While driving on a fairly congested highway, I had no choice but to drive over some debris in the roadway–including a few “rebar” rods. I certainly couldn’t complain about the transmission in my '86 Taurus. I used to do some side work for a now defunct Ford dealer here (used cars) and never heard of any Sable/Taurus trans complaints from him and he sold a bunch of them. One was a 96 traded off at 250,000 miles and another was a 90 model with about 280,000. Two neighbors owned Tauruses and never had any trans issues. 330k miles on that transmission with nary a hiccup. The trans got regular fluid changes and was still shifting like new at 410k miles. The trans was replaced with another allegedly bad year transmission an 89 with 40k miles on it. The car was purchased used at 92k miles and likely never had the fluid changed until I bought it. The trans in my old 87 Sable failed at 130k miles. The number of failed transmissions due to a factory defect is likely just a tiny fraction of that number so the failure rate is probably within the norm of any manufactured product. There were some issues when the cars first appeared on the market but a lot of it is related to transmission maintenance or the lack thereof.įord manufactured about 14-15 million Tauruses/Sables. I have to respectfully disagree that all Taurus/Sable transmissions are junk. Your statement “Nothing over 4,000 dollars as I want a car I can pay off in no less then 2 years.” suggests to me that you might be better off with your present vehicle than an unknown used car that may have even worse issues. Furthermore, gas prices are coming down which possibly compensates for the poorer mileage of your minivan. A steering rack is expensive, but much less than the payments on a newer vehicle that may also have problems. That problem sounds more like a blower resistor than the switch. You might want to check with an independent shop that specializes in electrical work about your AC fan switch. You do know the problems with your present minivan. I realize that the Taurus you are examining is much newer and I suppose the components could have been cheapened. The Sable had the 3.0 engine that gave no problems. I owned a 1988 Taurus and a 1989 Sable and had no air conditioning nor transmission problems in well over 125,000 miles. In any event, pay a trusted mechanic to evaluate the car and look for the trouble spots. If you could get the service records of the vehicle, that might give you a clue. On the Taurus you are considering, perhaps some of the alleged problem areas, such as the AC compressor, have already been repaired.
Not a big deal to fix, thoughĪs soon as you buy, unless you receive a stack of maintenance invoices, you should treat the car as if it’s never received any maintenanceįor a vehicle that is 10+ years old, the condition is more important than the make. Seems to be common on this car, after several years. that would indicate a leaking brake master. Make sure the brake booster shell isn’t wet with brake fluid, or have blistered paint. The front sway bar links are very likely to be worn out. If there’s a chirping noise, it could very well be the cam synchronizer
This does not happen due to lack of maintenance, in my opinion. If that happens, you need a new AC compressor, belt, accumulator and orifice tube Then you have no power steering, no charging, no water pump, etc. I know the belt is supposed to freewheel with a seized AC compressor, but that’s not the way it works out on this car. the AC compressor tends to seize, which starts a chain reaction. I suspect you’ll be doing the fuel pump and the oil pan gasket sometime in the next few years of ownershipĪnother thing, which I’ve seen frequently, on your future car.