2000 Ford Taurus, any common problems?

[tasch72]

I had a 1999 sable that I bought off my buddy for $500, it ultimately died at 145k from transmission issues (no forward gears) and was overheating. It lived a rough life.

Things to keep an eye on will be coil springs, brakes, rocker panel rust, changing transmission fluid, blend door actuator, and a leak around the cabin air filter.

For $1000, get it and drive it into the dirt.

 

[SatinSilver]

Walmart TLE headlight polishing service that they do for you for $30. Then keep them protected from there with a good sealant applied every few weeks to a month.

Update your signature with new vehicle.

Clean floor mats weekly in bath tub regimen or every two weeks since it’s a third car. Otherwise car looks good for the age. Probably will spruce up nicely.

 

[Wolf359]

From my experience with these, the Vulcan tends to outlast the Duratec, and when they get a lot of miles on them it is the cooling system or transmission that tends to cause an EOL experience. The car looks like a good, relatively rust-free car, and at the price it is a bargain IMO. But, you need to get an immediate handle on the coolant leak.

So what you're saying is that it's not the engine, it's the transmission or cooling system. That's what basically happened to my Duratec. Engine was fine, about 220k. Torque converter went, no lockup. Gas mileage was worse, basically a 3 speed automatic instead of a 4 speed. Torque converter was only about $100, but best price was about $700 to remove the transmission to swap it and I figured by the time you factor in the cost of the fluid and everything else, probably around $1k to fix it. Wasn't really worth it at that mileage so I dumped it.

 

[vwmaniaman]

I never had a Taurus that had a dry trunk. They all leaked into the spare tire well and when you had a flat you would pull out a rusty mess of a jack lug wrench and spare tire. Transmissions were bad too I had the dealer replace the seal twice and I gave up after that and just pulled the drain plug.

 

[Wolf359]

I never had a Taurus that had a dry trunk. They all leaked into the spare tire well and when you had a flat you would pull out a rusty mess of a jack lug wrench and spare tire. Transmissions were bad too I had the dealer replace the seal twice and I gave up after that and just pulled the drain plug.

On the AX4N, the transmission seal/gasket was reusable, didn't use the one that came with the filter, it was worse than what was on there. My trunk didn't leak. There was no drain plug on the transmission so not sure what you're talking about. Had to drop the pan to change the filter and clean the magnet. First time the magnet had lots of metal particles on it, 2nd/3rd/4th/5th/6th, much less.

 

[vwmaniaman]

There was a rubber plug in the bottom of the trunk under the spare tire. It let the water drain out of the tire well. Of course it let road noise in the car too and smells, but no more sloshing in the trunk.

 

[zzyzzx]

I never owned one but two that I know of had springs break.

Because springs are so hard to change???

 

[dbias]

Because springs are so hard to change???

No. Because besides a Taurus in this time frame, I've never heard of springs needing to be changed, on a sedan.

 

[Wolf359]

No. Because besides a Taurus in this time frame, I've never heard of springs needing to be changed, on a sedan.

You don't get around much. Lots of springs break, even on Mercedes. Someone just reported that it happened to their car in the forums. After the springs broke, I replaced them with Monroe. The replacement springs looked thicker. And never broke.

 

[gregk24]

So I did a thing.

I am not an "additives guy" at all, but in this case I figured I would give it a shot. I poured in a bottle of "Liquid Copper" from Bars Leak.

I believe the leak is coming from the timing cover, the cover on these ends up pitting allowing coolant to seep out. I spent about 30 minutes the other day trying to find the source of the leak and this is my best guess based on what I saw. Also, before adding the Liquid Copper, after shutting the car off you could hear a slight hissing sound (assuming this was from the pressurized coolant hissing past the seal). So far, 30 minutes after adding the L.C. there is no more hissing. Time will tell!

Before I get bashed, I did some light research on the product and read quite a few user reviews. Plenty of people had a positive experience when using this for small leaks and had no negative side effects. This is what swayed me to give it a shot. The car has been on the market for a while now and plenty of people have been interested but none of them ever bought.

We may end up with the Taurus after all....