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Anyone else have bad luck with a Ford Taurus?

B

Buckeye Oliver collector

Well-known Member
I hear these are good cars but I'm thinking otherwise after owning one. I have had it 6 months and I've replaced: front brake pads, drivers' side wheel bearing, engine sensor, battery, new plugs, and rear shocks & springs. For sale sign is on it. I"m just fed up with it. I suppose this is all routine stuff but I've owned a Grand Voyager almost three years and only have $1000 more into it than this thing. Hopefully I can sell it (the Taurus) and get another Dodge.
 
You did not say how many miles it had on it when you bought it. All of the items you have mentioned are normal wear items.

As for the Dodge cars and trucks. I have four Dodge Diesel trucks. I owned one Dodge car and one Dodge gas truck. All I can say is that the Cummins diesel is one heck of a motor but it sucks putting up with the package it comes in. When Dodge quits putting the Cummins in I will not be buying anything else Dodge.
 
The old rule of not buying anything with over 100000 miles still stands.Sound like the previous owner just drove it,never repaired anything.My sons 06 GMC lost the engine at 133000.
 
I have a "95 SL with the 3.8 (the bad motor), I bought it with about 90,000 miles on it about 6 years ago from a coworker who was going to send it to the junk yard because it had a cracked windshield and twice wouldn"t start for him in mid winter (Upstate, NY here) it was California car and the body was flawless. I gave him the $200 they were gonna give him at the junkyard, put a new end on the little starter wire on it, had a new windshield put in and started driving her...other than wear parts and fluid changes I haven"t spent a cent and it has just about 200,000 on it now, and I"d head across country in it no problem! knock on wood
 
Aside from the sensor, it sounds about like I would expect if it has no maintenance. I am presently driving an 05 Sable(same car). At a little over 100K, I did all the suspension parts(axles, ball joints, bushings, quick struts, wheel bearings, engine mounts). It drives and rides like new again. The only engine work I did was a set of plugs at 90K, and a serpentine belt recently. Rear brakes are still original with 5/32 left. on 3rd set of fronts.


Other than being hard on tires(40,000 if you buy good ones and rotate), it has been a good car for us. As have many previous ones going back to 87. If the body holds out, I expect to still be driving her at 250,000, 130 now.
 
There bad for torque converters to go bad to. A neighbor has an 04 model that looks like new that the converter went out.It will cost more than what the car is worth to fix it.He's talking about junking it.
 
Not a Taurus... but had a Ford Tempo that was nothing but a headache. Developed some kind of power loss - mechanic never could figure it out. Will never own another, unless someone gave it to me - then I would still probably sell it a.s.a.p.

Our other vehicles have been Toyota, Nissan or Mazda and they have been really reliable.
 
So you bought an 11 year old car with 130K and expected it to be perfect? I would also guess you paid less than 2K for the car, since they don't have much resale value. I tell people looking for a car, if you don't want to work on it right away, plan on spending at least 3,500 to 4K. Below that, you best budget for repairs.
 
(quoted from post at 07:28:15 05/16/12) So you bought an 11 year old car with 130K and expected it to be perfect? I would also guess you paid less than 2K for the car, since they don't have much resale value. I tell people looking for a car, if you don't want to work on it right away, plan on spending at least 3,500 to 4K. Below that, you best budget for repairs.
Click to expand...
XACTLY! If you don't want to work on one or pay someone else to work on it, buy a new or very, very low mileage vehicle......regardless of brand. ,and that fellow is right about Dodge(Fiat) pick up trucks........engine is all there is.....rest is flimsy junk.
 
I have worked at a Ford store for 37 years. I
could say I"ve think I"ve seen it all, but now
& then something that I"ve never seen befor does
still happen. ( Like Last Nite ).. Currently
drive 02 Taurus. Been pretty much trouble free
for 130K, one wheel bearing & brakes & a fuel
tank thanks to my wife... At the store there are
some cars we see often & some that are trouble
free, Why is that?? Dirt Roads we see them
alott, highway car not very often for repairs.
Some people have traded because they aren"t
going to fix this darn thing anymore!!!! & the
who buy the used car, claim it"s the best car
they ever owned.. So My end result these cars
are like People, some of them like us Some of
them Don"t.. LOL
 
A torque converter is $75-90 for a Ford Taurus. Labor to remove tranny, reinstall, at $50 per hour should be less than $500. If he was quoted more than that, run away from that mechanic.


