Faults:

Transmission is going bad.. overdrive is slipping and speedometer just stopped working. Blew head gasket at 110,000 miles, and replaced CV joint at 76,000 miles. Neither one of those is that suprising really. What is suprising is that Ford was able to not have to recall the junk transmissions they installed in these cars. The fact that I have made it to 112,000 and am still mobile despite the notorious tranny failures is a miracle.

General Comments:

Ford should have lived up to some semblance of reputation and replaced the transmissions in these cars. Of course they are writing the big re-election checks not us little guys so we got screwed, they got rich!

Faults:

I really can't say a bad thing about my 1990 taurus. It has 130000 miles on it and it still runs like new. I bought it used and all I had to do is replace a water pump at 100000 miles.I've done usual maintenance and frequent oil changes at 2000 miles, No problems. But I do baby my car. Its also one of the most comfortable cars I ever drove. By some of the remarks about the taurus, I gues I got real lucky with this one!

Faults:

Alternator died at 142,000 miles.

Same sort of problem at 145,000 miles. A part that regulates the alternator went bad. Previous owner was my dad and he had the same problems.

Had to get new front tires and needed to get both front ball joints or something replaced.

Car was sputtering and needed a map sensor replaced. Mechanic couldn't figure out what was wrong. He thought it may have been the catalytic converters or the Y joint connecting them. Why on this Earth does this car have 3 converters?

Power steering fluid leak at 150,000 miles which would lead to cars demise.

Starter needed replacing at 155,025 miles.

Muffler needed replacing at the same time. Did not get fixed.

Car exploded into flames I would guess due to power steering leak.

General Comments:

This car may have been reliable up until 100,000 miles, but after that it was all downhill. My dad had problems with it and then passed them onto me.

I previously owned a 1986 Pontiac Grand Am with 200,000 miles on it and it didn't have anywhere near the amount of problems this car had. I should have kept the Grand Am.

I went to get the power steering leak fixed, but the dealer said it would take them 4 hours to get to the hose. Therefore it would cost $400 to fix. I said "No thanks", and figured I would buy another car. A week later it erupted into flames, while parked outside my residence, after a drive.

Ford, for some reason, love to cram as much engine into a small space as they can, making it very hard to to fix simple things.

Why are there so many catalytic converters?

My friends father-in-law also had a 1990 Ford Taurus, and guess what? He had a power steering fluid leak and the car burst into flames while parked in New York City.

Do not purchase this car if it has over 100,000 miles on it.

If you have a power steering fluid leak, get it fixed IMMEDIATELY.

I figured I'd end on a good note and say that I'm 6'2" and the car was very comfortable to drive.