Faults:

Days after we bout it the head gasket blew. The guy I bought it from split the money.

A month later the alternator and AC unit went at the same time. Very costly to replace the AC, but it was my wife's car so we did it.

After that we had a few years of relative reliability until this year the head gasket blew again.

General Comments:

The car was comfortable, roomy, and quick.

However I was told by a mechanic friend that this age of the 3.8L engine was very prone to blow head gaskets.

I would actually recommend this car, but ONLY with the 3.0L engine, not the 3.8.

Faults:

My coolant thermostat malfunctioned coupled with a faulty radiator fan, caused high coolant temps to burst the radiator housing apart, resulting in extreme coolant loss.

It sounded like someone firing a gun next to you.

I repaired all these items myself.

Due to the previous excess overheating, this caused the head gaskets to leak a few weeks later.

These weren't the only 3.8L Taurus nightmares and gremlins encountered.

For instance, I previously suspected the coolant temp sender.

No major problems ever happened with this car parked in the driveway or at the service shop, except for that faulty speedometer pointer that bounces around at any speed above 45m.p.h..about $400 for the parts to R$R it.

The transmission went at 148,000 which cost me $1300.00 to rebuild.

Things I've replaced personally or had professionally (A.S.E. cert.) replaced, were items that I knew should not go prematurely, like,

Struts.

Outer ball joints.

Front and rear rotors.

Numerous brake pads: the front end loves the attention.

The car loves its passenger side headlight bulb replaced every 2-3 months also.

Water pump.

Serpentine belt: shows excess wear/over-stretching at 25,000 miles is not common.

The cruise control died because of the speedometer problems and no-one reading this should even attempt to operate a faulty cruise control system, you should pull its fuse to prevent accidental activation.

I leave the engine check light on, not because I know how to shut it off, but it reminds me how stupid I was for buying a money pit called the ford Taurus instead of the German vehicles I'm used to owning and working on.

All this headache from the engineers at Ford, if only they had copied the Audi5000 design and mechanicals right down to the last nut and bolt instead of its style the Taurus is based on!

Typical wear for the exhaust system, so is the interior parts (just some) : P.O.S. plastic is even used in the best of cars now-days.

I, m a certified collision tech and I'll sum up what it takes to own one of these cars, a lot of money and that's asking fellow mechanics in the business to give me a break.

The a.b.s. system is a joke, its not proportioned right to the weight of the car, but that's the size of the braking system they put on these cars, not everybody baby's their car in the real world and you shouldn't feel afraid after mechanical problems occur that the vehicle will continue to have them, but with this ford 3.8L Taurus, its one right after the other, just like dominoes.

The 3.8L engine is under powered for a cubic inch displacement (C.I.D.) close to a 4.0L baby eight cylinder car.

And heck no, under no circumstances would I buy a Ford product ever again, even though I purchased it from a relative in dire straits.

There is no job quality, that's only said to get people who know nothing about cars to purchase them, so how can Ford be number one through this P.O.S. product?

When a Ford comes into the body shop, be it old or new model years, we know they are a P.O.S..

General Comments:

The only thing I like about the whole car was its heater system in the winter time and sitting in the seats, but I caution, anything over 450 miles in this car and the seats need to have an extra cushion placed below your ass.

Any other words of kindness need not apply to a product that falls short of owning up to what the company quotes as being a quality job; which should last the life of the car in my opinion.