'98 Taurus cooling issue mystery

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Jun 8, 2016
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Location
Texas, USA
Hey everyone, I love when sellers provide enough information to actually start making deductions on issues with a car they're trying to get rid of. Here's the description in the ad. '98 Taurus, 85,000 miles, selling for $700 because they're tired of dinking with it. Love to hear your thoughts. I have no use for an old Taurus but I thought this might be fun to try and solve.

1998 Ford Taurus · Sedan · Driven 85,701 miles

"Can’t seem to figure out the issue he knows it has to be some kind of fuse relay or something simple he just can’t figure it out and his moms tired of wasting money and it still doesn’t work so it is a 98 Ford Taurus 3.0 MFI DOHC 6 cylinder V6 was very low miles only 85,701 original miles only two owners. My mother-in-law is the second we have replaced the water pump thermostat thermostat cooling sensor water, temperature sensor thermostat, housing heater core and have done a radiator flush on it it still starts and runs smooth and drives just after a while being on it gets hot and builds up too much pressure. A/C system has been completely replaced and blows ice cold this car has not been dogged at all or beat up regular maintenance done to it as the two owners were older people clean interior and exterior clean title in hand need to get rid of today if possible will have to haul it off $700 OBO mechanic special. "
 
Is the cooling fan working? Any chance this radiator could need to have the air bled? Could the radiator be clogged? Blown head gasket?...

I'll bet our resident real mechanics have seen similar issues with this vintage Taurus before.
 
Is the cooling fan working? Any chance this radiator could need to have the air bled? Could the radiator be clogged? Blown head gasket?...
That would be my first question for them... Do you hear the fan coming on? If yes, then I would suspect a collapsed tank in the radiator. Happened to a friend of mine with an El Dorado, I never forgot it because it was a similar circumstance... Everything else was replaced and it's still overheated. A whole different mechanic finally figured out the radiator problem after he'd spent a fortune.
 
Pressure testing cooling system for 15 minutes would reveal a lot. If that passes, then look for blockages in cooling system, radiator or hoses coming apart internally.

See if lower radiator hose gets hot, then if cooling fans work.
 
It's been a while since I've had my DOHC 3.0 Sables, a couple of them, last was a '00, old memory says didn't some of them have dissolving water pump vanes?
The 3.8 had the notorious head gasket issues.
 
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