Bought a 2001 Taurus w/ 95,000 mi

[volk06]

Finally found a good commuter car for a good price. 2001 Ford Taurus SES. 3.0L 12V Vulcan with 95,000 miles. One guy has driven it the whole time, was his company vehicle and then bought it from the company. Has a complete history of all maintenance, just a small note pad but has everything listed. All OCI were 5K with the cheapest 5w30 syn at menards, most likely QSUD. He said the last OCI it burned .5/qt for the first time. Has a new water pump. Shifts perfectly. Has decent firestone tires on it, nothing special but not shot. Coolant and PS fluid flushed and changed at 65k...ect. It really is as nice as it looks except for a baseball size spot of rust on the front of the hood. Hoping it will last me 5 years at 10K a year.

 

[cmorr]

Looks nice, excellent find.

Good luck with it

 

[Rand]

expect 23-25mpg driven like grandma.

The vulcan was not powerful,fun or good mpg, but it was durable and easy to repair its few problems.

also seems like the transmissions of that era liked the 150hp vulcan better than the 200hp duratech.

 

[volk06]

Will be mostly interstate driving to and from work and running around town. Im hoping for 24 mpg. My ecoboost is for fun

 

[FusilliJerry82]

Change the ATF often.

 

[Greggy_D]

Replace those springs if they have not been changed already.

 

[Artem]

Looks good. Post a picture of the inside of the oil fill hole. I wanna see how it looks.

 

[volk06]

Originally Posted By: Artem
Looks good. Post a picture of the inside of the oil fill hole. I wanna see how it looks.


Will do in a few days. When I looked in I could see to far down into it.

 

[Dakota1820]

what did you give for it?

 

[volk06]

Originally Posted By: chevyboy14
what did you give for it?


$2000

 

[dwcopple]

i'd spend $200 and get that rust fixed if it were my car.

 

[Tdbo]

Nice looking car, looks like a good buy.
Just stay on the transmission maintenance.
It's hard to kill a vulcan.

 

[rshaw125]

Interstate driving you'll get more like 28 mpg. Change transmission fluid if it has not already been done. Mercon V.

 

[volk06]

Originally Posted By: rshaw125
Interstate driving you'll get more like 28 mpg. Change transmission fluid if it has not already been done. Mercon V.


I know at work be have a few of this body style that get 26-28 going 70mph all day long. So I'm hoping that this will do the same.

 

[CROWNVIC4LIFE]

Very nice..Definitely nice find.

A friend bought a 2001 just like yours for 2K bucks a couple of months ago..His has 165K miles on it..Since the car had all the service records [from Metro Ford] he decided to buy it..So far all is well.

 

[cptbarkey]

great price and good value on the car.

 

[HM12460]

Good deal, hope it works out well for you.

 

[fdcg27]

Originally Posted By: volk06
Will be mostly interstate driving to and from work and running around town. Im hoping for 24 mpg. My ecoboost is for fun

I think you'll do a little better than 24 mpg.
We saw a few tanks that high with our 3.0 Aerostar in interstate
driving with a pretty good load, so I'd think that the lighter Taurus, with less frontal area (drag) should do better than that.
We have a couple of old Tauruses in our fleet at work.
They've held up very well in hard use, so you should be fine for the next five years and 50K.
Spend a dime, as an old boss used to say, and fix the rust on the hood.
Looks like a nice old Taurus.

 

[volk06]

Originally Posted By: fdcg27
Originally Posted By: volk06
Will be mostly interstate driving to and from work and running around town. Im hoping for 24 mpg. My ecoboost is for fun

I think you'll do a little better than 24 mpg.
We saw a few tanks that high with our 3.0 Aerostar in interstate
driving with a pretty good load, so I'd think that the lighter Taurus, with less frontal area (drag) should do better than that.
We have a couple of old Tauruses in our fleet at work.
They've held up very well in hard use, so you should be fine for the next five years and 50K.
Spend a dime, as an old boss used to say, and fix the rust on the hood.
Looks like a nice old Taurus.


The rust spot might have to wait until next spring/summer. I've got new phillips xtreme headlights, thermoquiet brake pads, and centric rotors on the way for when I have some vacation time coming up the end of this month. Have 5qts of kendall syn-blend 5w30 and a Ultra filter lined up. Looks like there might be a small oil leak some where, need to detail up and powerwasher the engine bay, theres 12 years of grime built up in some places it looks like. Theres over 3K on this OCI from the PO, so ill be changing it out and sending in a UOA to make sure everything is good.

The transmission fluid still looks bright pink and feels/smells good. When I hit 100K (5K away), I'll get it flushed out and get a new filter put in.

 

[SwampSurvivor]

I could usually get my Taurus up to 30/32 on the highway if I kept it at 65. Did get one 34mpg tank