Tauri I have owned:

1989 GL 3.8
1989 SHO 3.0 (Yamaha built the motor)
1990 L 3.0 (vulcan- or pushrod engine)
1992 GL 3.8
1994 GL 3.8
2007 LX 3.0 (vulcan)

I never owned a Taurus with the 24 valve overhead cam 3.0L.

My brother-in-law had a 2001 3.0L vulcan. They bought it used with 31,000 miles. When it died(from a very severe collision) it had 129,000. I think the only things I did were a DPFE sensor, sway bar end link, and brakes and tires.

The best Tauri are the ones with the 3.0L vulcan motor. It is bullet proof. The 3.8L v6 had a factory recall in the mid 1990's because the mexican factory was not tightening down the head bolts correctly, and they were blowing headgaskets. Aside from that, they were prone to chew out the water pump. The early taurus had a weak transmission, except for the very first taurus built, because customers said the transmission shifted too hard for their taste, so ford started softening the shift points, making teh trannys go bad quicker. They lasted around 120-150,000 miles or less.

The best Taurus I owned was a hand-me-down 1990 L 3.0L model. When it went to the scrap yard, it had 414,000 miles on it, with 2 transmissions, both of them being junkyard pulls. original engine, never touched except for oil changes and 1 water pump.

The worst taurus I owned was a 1992 GL 3.8L. When I owned that car I was 20 years old, and I beat on it unmercifully. I was a Ford Technician at teh time, working at a ford dealer, and working a secodn job at McDonald's. I used to drive that car everywhere at 120 mph, and smolder the tires standing on the brakes to stop. I never wrecked it. bumped a deer once though. It was a mechanical nightmare. That was because I thumped that car like I was the Los Angeles Police and it was Rodney King.



Which engine is in yours? Where did you buy it? Do you have state safety inspections on vehicles?

Sorry to hear your problems, but if you have any technical taurus questions, let me know. I can rebuild those things from teh ground up in my sleep.
 
I"m confused. You purchased an 11 year old vehicle with 126K on the clock and your upset because your having to spend money on it? I"m also betting you didn"t know the previous owner / owners. If you bought it from me, you wouldn"t be spending anything on it because I take care of my vehicles. Simply put, you purhcased one that was rode hard and put up wet. No doubt that"s why it was for sale, and probably darn cheap.
Now that you have replaced most of the normal wear items, I suggest you keep it. 5 years from now you will still be driving the Ford, and using a shovel to scoop up what"s left of the Dodge out of the driveway.
 
I just want to add that I have only seen 1 bad torque converter in a taurus and it was a 1993 GL 3.8L and the oil seal on the front pump had gouged out and ruined the tc.

I don't think it is a common problem.


transmissions, front pumps, etc, yes... not the tc, though.
 
All I can say is the 1990 Taurus was the most uncomfortable car I have ever had and if the tranny got warm it would open up and just dump the fluid, cool down and put fluid back in and could never told it had dumped fluid. No mater how I tried adjusting seat I was hitting windshield with my head all the time. Since had that several dealers tried to get me interested in a newer model and every single one I tried as soon as I sat in and adjusted seet for where it needed to be my head was in that windshield. And I am about 5'6". Started out out GM but outside of 98 Buick have now last 4 cars have been Voyagers with with 3 Reliants and a E Class Chrysler in there and curent truck is a Dakota bought a year and a half ago and Ford or GM never made a truck that size so no other options there and next car will be a voyager.
 
i have had 5 taurus company cars. both 4 cyl and 6 cyl. had only one that needed a fuel pump at about 55k miles. other than that no problems. worst car was a chevy celebrity. in 60k miles, had 4 sets of brakes, trans replaced, cylinder head cracked, and a steering rack replaced.
 
We use a Taurus for our DRIVER EDUCATION car. Has not been an impressive vehicle... Always little stuff giving us headaches. Mostly drivability problems. But, seems like we go through brakes and tires way too soon. Of course under the service we"re using it, we have to be right on top of everything. We had another Taurus which was much the same, had to retire it when we stopped to avoid running over a dog in the road, and the guy behind us DIDN"T!

