Ford Crown Victoria Reliability – Is This A Good Buy?

If you are on the market for a big, cheap, affordable saloon car, then the Ford Crown Victoria is the perfect buy. But also, it is necessary to learn more about Ford Crown Victoria reliability if you planning to get one.

• History Of The Crown Vic
• Crown Vic Engine
• Are Crown Vics Good On Gas?
• Worst Year For Crown Victoria?
• Crown Victoria Problems
• Million Mile Crown Vic
• Conclusion

So, how reliable is the Crown Vic? We can say that it is sturdy as a tank. This is the perfect sleeper car that you want to have. Big saloon car packed with big muscle under the hood.
Many people love these cars because of their presence and their usage in the force. Everywhere a Crown Vic goes, you know something is on.

Many people recently started to buy these cars for cheap. How cheap? Well, a Crown Victoria in a good condition is about $2-3000. Some Crown Vic’s that need some love and attention are priced even lower than $2000.

Also, the market is filled with Crown Vic’s that are being retired from the force and you can snatch some of these models for a bargain deal.

In this article, we are going to learn everything about the Ford Crown Victoria and also about the Crown Victoria reliability. After all, you still want a reliable car as a daily driver. You probably don’t want a basket case full of problems. We also going to discuss about highest mileage Crown Victoria and the million mile Crown Vic. So, if you want to learn more follow along.

History Of The Crown Victoria

The Ford Crown Victoria, also known as the Crown Vic was a vehicle produced from 1991 up to 1997 for the first generation and the second generation started production in 1998 and lasted until 2012 when the last Crown Victoria came out of the production line.

During its 14-year production run, the Crown Vic has established itself as the backbone of American law enforcement. The Crown Vic was a true workhorse for the police and other authorities. It was also widely used as a cab car. 95% of the total Crown Victoria sales were fleet and police interceptors. The retail sales were only 3000 units from 2008-2011. This proves a lot about the Crown Vic reliability. Many of these cars are still in service today.

The Crown Victoria was a simple car, body on frame. It implemented a conservative styling that was rather popular in the 90s. It came with a wheelbase of 114.7 in and a length of 212.0 in making it a real boat. For its size, it was rather heavy too, with a curb weight of over 4.000 lb.

There was only one engine and that was a 4.6 L Modular V8 that was producing around 220 hp. It also came with a 4-speed automatic transmission, that had some issues and we are going to discuss them a bit later.

There were four three trims available for the retail version of the Crown Vic and those were the Base model, LX Added and LX Sport that came with bigger wheels and some sporty suspension to give you some better road feel.

The Ford Crown Victoria reliability was never questioned and the Crown Vic has offered its life to the service of the homeland. I have big respect for this car.

Ford Crown Victoria Engine

The Crown Victoria Engine is a 4.6L naturally aspirated V8. This engine with its V8 configuration is designed to deliver some low-end torque and makes around 264 lb. ft of torque at 4000 RPM. The Ford Crown Victoria engine makes 220hp which is modest for 2021 standards, but for the time it came out, it was plenty. It also has 16 valves and a compression ratio of 9.0 which isn’t much by any of today’s standards.

This engine can be considered as a beater. It can survive almost anything. It’s practically bulletproof. And because of that many people love it and enjoy it. It can deliver a performance at any time any place. Making the Ford Crown Victoria Reliability something that has to be respected.

Are Crown Vics Good On Gas?

I bet many of you who are trying to get a Crown Vic is asking this question. Are Crown Vics good on gas? And the answer to that question is that it depends. Usually, in town, the Crown Vic is pretty efficient compared with its size. It can get 17 mpg at the most, on the highway, on the other hand, it can do 31 mpg which is pretty decent for its size.

So, are Crown Vics good on gas? Yes, they are. They are not gas guzzlers. But make sure that you don’t press the gas pedal too hard because these numbers will melt down like ice in the hot summer. The Crown Vic is a gas happy car and it can deliver good performance. It doesn’t matter that it’s built like a tank. You apply the gas and it goes.

Crown Victoria Gas Type?

Crown Vic’s drink regular 87-89 octane gas. You don’t have to spend money on some premium gas if you don’t have to. You will get a little push but not much. Higher octane gas is made for higher compression engines. The 4.6 L in the Crown Vic is not a high compression engine, so a regular gas would be ok.

We answered the question about Crown Victoria gas type now let’s discuss a bit about octane ratings. An octane rating is basically the resistance of the fuel against compression. The higher the resistance the more compression is made. That’s why some dragsters run on high-octane fuels. Their engines are high compression, something completely opposite of the 4.6L V8 in the Crown Victoria.

Crown Victoria Modified?

