runner as well my play around and occasional racer (won some lost some). I bought it in June 2003 for $1500. It got hit in a parking lot and only sufferred cosmetic damge, but the other person's insurance still wrote it off as totalled and cut me a check for $1560. Woulda been $1600 if I hadn't kept the car, but as I said, the damage was only cosmetic. Without fixing the cosmetic damage, I sold her in February to a co-worker for $1500. For those of you keeping score, that's $3060 I made off the car. My co-worker hasn't had to drop a dime into her yet, and he races her almost as much as I used to. This car was the first Ford I didn't have problems with, and was enough to get me to look at other Fords when I decided to go new car shopping. I now have three Fords, all of which I'm more or less having a blast with. All three of them have 4-cyl engines. None have any problems with any oil, oil pumps, or anything. And the 2.3L in my Ranger is the exact same motor as the one that was in my Tempo. So ya lost me when you say it's a universal problem amongst the Ford 4 bangers.

[dxrflyboy]

I think you misread my original post. I was referring to the 2.3L HSC 4-cylinder engine in the Tempo/Topaz. The post doesn't apply to any other Ford engines. Also, the Ranger's 2.3L OHC engine has nothing in common with the pushrod engine in the Tempo/Topaz except for its displacement. I'm also glad that you haven't had the same problem I did, but the point of my post was only to emphasize the importance of proper maintenance, which I believe is critical for any engine.

[Mr3GTP]

Originally Posted by Doc_Ratchet

And the 2.3L in my Ranger is the exact same motor as the one that was in my Tempo.

Not true at all. in fact, the 2.3 HSC was used ONLY in the Tempo/Topaz, although a 2.5 version was used briefly in the Taurus/Sable. Show me a Ranger that came 'factory stock' with a 2.3 HSC, OR a Tempo/Topaz that was originally built with an OHC motor, I'll trade my '01 GTP for it.

[OverBoardProject]

Originally Posted by Mr3GTP

Not true at all. in fact, the 2.3 HSC was used ONLY in the Tempo/Topaz, although a 2.5 version was used briefly in the Taurus/Sable. Show me a Ranger that came 'factory stock' with a 2.3 HSC, OR a Tempo/Topaz that was originally built with an OHC motor, I'll trade my '01 GTP for it.

Where do you want the photo of the topaz motor e-mailed to?

In 85 and 86 Ford put a mazda built 2.0L diesel motor, with an overhead cam into the tempo, topaz, and the owners manual even sayes the escort.

Lucky for you I like my car too much to use as a trade

[Mr3GTP]

Originally Posted by OverBoardProject

Where do you want the photo of the topaz motor e-mailed to?

In 85 and 86 Ford put a mazda built 2.0L diesel motor, with an overhead cam into the tempo, topaz, and the owners manual even sayes the escort.

Lucky for you I like my car too much to use as a trade

He was talking about the 2.3, not the diesel. Read his original post, he clearly posted the motor as a 2.3, not a 2.0. He also indicated his Tempo was an '88 (a so-called '2nd-gen', built from '88-'91), so no Diesel was available whatsoever. 'Nuff said.

P.S. - I now own SIX of these cars, two are 3rd-gens ('92-'94), the rest are 2nd-gens. 2 are sport models, an '89 Tempo GLS 2-door w/5-speed and a '91 Topaz XR5 2-door auto. Then there is my '88 LX which is getting an Eaton upgrade, and a '92 GL 4-door auto.

Also, 2 parts cars, a '93 Topaz GS 2-door and an '88 GLS 4-door.

[Mr3GTP]

A couple shots of my Eaton-supercharged HSC project... It isn't a beauty yet, but since there is no aftermarket for these, I have to make it myself, or make it work somehow. This project will proceed in 3 stages. First, make it fit. Second, make it work. Third, make it pretty. Not easy, but a real blast, and it will be very unique. And since I'm not changing the appearance, it'll be a real sleeper!

The last pic shows my GLS, XR5, LX, and GS parts car, as well as my GTP and my fiance's Bonneville