Not a Ford fan, not a Taurus fan.
 
Wife"s daily driver is a 1993 Mercury Sable
3 liter V6 with 89000 miles...virtually the same
as a Taurus. She drives it 2 miles to work and
2 miles home, or about 20 miles a week and the
only repairs have been 3 mufflers, in 19 years,
as it never gets warm enough to dry out the
condensation, and we"re on the second set of
tires..got them from a junkyard car that was
"Totaled" 3 days after getting new tires, for
$20 apiece..we just traded wheels and tires.
 
Sounds like it was used up when you bought it! We used to drive fords but they started to nickel-and-dime us after 50,000 miles. We switched to gm and get 100,000 with 0 problems so far, on about 10 vehicles. Our son is bull-headed, bought a new ford truck last year, already had trouble with it! <10,000
 
After 30 years in the automotive business in some capacity or other, I'm convinced a lot of it comes down to the individual owner.

Some people will own a car and have nothing but grief with it. Someone else will own an identical car and drive it 300K miles with no problems.

When I was an Adjuster and working vehicle service contracts, we always wondered why Pontiacs had more mechanical problems than Buicks, Olds, or Chevys built on the same mechanical platform.

The only answer we could come up with was that Pontiac's performance image attracted a more aggressive driver.
 
What year?

I drove Taurus's since 1992 and they've been pretty good for me. Sounds like you bought one that had been neglected and the guy dumped it on you before he spent the money you just dumped in it.

Replacing the front brake pads, drivers' side wheel bearing, engine sensor, battery, new plugs and all common maintenance items that apparently he delayed until he sold it. The O2 sensor and cam sensor do have a habit of going out on them - cheap Chinese sourced parts that are not that expensive or hard to replace.

The rear shocks & springs are a pretty uncommon problem - did it have a tow hitch on it?
 
Agreed.

Get one with the 3.0 Vulcan engine the AX4N transmission. The AX4S transmission was too light and in general a POS. The AX4N is the same transmission they put in the Taurus SHO and was standard behind all the 200HP Duratech engines. The 150HP Vulcan engine can't hurt it unless you never change the fluid in it. Change it as scheduled (every 30K) and getting 300K isn't hard at all.
 
We drove a 96 model, 3.0 engine (not 24 valve) for 200,000+ miles with very little trouble. Replaced the radiator at 100K and the transmission quit pulling about 130K and the dealer said it needed a replacement. I dropped the trans pan and changed the clogged up filter and new trans oil and it worked perfect. Good sound system and cold a/c. Paul
 
I bought a new Ford Taurus in 89 and it was a total POS. Multiple WEEKS in the shop. Fortunately we had the extended warranty. AC failed, trans axle failed, trans failed, rear spindle bearing failed. Motor had an intermittent starting problem that the dealer "can not duplicate problem" in spite of the fact we had to have it towed in several times.
This was my wife's car so it was not abused. She drove it to work and back.

This was all in 1st 2 years and less that 30k miles.

Traded it in on a Pontiac Grand Prix. That was a great car. No issues for the 1st 80k miles.
 
You bought a car with 126,000 miles on it, and are blaming the factory that you have had to do repairs.

Ever consider the possibility that the car had been poorly maintained?
 
(quoted from post at 08:07:28 05/16/12)

I never owned a Taurus with the 24 valve overhead cam 3.0L.
Click to expand...

When introduced in the late 90s, an acquaintance called it Fords "Hyperactive V-6", very fitting IMHO, mild mannered till you give it some sugar.

Very much like the SHO, if you push it past 3000 RPMs at WOT, you probably should be holding on tightly.
 
I only drive Ford cars and trucks, can't complain about any of them that I've owned. We did own two Suburbans that the wife wore out, and one 82 GMC truck with the 6.2 diesel that I still have thats had so damn many 700R4 transmissions rebuilds I'd hate to add'em up. But it won the right to live out it's life here on my place only doing lite duty. I guess it's how you treat'em and how you actually feel about'em as to how they serve you. Being in the business theres not anything I haven't heard about'em all, one thing I've learned is a die hard chevy man will drive a ford if forced into it, but you'll never hear him say one kind word about a ford, and that goes for all makes and models.
 
