Mach 1 Cylinder Head Tick

[P J Moran]

I realize this has been beaten to death. I've done many a search and read many a thread and have a general idea of what's going on, but...

I'm recently in the market for a Mach 1. I'm looking for a super low mileage car with automatic transmission. I've searched the whole country and so far found two, one of which is an '03 model which is the year with the problem. Of the two, the '03 has the lower mileage and a preferred color.

The car is over 700 miles away, so I can't go check it out myself (I am working on getting someone to go look at it for me). The seller told me the car was built in March of '03.

I gather that ENGINES built before Dec of '02 might have the problem. Could a March car have a November engine in it?

Bottom line is, can I assume that this March '03 car will not have the defect that causes the dreaded "tick"?

Thanks for bearing with me through this worn out subject. But, I have to move quickly on this car or risk losing it.

 

[Crzyhrse]

If you ask me I think the head tick is hit and miss. Maybe it will get the head tick maybe it won't. My Mach was built in Nov. '03 and it's never had the tick. Granted, it only has 26K on it. A friend I know has a Mach built in Nov. '03 also, and he got the head tick. He had the head replaced under warranty. If you ask me, if it's the Mach your looking for, then buy it and worry about the tick later, if it ever happens at all.