Ive looked and no one seems to give a straight answer, so was it ???

They're same model number, but they made some changes in it that make them a bit stronger. I have a feeling it was just better production tolerances so the trannies run smoother- thus last longer.


Chevy and Toyota has this problem for a loooong time.. Chevy was making trannies for one of their small cars for years.. They were having to hand-assemble the trannies because sometiems one part out of the bin just wouldn't fit. they'd grab the next one and it would..
Then they found it was cheaper to let Toyota make the parts and assemble the trannies. Suddenly their production speed and reliability went WAAAAAAAY up. failure rates went from 1 every 50k miles to 1 every 300k miles. when Chevy finally asked Toyota what they changed about it.. "Nothing. we just made parts with better tolerances than your specs called for so we wouldn't have to hand pick parts to be able to build it." Problem solved.

makes you wonder about ford huh.

OK so better parts, thats good ? so Im gonna be looking for a 92 - 94 with under 150kms(about 95K miles) what should I look out for when buying ? ie exhuast studs ? how do I check to see if there broken ?

listen for a ticking sound when the car is cold and it should go away when the car warms up.

it'll be hard to physically check them. on a cold start, there should be some rattling upon acceleration. that's your biggest clue. it'll sound like putt-putt-putt-putt-putt-putt.

how can I tell if the car is warm ?

hmmmmm, test drive the car first thing in the morning if you can. even when it's been sitting for an hour or two might be long enough to tell if the studs are broken.

Not just by sound but If you have an inspection mirror and a flashlight you should be able to see them too. Its good to see whats broke on them, if there broke off deep in the head then you know youve got some serious work to do, especially if its the rears.