I had three of them as company vehicles. My job really required a truck, so I treated the Tarus as a truck. I went through corn stalk fields, snow, mud, creek crossings ,etc. I think I even hauled a dead deer in one. Once I had to do a bunch of silage corn appraisals. I didn't want to dump the ear corn in the fields, so I just filled up the back seat.

I guess the fact that I couldn't tear them up speaks well of them.

Gene
 
I thot I would throw in my 2 cents worth while everyone is talking about the Ford Taurus.

Bought a new '93 Taurus and have driven it since. Now with 367000 on the clock, I still drive it. Has had only 2 sets of plugs in it and brakes rebuilt once in those miles. Would I buy another one? Yes, in a heart beat, when this one gives up the ghost.

Sounds like the seller of your car knew what was coming up price wise and just dumped the car.
Never buy a car unless you can see the maintance upkeep on it. Of course, most dealers keep the records on the computers now a days.

Good luck
PS. I like my little Taurus, tough little car.
 
I had a Taurus for 6 or 7 years. Aside from somewhat disappointing fuel mileage for a vehicle that size it was pretty much troublefree.

My wife's Grand Voyager however gave us fits. It went through 3 transmissions under warranty. At 82,000 miles it cost me $1,800 for a 4th transmission. I then promptly traded the car.
 
It happens - but its usually related to them being used/abused in a manner they were never intended.

Its much more common for the front struts to leak - usually after having unbalanced tires or horrible warped brakes destroy them through vibration.
 
I do have to agree the Taurus didn't get the mileage it probably should have. In 2003 or so they changed the OD gear ratio and the Vulcan engine could get 25 MPG per tank, the older ones seemed to be in the 18-22 range.
 
Sounds more like normal maintenance items to me, you bought a car that was neglected, and you missed what all was wrong with it when you bought it. Not the car's fault.

The Taurus is a good car.
 
Red, same experience with my "83 GMC 6.2 - tranney rebuilds, but I blame much of that on using it for snowplowing. One tranney rebuild failed because weld failed on new converter. About 150,000 miles, has been relegated to light duty as farm truck.
 
What year have you got. I had a new 1986 (1st year production) that was total junk. I had a 1994 that was pretty good but it had the engine Ford had head gaskets problems with and they fixed at no charge. I now have a 2003 with about 150,000 miles. Only problem I've had was both front wheel bearings went out at about 120,000 miles.I think they are basically a good car but like most cars when you get over 100,000 miles lots of things need replacing.
 
They were the mainstay of the county motor pool fleet when I took it over. Oil changes filters, brakes and outside mirrors (turkey strikes) were about all I ever saw with them for maintenance. Bought the last new ones in 2005 my reason for moving away from them was the brutal depreciation- I'd be lucky to get $3,000 for an 5-6 year old 80,000 mile car. Once they stopped making them the resale shot up- wish I'd bought 06 & 07 Tauruses (Taurusi?) instead of the darn Malibus we got. The 05 Tauruses I sold at auction in '11 brought $7,300 and $6,800, the '06 Malibus with the same milage $5,200 and $6,100 and they ate more parts to get to 70-80,000 miles like TWO brakes jobs with front rotors and steering shafts.
 
Thank you to everyone who responded. This is a 2001. No it did not have a trailer hitch on it. I guess I'm just venting a little on the subject. Its always hit and miss when you are buying used. This one just upset me because I haven't owned it long at all. The parts are mostly inexpensive as you mentioned so that helps.
 
Buckeye, here at the dealership we see all these problems you describe plus a lot more you have not talked about. Good luck getting rid of it.
 
One of my grandsons wants my GMC to restor, it didn't have a dent in it until I sideswiped an old bathtub being used for a livestock water tub about a year ago. Paints all gone now, but it was purty when new with it cherry red paint. I told him he could do anything he wanted with I'm gone, but until then I still need it. The only thing I've ever had to do to it is them dang transmissions, 3 water pumps and I've rebuilt the injector pump myself maybe 2 or 3 times. I have no complaints about anything ever done to it except for the transmissions.
 
I always thought the final drive ratio on the Taurus was too low. Seems the engine was always pretty well wound up. (As I recall the tach showed a bit over 3,000 RPM at 60 mph.)

For comparison my wife's Impala (3.8 V6) tachs around 1,750 RPM at 60 mph. But its highway mileage is consistently 8 or 9 mpg better than the old Taurus.
 
