I just purchased a 1998 Ford Escort SE Wagon with 87k miles. The car rides well, and is in very good condition. The VIN indicates that the car was manufactured in Mexico.

Gave the car a tune-up, a Mobil 1 oil change, and changed the filters.

Everything was good until I came across an article about the Dropped Valve issue associated with the 2.0 SOHC engine in this car.

The implication of this article is that at some point, all 2.0 SOHC 4 cylinder will experience this problem.

To date, based on your experience as owners of this vehicle, has every one of you experienced this issue? Is it possible that some owners will NOT ever experience this problem?

I checked CarComplaints.com, and the Dropped Valve issue did not have many complaints for this year. Some but not a lot.

Your thoughts

 

this is an issue which plagues many of these engines. Some engines go a lot longer than others before they experience this. You can have the head serviced with new parts if you have high mileage, this may help prolong the life of the engine.

the sad truth about this car is if it is automatic transmission then the transmission will likely need replacement long before you experience any engine problems