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Ford Taurus/Mercury Sable Sedans Pre-2008

3389 messages,  Last post on Jan 21, 2011 at 11:46 AM

You are in the Ford Taurus/Mercury Sable Forum.

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

Messages Page 188 of 340

#1862 of 3389 Fully Loaded New 2003 Taurus SEL Premium $21K by s852

Nov 24, 2002 (9:49 pm)

I just saw the new 2003 Taurus commercial on TV. It looked pretty good with the leather and real wood trim on the steering wheel.
I priced it out on the Ford website at about $27,000 fully loaded (except rear spoiler).
Then I went to CarsDirect.com and after the $2000 rebate, and regional discounts that gave credit toward free moonroof and free leather, it priced out at just under $21K plus tax. That's Hyundai Sonata cheap!
If I were to buy one, I would go for the best PremiumCare Ford factory 6 year/100,000 extended warranty with $0 deductible. That would add somewhere around another $2000 to the price. $23,000 still looks decent for a fully loaded car with leather, moonroof, Mach stereo, power everything and no repair cost worries for 6 years etc..
Too bad that it will only be worth $10,000 after 3 years.

#1863 of 3389 Response 1807 by riswami

Nov 25, 2002 (4:58 am)

The gas will gel? I've stored gasoline for my lawnmower for 4.5 months. Trust me it doesn't gel. I'm sure this individual is refueling at least once a month. For one thing the post talks about (1806) 3k worth of repair and can't describe what has taken place. If something that major happened to my car you better believe I'd know what was wrong!

#1864 of 3389 Highway Mileage-Duratec by badgerfan

Nov 25, 2002 (6:36 am)

Gave my 2000 SES a good highway workout this weekend-572 miles almost all interstate at about 71 MPH there with a strong headwind and on return on good semi-freeway conditions-mostly 4 lane with some 2 lane (different route home) at about 65 MPH average and with about 30 degree F outside temperatures both ways. Got 27.2 miles per gallon. I could easily see how we could get 28-29 highway under better conditions. Passed 20K miles this weekend still running perfect.

#1865 of 3389 ggomez and short drives by sculldog33

Nov 25, 2002 (4:35 pm)

Doesn't sound very good, I also have a 2000 LS premium, with 15K miles and a roundtrip commute of 5 miles. I was also worried about the effects of short, "severe duty" type driving. Can't do much about the commute, and I don't want to find a longer way to work, so I recently had the remote starter installed. Fire the car up about 10-15 minutes prior to leaving and it's nice and warm at least, hopefully helps get some of the moisture out of the exhaust, and maybe even warms the oil and engine up a bit more.
 
Haven't had problems in mine so far. Can anyone else comment on the potential problems facing low mileage drivers? Also, how does this affect service intervals? My gut reaction was to replace the fuel filter, PCV/breather gasket, possibly even flush and fill transmission and coolant at the 15K service, but the dealer said this is all driven by mileage, not time. they assured me I don't need to do these, but I'm doubtful. It will be four + years before I hit 30K, so I suspect I'll do the transmission flush before that -- anyone have insight into this? Am I wasting my money? I do oil changes about 4-5 times a year, going on time and or season versus mileage.
 
Goal is to keep this thing about 11-12 years and live without a payment for a while, just hoping the low miles don't actually hurt me somehow!! Do have a 6 year warranty but that only takes me halfway!

#1866 of 3389 1991 Sable GS.. by david_c1981

Nov 25, 2002 (5:08 pm)

Hey, anybody know what type of suspension the 1991 Sable GS has? New ones have 4 wheel independent, but I can't find anything on the older ones, and I don't have the manual because I baught it from an auction.
 
I baught the car for $1150 CND, I got a lemon? You betcha. It's been in a front end collision, but I don't see any frame damage/repairs from it, must have just been a crumple. Anyways, anyone know about this car? Should I be expecting my AXOD to die? Or my head gasket to blow? How do I tell if they've been repaired? Anything else I should be concerned about? IE: Fuel Filter. (113500KM)
 
Ok, thanks for any feed back.
So far, I think the Sable RULES!

#1867 of 3389 oh! oh! by ggomez

Nov 25, 2002 (9:51 pm)

I guess I also needed to write that my Sable is also driven during the weekend and we drive more than the 8 miles we drive daily Monday-Friday. We change the oil every 3000 miles. We basically want the car to last a long time.The car was driven to Myrtle Beach this year about 450 miles one way and also driven to Canada last over 500 miles one way.
All I was trying to illustrate in the earlier e-mail is that the car is well maintained and not driven hard. Yet we had this problem which I will have explained to me once the car is fixed.
Believe I need to know what happened to our car.

#1868 of 3389 1991 Sable by badgerfan

Nov 26, 2002 (6:42 am)

All Tauri and Sables have always had four wheel independent suspensions (struts at all four corners) since their introduction in 1986.
 
I believe their were some less than reliable transmissions introduced in 1991 when they went to electronic controls. My neighbor had one go at slightly over 100,000 miles-traded it rather than repaired. My 1990 was fine. I sold it to a private party at 10 years and 98,000 miles. Had transmission fluid and filter changed once at 70,000 and fluid was not burnt and transmission had no problems.
 
A fair amount of the 3.8 liter V-6's had head gasket failures, but if your Sable has the Vulcan 3.0 V-6, I believe it is a pretty reliable engine.
 
Since you likely do not know the service history, a transmission fluid change, plugs, new fuel filter and cooling system flush and fill are probably a good idea, along with inspection of hoses, belts, CV joint boots and suspension. Tie rod ends were a typical weak point but not too expensive.

#1869 of 3389 sculldog33 by upsetter1

Nov 26, 2002 (11:32 am)

I read that oil gradually gets deluted by gasoline when engine doesn't get warm up. But if you take occasinally longer trips it may be okay. There may be other effects, like battery is getting discharged and once in a while you better fully recharge it. I don't think there may be other harm. It certainly doesn't affect transmission, usually overheating at high speeds or long city driving at low speeds can affect transmission. But of course city driven miles are not the same as freeway miles. I think you only need to change oil more often and keep watch on battery. About sludge build up inside engine. Well I know Toyota has problem with it, I didn't hear anything like that about Ford engines.

#1870 of 3389 Thanks badgerfan! by david_c1981

Nov 26, 2002 (11:39 pm)

Hey, thanks a lot, I couldn't find anything about independent suspension, they didn't start bragging about it till lately. They say it gives a nice smooth ride, but if people knew it was implemented in 1986 then it wouldn't sound so cool would it? haha.
 
I have the 3.8L ;o( So worry I must.
Alright, I'll change my plugs for sure, and flush fluids. Have you seen the Bosch plugs with 4 prongs? I'm thinking about those, but I have no idea what the best is. Anyone have ideas?

#1871 of 3389 david_c1981 by badgerfan

Nov 27, 2002 (6:33 am)

I don't have any experience with gimmicky plugs. When I replaced them on my '90, I just used the same as the originals-just make sure you use platinum plugs-one new set will likely last you the remaining life of your car. I changed mine at about 40,000 and 80,000 miles, but both times I wondered why, as the plugs looked new-no increase in gap, rounded tip or anything else indicating they needed replacement. I think you could go 80,000-100,000 miles easily with one set.

Messages Page 188 of 340

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