The little 3.0 engine had pretty decent power in the 1985 when it came out - about 145/150 hp, in 2007 (last year for the "old style" Taurus" it was still rated at 155hp - most 4 cylinders have more power. I think Ford geared them down to try to make it feel like it had a little bit of power. The 1999 and 2000 Taurus's I had usually got about 20-22. I had a 2004 that did pretty well on mileage (about 25-27) and learned that they had changed the gear ratio. I guess at that point they figured there was no hiding the fact that it was underpowered and they trid to eek out some fuel mileage.
 
You noticed that too? I bought my 99 LX in 2000 with 11K miles on it for $9000 even. I bought my 2004 SES in 2005 with only 17K on it for $9500.

I still see "low" mileage 2007s (under 90K miles) sell in the $7000 to $8000 range. As quick as Ford quit selling to the rental fleets those cars had a huge increase in value.
 
(quoted from post at 14:57:47 05/16/12) You noticed that too? I bought my 99 LX in 2000 with 11K miles on it for $9000 even. I bought my 2004 SES in 2005 with only 17K on it for $9500.

I still see "low" mileage 2007s (under 90K miles) sell in the $7000 to $8000 range. As quick as Ford quit selling to the rental fleets those cars had a huge increase in value.
Click to expand...

The off rentals were a great deal. Lots of the time you could buy a 1 year old one with under 20K for half of sticker or less. Dad bought an 87 4 cylinder for $4K in 88. Not a bad car so long as you didn't want to accelerate fast.
 
Those are some nice cars.
The first time I drove one was in 1988 I drove the bosses Sable Wagon (almost the same car)
I Thought, wow what a nice car from Fo Mo Co.

I rented a 1997 taurus for a week, nice car.

I never owned one.
 
I have owned GMs and Fords but never a Chrysler.

I currently drive a Merc Sable 2008. Its got 84,000 on it. I put 20k on it a year. Only things I have had to do on it is oil changes and the regular maintenance stuff at specified intervals. I put 150k on a car before I give them up usually. I have done that with my last two f-150s. I had a 01 Monte before the Merc because of the style and the vaunted reliability. At 100k it self destructed. That was after two sets of head gaskets, various electrical, tranny, sensors, brakes, trac control,etc. My rear defrost even heated my rear windshield up to the point it shattered. Point is... you can have a lemon or an abused car. Mine was not an abused car so you could call it a lemon. Your car, you don't know the history, so put the money that was neglected to be put into it before and ask yourself in 25k miles whether it was truly a lemon.
 
(quoted from post at 16:19:23 05/16/12) I have owned GMs and Fords but never a Chrysler.

I currently drive a Merc Sable 2008. Its got 84,000 on it. I put 20k on it a year. Only things I have had to do on it is oil changes and the regular maintenance stuff at specified intervals. I put 150k on a car before I give them up usually. I have done that with my last two f-150s. I had a 01 Monte before the Merc because of the style and the vaunted reliability. At 100k it self destructed. That was after two sets of head gaskets, various electrical, tranny, sensors, brakes, trac control,etc. My rear defrost even heated my rear windshield up to the point it shattered. Point is... you can have a lemon or an abused car. Mine was not an abused car so you could call it a lemon. Your car, you don't know the history, so put the money that was neglected to be put into it before and ask yourself in 25k miles whether it was truly a lemon.
Click to expand...


The new crop(07/08 and newer) of Taurus/Sable has more in common with a Volvo(was the 500 for a while) than the 86-06 Taurus. Different animals entirely.

Ford brought back the name thinking it would make the 500 sell better(they originally had a plan to make all their cars names start with "F"). focus, fusion, freestyle, Five-hundred, etc...
 
Mechanic here says that a taurus or sable that has engine problems should be scrapped.I think the high cost of repairs is causing owners to buy new when the warranty runs out.
 
Consumer Reports gives them an average reliability rating. I had one for several years. It was ok for reliability but awkward to work on. Evry Ford I have ever had, except for a 1966 pickup has had the interior door panels come loose over time. I've had 3 Ford pickups over the years and each one has had premature valve failures (burnt vavles or crooked guides). I guess I'm a slow learner, but now I have a Toyota pickup (made in Texas) and it has been great.
 
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