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Taurus/Sable Maintenance & Repair

2996 messages,  Last post on Dec 01, 2012 at 9:47 AM

You are in the Ford Taurus/Mercury Sable Forum.

What is this discussion about? Ford Taurus, Mercury Sable, Sedan, Wagon

Messages Page 73 of 300

#721 of 2996 Taurus alignment problems... by strokeoluck

Jan 18, 2003 (7:28 pm)

Interesting info to say the least! My .02 worth is that I've not had any major problems w/alignment or tires on my 2000 Taurus. I put my second set of tires on at about 60,000 miles. Currently I have 98,000 miles on the car. They still look brand new after having rotated them every other oil change.
 
Ironically I know of two people that had alignment/premature tire wear problems with another four door sedan...but it was the Toyota Avalon! Yes, the Avalon, that bastion of Asian quality. A good friend of mine owned a '98 and his tires wore out at about 20,000 miles on his first two sets of tires. My father recently purchased a 2001 Avalon and he could actually see the metal radial belts on his tires at 16,000 miles (he'd rotated them once in those 16,000 miles). He was shocked and expressed his displeasure w/the appropriate Toyota people but they wouldn't do a thing for him. Told him that he must have "hit" something with the car and also reminded him that he hadn't rotated his tires at the appropriate intervals (apparently that justifies the appearance of metal).
 
I live in the Ann Arbor/Detroit area and have a number of friends that work at Ford and some tier one auto suppliers. They all assure me that for the last several years Ford has been doing everything they can to reduce costs (not a surprise), and sometimes that comes at the expense of quality. Another point they make is that Ford will be doing away with the Taurus in a year or so (apparently the majority of their sales are to "fleets" so the Taurus doesn't command as much attention as it should in the typical consumer segment), so it's kind of like the ugly stepchild right now. Yes quality is still very good - and much better than it was 5-10 years ago - but I don't think it's as good as it "could" be. However I'm relatively happy with my Taurus and am pleased as punch that it's holding up so well at approx. 100,000 miles...knock on wood.
 
- R

#722 of 2996 Taurus Alignment Problems by mebcaux

Jan 18, 2003 (9:30 pm)

Dear R:
 
Thanks for your thoughtful response. Ironically, I almost bought an Avalon instead of the Taurus wagon, after many years of resisting buying Japanese in favor of Fords (1990 SHO, 1986 F-150)! In the end, I calculated that the Taurus would be a good enough value for the money to warrant taking a chance on its presumably inferior quality, that it would be a better family car, and that I owed it to my Midwestern, UAW country roots to buy a Midwestern, UAW-produced vehicle.
 
Thanks for the reassurance that, despite this alignment hassle, I won't likely regret my choice in the long run!
 
M

#723 of 2996 Taurus Alignment Problems by wijoco

Jan 19, 2003 (8:42 am)

Mebcaux, you might want to consider going ahead and having the work performed out of your own pocket, at least initially. Class action suits can take years, not just months, sometimes. And seeing that a set of quality new tires isn't far below $400, it would be a shame for your Taurus to shred another set while waiting for the verdict. Just save the receipts, and Ford will most likely reimburse you. Most things like these are retroactive, as long as your product falls within the defective time-of-manufacture range. Good luck!

#724 of 2996 Taurus Alignment Problems by mebcaux

Jan 19, 2003 (10:36 am)

Dear "Wijoco":
 
Thanks for your response, with which I couldn't agree more. I'm certainly not going to risk another set of tires while I await outcome of legal proceedings. That would indeed be foolish.
 
Neither am I going to write this off to experience. Ford is in the wrong, and, like almost any large, publicly-held, MBA-ridden, cynically-managed American company, will only do the right thing for those in my predicament once they sense the cost of inaction will far exceed the cost of correcting the problem, e.g., Pinto fuel tank, truck primer coat "hidden recall", transmissions slipping out of Park, TFI failures, and so on, and on, and on.
 
Again, thanks!
Mebcaux

#725 of 2996 antifreeze drain plug by behhpp

Jan 19, 2003 (4:46 pm)

I know this is a simple question, but I cannot locate the radiator drain plug on my 1997 Mercury sable. Can anyone let me know where to look for this? I can't believe I can't find this. Thanks.

#727 of 2996 1996 Gunk In the coolent system update... by jaybo4

Jan 20, 2003 (9:14 am)

Boy it's cold here in Salem, Mass.
The heat is not work on my daughters
'96 Taurus. Station Wants $550 to fix.
Took it to the local service station..left it for the day. He told me the heater core was blocked heblew air through the core and it was totally cloggng. He would have to remove the whole dash to get at the heater core. nearby Volvo tech who does repairs for me from time to time told me they do not blow air...but run hot water from a hose through the two ends of the core sticking out of the fire wall. He showed them to me. I did it in my drive way yesterday. It is 10 degrees out
,,I got soaked...I was frozen...But I FIXED IT !!! The car heats up !!!!! The garden hose blew brown yeech out...flushed it out both ways on the core in and out. Feels Good....

#728 of 2996 jaybo by alcan

Jan 20, 2003 (10:11 am)

Lets you know what the rest of your cooling system's like, too. Time for a flush.

#729 of 2996 behhpp by alcan

Jan 20, 2003 (10:13 am)

The side of the left (driver's side) tank, facing out toward the fender.

#730 of 2996 Reply to Cinderflea #720/#719 by 69ss

Jan 20, 2003 (11:41 am)

I just bought a 2000 Taurus 2 weeks ago and experienced the same shifting problem. There is a switch located on the brake pedal that signals the brake lights, cruise control, and shifting solenoid. Mine had already been repaired (poorly) by Ford and one wire was fragile and broken again. I repaired it and it all operates correctly now. The design is very weak and uses thin wire that weakens with use. I also have new front end components/alignment/balancing and the almost new tires act the same as #719.

Messages Page 73 of 300

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