Preventive maintenance until moving to Europe

Musse

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Just bought my first Mustang GT - one with about 60k miles and from 2006 - excellent condition for the age and clear one-owner history! Completely stock and will stay so. The car is going to Finland for which it may be thinking later what bad it has done but we take good care of our cars despite cold... Anyhow, in general spare parts and repairs are more expensive (2-3 times I guess) on another side of the Atlantic so I try to be proactive - I have been planning to do following maintenance activities until shipment in the States:
- Change the Spark Plugs as they are not mentioned to be changed yet
- Change automatic transmission oil
- When in Finland anti-rost protection handling to be done until Winter

Otherwise I have not foreseen any other major activities to be done at this point but would be glad to hear for suggestions! Are there any typical technical failures in these cars to be smart to prepare for? For example like buying spare alternator to be shipped now at once.
 

RLF9409

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What are you doing in Finland?

As long as you can receive dhl and fedex you still have access to parts from most vendors in the states. It's just the shipping time and costs that suck.

Not sure of inspection requirements in Finland but you may want to have the car inspected including a brake test. My car had a frozen parking brake line that I had no idea wasn't working. It is a common problem in 05 and 06.

I don't drive mine from Oct to Apr because of the summer tires and Mustangs are terrible in the snow...

2006 Saleen SC #409 MMR 1000S stroked 4.6 3.0 pulley 1 piece driveshaft
 

Dino Dino Bambino

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I live in Cyprus and ordering/shipping spare parts from the US hasn't been a problem for me. The only downside is the cost of shipping/custom charges/VAT so I tend to put in larger orders so that the shipping cost relative to the parts cost isn't as high.
It's a good idea to have a spare alternator 'cause shipping one in is expensive. Get an 09-10 Denso unit and definitely change the spark plugs.
When ordering a replacement engine oil filter, fuel filter, air filter, and cabin air filter, I'd recommend ordering at least two at a time so that you always have at least one spare. As time and budget allow, you can gradually add to your spare parts inventory in anticipation of future replacement 'cause your local Ford dealer won't have them.
 

RLF9409

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And have a spare serpentine belt!

2006 Saleen SC #409 MMR 1000S stroked 4.6 3.0 pulley 1 piece driveshaft
 

stkjock

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Clutch
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Engine oil and filters
 

Sky Render

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I would change the plugs, belts, and ALL of the fluids. I do that every 50k miles on all my cars regardless.

Inspect all of the suspension parts, as well, especially the rubber bushings.

New pads and rotors wouldn't be a bad idea, either.
 

Pentalab

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100% synthetic Automatic transmission fluid..... like "RP Max ATF"..or similar.
100% synthetic eng oil, like 0W-20... or (2nd choice)... 5W-20
Put some.."fuel stabilizer" into the gas tank.
Since you are shipping the car to Finland, you may as well pack the TRUNK with as many spare parts as will fit. You can get some more items on both rear seat floors..... and pass front floor.
 

Dino Dino Bambino

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Since you are shipping the car to Finland, you may as well pack the TRUNK with as many spare parts as will fit. You can get some more items on both rear seat floors..... and pass front floor.

Absolutely agree. You can ship a lot of extra items, especially heavier bulkier items that would be very expensive to ship at no extra cost.
In that case, add a one-piece aluminum driveshaft to the growing shopping list.
 

RLF9409

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I would check with the shipping company before packing the car with extra parts. I wanted to ship a new clutch and cats with my car and the shipping company told me I couldn't.
 

Dino Dino Bambino

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When I shipped my cargo plus the Mustang inside a container from the UAE to Cyprus 2-1/2 years ago, I was allowed to pack the inside of the car to the rafters, so I did.
 

Musse

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Thanks all! Seems it is very easy to go also bit overboard :D I'll limit it so that I'll bring with the car stuff that probably needs to be ordered within 2-3 years anyway (15-30k miles) and obviously have car serviced until leaving. Then parts less likely needed I'll just pay the price later if needed. From those I guess drive shaft and fuel pump are not necessary at this point or are those actually fragile components in stock Mustang? Alternator I ordered already just in case - not sure if that will fail neither for sure but I have had bad luck with it on previous cars so...

For shipping stuff with the car I can do it because it getting shipped in container - I have understood that in ro-ro it is no-no.

For snow and ice I don't believe it is that bad when equipped with good studded winter tires - rather fun and heats up much quicker than new European 1 liter engine vehicles :)
 
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Fuel, air and oil filter, sparkplugs etc are cheap to order from europe. Things get expensive because of tax calculated over value and shipping. So anything big/heavy and/or expensive is worth packing.

For instance a $8 filter might be $12 including shipping and tax. No biggie.

A $500 driveshaft might add up to $250 shipping and 20% tax over that $750 = $900. That hurts.

Edit: I said fuelpump because 05/06 stock pumps had a designflaw and would suck in airbubbles sometimes. Had it happen a couple times myself and got a new stock replacement to fix it.
 

Musse

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Yep, and delivery time may be long. However, I will probably need to pay the taxes now anyway so saving is just the shipment cost. Checked the fuel pumps and there is quite high price spread from cheapest to oem parts. Found this one for just 47$ which would be quite cheap insurance in case original one breaks:
https://www.carparts.com/details/Fo...Cyl_4-dot-0L/RF31450025.html?showfitment=true
Any thoughts if such cheap alternative should be avoided?
 

GriffX

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Cannot speak for Finland, in Germany a Motorcraft oil filter is 12-15€, the cabin filter almost impossible to get. Same for the light bulbs, there is no european car who uses H13 or the other bulbs. All vendors here just order the stuff for you in US, so you can do it by yourself.
 

Dino Dino Bambino

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Just order yourself. I recently ordered oil filters, fuel filters, cabin air filters, and a few other things from Mustangs Unlimited.
 

Musse

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Yep, prices in EU are of course higher and availability of parts not as good. Luckily mustang parts themselves seem to be quite affordable vs some other 300hp cars. To Finland I think most of car parts are coming from Germany so probably quite the same situation.

Another not maintenance related question that came to my mind is the difference in the gas. First octanes vary a bit and then of course the price. The regular in EU is 95 octane but it corresponds to 90,5-91 octane in US standards due to different rating method. And the gas can cost like 7$ per gallon vs. US 2,5$. Anyone having experiences whether it is worth to optimize the tune to EU fuel for stock vehicle or is stock tune just great for about 91 octane fuel (Assuming it is optimized to 87 octane in US in first place)? Another commonly offered option would be EU 98 octane corresponding 93-94 octane premium in US but it starts to be quite expensive.

Also, at least in Finland and Sweden the E85 is sold at "only" about 4,5$ per gallon which would be quite appealing not also for performance reasons but also in terms of fuel cost as cost is so much lower. I think though that I don't want to take risk that it would break something in the fuel system as these cars are not at least rated for E85 by factory. Any long-term experiences on anyone though on daily-driving?
 

Dino Dino Bambino

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E85 isn't cheap enough in Europe to make it worthwhile, especially when you consider that your mpg will drop by ~30% when using it. If it was half the price of 95 RON, that would be a different story.
I have my car custom tuned (Brenspeed) for US 91 octane and it's fine with European 95 RON. That's the cheapest grade of fuel available in Cyprus and indeed most of Europe.
 

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