2000 Ford Taurus SE 3.0 from North America

Summary:

Good car with a bad rep? I don't think so

Faults:

I did not have a good experience with my 2000 Ford Taurus SE. Bought it for 7k at 60k miles.

Evaporator leak at 65,000 miles, did not fix it.

Had to replace 2 tires because of shakiness at 70,000 miles.

Replaced the cracked charcoal canister on top of the gas tank - was causing the 'Check Engine Light' to turn on at 75,000 miles.

Replaced brake pads at 80,000 miles.

Bad lifter in the engine at 85,000 miles, did not fix it - causes noise, engine misfire, check engine light.

Replaced cracked serpentine belt at 90,000 miles, still small occasional noise from around the belt, don't know from where.

Transmission fluid leaks at 95,000 miles, did not fix it.

Battery dead at 100,000 miles.

That's where I am now, decided to drive it into dirt or give it away.

Would you buy another car from this manufacturer? No

Review Date: 21st July, 2004

19th Sep 2004, 20:34

I just want to say that 90% of your 2000 Ford Taurus' problems are just normal maintenance. The new tires, new breaks, cracked belts are ALL expected to go sooner or later, and now that you have almost 100k miles on it, its obviously going to start having problems. What I suggest is that you learn a little more about cars before you buy one, rather than just go out and buy a used car for 7 grand and expect there to be no problems. 7 grand can't get you much anymore, and even though it had only 60k miles when you bought it, you should have learned about the quality of Ford before hand. Half the reason why Taurus' get bad reviews is because of the car illiterate people who buy them and don't expect anything to ever go wrong with it, and when something goes wrong, they think it's a bad car, even if its just a normal expected problem. Every car has problems sooner or later, and it sounds to me like you don't know much about what your talking about. I had a Taurus and I'm getting a new one, and I've had many cars and I can honestly say, my old 1998 Taurus has been the cheapest yet MOST RELIABLE car I have ever owned.

14th Oct 2004, 06:29

I also owned a 1998 ford taurus and that made me buy a 2000 ford taurus! I really liked the 1998, the model I have now has shakeness that I can't get to go away, other than that this car has been so great!

2000 Ford Taurus SES FFL 3.0 from North America

Summary:

Need to work out the bugs

Faults:

Drums had to be replaced within first month of purchase.

Recall on stop lamp switch.

Pinging noise upon acceleration in warm weather. The warmer it gets the heavier the ping.

General Comments:

My biggest issue with this car, is the pinging. I have read several things on the web regarding this, one of them being on this message board. This pinging supposedly can be taken care of with a PCM reset or reprogram. Has to do with the computer not recognizing octane of gas? (I'm not a mechanic) I've been told by ford that I needed an upper engine de-carbon a new DPFE sensor, spark plugs etc. Total cost=700.00-800.00$I asked him if ping would be completely gone, his reply was that every car has ping. I quickly declined services and never looked back.

The possibilities on the fix for this are many. Or perhaps according to a post already on this board there isn't.

I have had the egr valve replaced and that didn't work. So I am kind of stumped.

All said and done, this car would have an excellent rating if not for this annoying ping.I've been told not to use a higher octane gas, use the recommended 87 octane. gonna try the pcm reprogram tomorrow, any suggestions?Contacted Ford Motor company, suppose to give me a call back. One more thing, also read camshaft or camshaft bearings on some of these 2000 SES were not properly heat treated which could be causing ping. Just food for thought. Any suggestions answers would be greatly appreciated.

Would you buy another car from this manufacturer? No

Review Date: 6th June, 2004

25th Jun 2004, 08:45

PCM flash on my 99 taurus did not fix the pinging, mid grade fuel lessens the noise, very annoying.