1989 Ford Taurus Station Wagon Forgot from North America

Summary:

I never bought another Ford again

Faults:

I got rid of it in '92, but I am still mad at it til this day so please forgive me.

Way too much to list here.

I spent more money fixing it than I did when I paid for it at the dealer.

General Comments:

I bought it with 1.5 miles on it brand new. I bought a 25,000 mile warranty, & literally the day after it hit 25,000, things started breaking left & right. I spent more money fixing it than I did when I paid for it at the dealer.

The biggest thing that broke were the mounts holding the drivetrain in place.

I was on my way to work one day, & it started shaking & rattling, then something big from the engine bay fell out & I could see it in my rear view mirror sparking on the pavement; other cars swerving to avoid it. No less than 5 seconds later, I heard an extremely loud bang, lost all power & steering. I can hear a loud grinding noise and I can see sparks and all little parts flying out from underneath as the car slows down extremely fast. The whole drivetrain fell out of the car & left a nice 50 yard trail of destruction down the highway.

After I got out, I realized the oil on the road caught fire & so did the hulk of engine.

When it was all said & done, the firewall had been punched back 5 inches, $250,000 in damage to the asphalt, ONLY 30,000 TOTAL MILES ON THE CAR & a lousy $500 from my insurance company.

The day after this happened, I received an express letter from Ford telling me that the drivetrain mounts have been recalled.

Would you buy another car from this manufacturer? No

Review Date: 20th August, 2004

10th Jan 2006, 22:51

Yup - that would be funny!

17th Feb 2007, 09:10

I know that Ford's quality is horrible (quality is job 1??? yeah right.) but this is just ridiculous although it is true as I have heard this happen to someone else I know although they didn't do road damage like your car did. And Ford wants to know why no one is buying their vehicles.

18th Nov 2011, 14:01

I absolutely love this review, and re-read it often when I need a laugh. I have it marked in my favorites. Our family car of 9 years was an 89 Taurus GL that my parents purchased new. We had some issues with it, but nothing like you mentioned. I actually like the cars, and have owned a 93 Taurus SHO, and now actually own both a 95 and an 89 Taurus SHO as secondary "fun" cars. There was a recall on those subframe bushings apparently. Luckily those in my 89 (now 22 years old) appear to have been replaced!!! I can't read this review without cracking up laughing. I would have loved to have been there to see your face and all of this take place.

1989 Ford Taurus L 3.0 V6 Gasoline from North America

Summary:

Good first car

Faults:

Water Pump went at 151,000 miles.

Lower radiator hose went at 151,000 miles.

Transmission was rebuilt at 91,236 miles, before I owned the car.

Transmission shifts hard up and down in first and second gear when gas pedal is floored. First happened at 150,000 miles. It has to cool down before it stops.

Tried to recharge air conditioner and found a leaky hose at 145,000 miles.

It also eats gas after it hits a half tank. You are lucky if you get 20 miles out of it before it hits empty. However you can get a good 115 miles out of a half tank. So total you can get about 135 miles a tank.

Since it is a Ford it also has a few quirks:

-Turn signals stopped working one night for no reason and then worked fine the next day.

-Can get a little hot, but it stays normal since I replaced the water pump.

General Comments:

Luckily, my friend is a mechanic and all I needed to fix the car was him and the parts.

Comfortable car with a HUGE backseat.

There is a lot of trunk space.

I would not buy another Taurus, only because they have a lot of transmission problems, and because under the hood is a giant cluster, repair costs are high.

25 MPG Highway.

21 MPG City.

This was my first car, but unfortunately I cannot live with it anymore because I need something more reliable (not to say this was horrible, but it is old and I need something I know will last me a while).

Would you buy another car from this manufacturer? No

Review Date: 19th July, 2004

31st Mar 2005, 23:38

I agree with this Iam the machnic for this car and there are more new parts on this car than that were mentioned it was his first car, but I still think that ford cars are not very reliable and are very bad to work with.

4th Apr 2006, 14:25

I think the reason your Taurus shifts hard in first and second gear is because something might be wrong with your motor mounts. It happened to me on my '91 Taurus, but just like you it only did it when the gas pedal was floored. when you are shifting hard and the pedal is floored the motor tends to shake a lot. That could be it a motor mount broke... check it out sometime and get back to me.

Sk8r_freak12@yahoo.com.