Crown Victoria modified are easy to come by, but you will probably never notice these cars because they are sleepers. Most people install mods on Crown Vic’s but try to keep them stealthy.
There are many Crown Victoria modified vehicles that are running some 5.0 Coyote engine that is producing well over 500 horsepower with some simple tweaks. The new Coyote V8 that is in the Mustang is probably the swap you are looking for. In my opinion, they should have come like this from the factory.

Also, the inexpensiveness of the Crown Vic makes it an attractive platform for running mods. Everyone can afford a Crown Vic and take it to another level in terms of performance. If you are a car guy Crown Victoria modified is the way to go. Also, you can look online for Crown Victoria mods and see some cool examples of modified Crown Vic’s.

Ford Crown Victoria Reliability

In this chapter, we are going to discuss the Ford Crown Victoria reliability. We will learn how reliable these Crown Vics are and we are going to learn more about their common problems. At the end of the reading, you will know which Crown Vic is the right for you are from what models of the Crown Victoria to stay away from. So, without further ado let’s begin.

Worst Year For Crown Victoria

The worst year for Crown Victoria is probably 1998. These are the early models that were introduced to the market. They are not bad in any way, but in 2021 they are almost 23 years old and they are completely worn out. Some of them have probably 200k+ miles on the odometer, and that is not okayish.

Staying away from these old beat-up machines will probably save some buck in your wallet in the long run. Although there are people that see the worst year for Crown Victoria as a challenge because they want to fix cars and do all sorts of cool stuff. The best thing is to stay away from these.

Unless you find a pristine example that was kept in the garage and was driven by a grandma. In my opinion, that’s a unicorn. If you find one of these unicorn cars, you can even take to expos like the million-mile Crown Vic that we are going to discuss in a bit. But first, let’s see which are the most common problems, Crown Vic.

Crown Victoria Problems

Even the Crown Vic is a bulletproof car, there are still some minor things that can fail, and cause a lot of damage. We are going to get through all of these four issues that every Crown Vic is plagued with and we will tell you how to get around them.

Crown Victoria Intake Manifold Cracking

The Crown Vics intake manifolds are known to develop some cracking. Especially on the back of the manifolds. These manifolds are made out of cheap plastic, and with the years and also with the heat. They can develop some nasty cracking at the back of the manifold close to the firewall.

At a dealership, the fix for this issue is estimated that will cost you up to $1,500. That’s pretty much the whole value of the car. But it is fortunate that you can find these intake manifolds for the cheap as used parts.

Crown Victoria A/C Vaccum Lines Leak

This issue with the vacuum line leak is also one of the issues that the crown Victoria is affected with. And this issue is caused by a frayed or a small vacuum line leak in the A/C system of the car.
You will notice this issue by running you’re A/C at max. The A/C will be working but you will not see cold air coming out of the vents. All of the cold air will start coming out of the defroster vent. And this is something that you don’t want to.

Fortunately for this problem, there is an easy fix that will cost you no more than $40. You will find this vacuum hose near the firewall. It is readily available at every local parts store and is a simple DIY job.

Crown Victoria Power Window Regulator Failing

Power window regulators are known to fail and Crown Victoria power window regulator is not much different. Especially in older Crown Vics that are more than 10-year-old. This usually happens because there are many cycles of opening and closing the windows on the car.

This open and close creates big stress on the crown Victoria power window regulators and knows to damage them. How to solve this problem is by replacing your old Crown Vic window regulator with a new one. This can come to a cost of $150-$200. If you, do it by yourself you can do it for $100.

Crown Vic Transmission Problems

Crown Victoria is plagued with transmission problems. Usually when this problem appears. The car doesn’t go to the fourth gear when you turn on overdrive. This will also throw a P750 error on the dash.

The solution for this problem is easy, don’t put your car into overdrive and it should be ok. Even though these transmissions that the Crown Vics are running are mostly worn out and know to develop issues.

Million Mille Crown Vic

There were a few cases of owners pushing these cars far beyond the million mile benchmark. Up till recently, there was only one case that reported a million mile Crown Vic. And reportedly this was achieved with the original engine and transmission. This car was a 2003 model. It was not a police interceptor, but a regular retail Crown Vic. It was driven carefully and got its maintenance right on time.

Usually, civilian versions of the Crown Victoria last more than the police interceptors, because they are not abused as the interceptors are. If you drive them with care and maintain them regularly, they are going to serve you for a very long time

So, if somebody achieved to reach a million mille Crown Vic mark is worth my respect.

Conclusion

In this article, we have covered a lot about the Ford Crown Victoria reliability and problems that occur to this model. We also discussed which is the worst year for Crown Victoria and Are Crown Vics good on gas.

We finally took a look at a million mile Crown Vic. And personally, I didn’t believe it when I saw the video, but it was true. And that tells us a lot about this magnificent piece of machinery.