1998 Ford Taurus LS 3.0 24 valve V6 from North America

Summary:

OK car if it would have been made to last

Faults:

The car seemed fine at first, then the tranny wouldn't shift into second gear until 300 or 400 RPM's after it should. I was told by my girlfriend's cousin, who is a mechanic that the shift module to the sensor was going out. This is the reason for the long shift into second.

Also he said that the tranny pump could be weak, or had weakened to the point of replacement. I don't have a real problem with it yet. The car still drives me to work every day. I think I will fix these minor problems and sell this car. These cars seem to have too many problems for me.

General Comments:

Not a bad car, but would not buy another one unless new.

Would you buy another car from this manufacturer? Yes

Review Date: 21st August, 2009

21st Aug 2009, 13:32

The transmissions are notorious on these. Fix it before it gets worse and get rid of it while it still runs. The engines are rock solid on those cars but they couldn't match it with a decent tranny unfortunately.

21st Aug 2009, 18:23

Your car has certainly lived up to it's potential. Domestic cars are really only designed to live to about 130,000 miles anyways. That way they outlast their warranties only by a small amount so you're forced to get a new car. All my domestics have made it to only about 130,000. And I did take care of them. Oil every 3,000 miles, spark plugs and wires changed every 50,000, fuel filter and transmission fluid changed every 30,000 miles, if they had a timing belt I would have that changed every 60,000 miles, whether it looked like it needed it or not.

Domestic cars are great if you're looking for a cheap, disposable piece of machinery. But I think Honda's are a better way to go. All my Honda's have made it to over 400,000 miles with the same maintenance I gave my domestics.

22nd Aug 2009, 04:58

Once Ford gave the Taurus the AX4N transmission the reliability was no longer a problem. Older Tauri used AX4S and older transmissions that were flawed in their engineering and construction. The AX4S was known to all of a sudden "Crash" out of the blue. All the gears would suddenly grind up and implode and transmission oil would be all over the place. Certain stuff inside the transmission was made of plastic and aluminum which would break and corrode.

Also Ford in general is notorious for making terrible transmissions with lousy "cooling" of the transmission fluid. The transmission radiator was made too small or there wasn't one to begin with. The excessive heat caused early transmission failure. This plagued Ford all through the 90s. But what did they care. They wanted "planned obsolescence". Which backfired on them of course since people lost faith in their product and simply bought Toyotas and Hondas instead. People have been switching over to imports since the 60s and 70s.

1998 Ford Taurus SE 3.0 V6 DOHC from North America

Summary:

This car is a work-horse, but on schedule tune-ups are absolutely essential

Faults:

Steering column and ignition switch busted at 195,000 miles.

General Comments:

The car's backseats are uncomfortable, but the air-conditioning and heater are great considering the model year.

This car can take a beating.

Would you buy another car from this manufacturer? No

Review Date: 13th April, 2009

1998 Ford Taurus LX 3.0 Vulcan from North America

Summary:

Buy it cheap or don't buy it at all

Faults:

Transmission lurch (very severe) on upshift at about 60K miles.

Blown head gasket around 90K miles.

Cassette deck worked intermittently after first few years.

Cracked and leaking coolant overflow tank at about 110K miles.

General Comments:

This was our family car for many years... it took us on dozens of cross-country trips and was a mostly dependable daily driver for most of the 11 years that we've owned it. It is now our oldest daughter's first car.

First major problem was the well-known "lurching/bucking" transmission issue, which Ford fixed at no cost by flushing and replacing the transmission fluid with a new fluid from Ford designed specifically to eliminate that problem.

Next major problem was a real mess... engine bucking, stumbling, sometimes running hot. Two Ford service garages took a shot at fixing it, but all they did was flush the coolant and supposedly reset the onboard computer. Didn't help at all. Took it to a local shop who initially thought it was a blown head gasket, but when they CORRECTLY reset the computer, all those problems went away for good!!!

Recently the car has been randomly losing several quarts of coolant while driving (no puddles in the driveway) and we found the coolant overflow tank had several cracks on the not-visible underside, which leak only under pressure while driving.

The Taurus has served us well enough, albeit with above-average shop visits and maintenance costs. With an auto transmission and 3.0L base engine, it has plenty of power, rides smooth and incredibly quiet, and handles well in all conditions. This was originally my wife's car and I drove it for a couple of years, but the smooth, quiet ride combined with the 100% gray interior BORED me out of my mind. Not sure if that's a good thing or a bad thing!

These cars can be bought cheaply these days... and they should be. Even a low-mileage used Taurus is going to cost you a lot in maintenance, so if you're in the market for one, buy it cheap or don't buy it at all.

Would you buy another car from this manufacturer? Yes

Review Date: 26th February, 2009