Factory parts for an older car? Good luck

I'm averse to debt, so I paid cash for the cleanest Ford Taurus SHO I could find, a 1995 green-over-gray car with just 76,000 one-owner miles.

I had it shipped to Detroit from Washington state. The car was indeed spotless. But time, not use, had made it almost undriveable.

Oil leaks from numerous orifices, constantly glowing check engine and antilock brake lights, a coolant leak and a dead battery all made themselves known the first week I had the SHO.

So I set out to fix its numerous problems. But here's what I learned the hard way: Finding factory original repair parts and high-quality service for an older car is challenging.

And I'm not alone. The average age of automobiles on American roads is at an all-time high: 11.4 years, according to a recent survey from R.L. Polk.

For many old cars there's a shortage of original factory replacement parts, and supply starts to dry up around five years after a car is out of production. Original factory parts are made by the original automaker or supplier to precise specifications.

Aftermarket parts are available from other suppliers, but they may not be an exact fit or have the same performance specifications.

Also, factory trained hands are nice to have on a specialized car such as the SHO, with its high-performance, made-in-Japan Yamaha 3.2-liter V-6 engine.

Some of the repairs I did myself with aftermarket parts bought on eBay and at local auto parts stores. A few of the bigger jobs, such as replacing the camshaft seals and timing belt, I entrusted to my local Ford dealership, where a veteran technician on staff knew the SHO's special engine.

The service writer, another longtime employee, said he hadn't seen a first-generation SHO brought in for repairs in a decade.

The dealership couldn't fix everything. It no longer had the diagnostic equipment to determine the cause of the check engine and antilock brake lights. And the store used aftermarket repair parts I provided, since original Ford-made service parts were no longer available.

In fact, the only Ford parts I got from the dealer's parts department were two new key blanks and a small tin of touch up paint. All other mechanical parts I needed had been discontinued.

At 18 years old, the SHO is an extreme example. Also, it was a low-volume car; only about 9,500 were made in 1995. A local used auto parts yard supplied a secondhand door weatherstrip, assorted screws and trim parts and two sensors for the air conditioning system.

But I thought I would have an easier time with parts when a month ago I bought a low-mileage 2003 Chrysler PT Cruiser from an Automotive News colleague. Soon after, one of the automatic transmission's hydraulic lines developed a leak.

The PT has only been out of production a little more than three years, and the vehicle stayed pretty much the same for its entire decadelong production run. But already parts are getting scarce.

The repair shop I chose couldn't find a hydraulic line at any local Chrysler dealership and had to make a new one, which tripled the repair cost.

One Detroit area Chrysler dealer said some of the original factory air conditioning parts are running low.

Partly because today's new vehicles are lasting longer, automakers can't stock a full line of repair parts. It would take too much warehouse space to stock all the parts needed for all the vehicles made in the last 15 years and still on the road.

Most automakers do have programs that cater to owners of older vehicles, but only for a limited number of parts -- usually factory rebuilt engines, transmissions and some body parts, such as fenders and bumpers and safety items.

Ford Motor Co.'s Motorcraft parts division, for instance, offers a wide variety of factory tuneup and brake parts for vehicles as much as 30 years old. Ford also has a remanufacturing operation that offers drivers of old cars rebuilt drivetrain components, such as engines, transmissions and steering racks.

But factory replacement trim and cosmetic parts that wear with age, such as door weather stripping, interior panels, carpet and seat upholstery, are not usually available from dealers when a vehicle reaches about 10 years old.

When a vehicle goes out of production at Chrysler, sales projections are made for each part based on demand, said Pat Dougherty, vice president for sales and product development for Mopar, Chrysler's parts and service division.

Eventually one last part manufacturing run is ordered, called an "all-time buy," that is designed to meet demand for 6 to 10 years after production ends. After that, some parts become available from Mopar's approved classic parts dealers, Dougherty said.

Servicing also can be a problem. The Ford dealership that worked on my SHO no longer had the diagnostic equipment to tap into my car's computer system to see what was causing the check-engine and antilock brake warning lights to remain on.

I spent an entire day driving to independent repair shops trying to find one that had a code reader. I finally gave up after one small shop north of Detroit found the original onboard diagnostic testing kit in a dusty gray box but couldn't hook it up because the plug had broken off.

Chrysler's service diagnostic equipment is usually able to work with out-of-production systems, Dougherty said.

General Motors dealers want drivers of old GM models to return to the dealership for service, and GM is actively seeking their business.

"We see that as a huge opportunity for us and our dealers," said Scott Lawson, General Motors' director for customer care and aftersales.

He said that GM is constantly evaluating demand for parts for its out-of-production vehicles and if the demand is great enough, GM will produce the component.