tbird100636

Just thought of the last few major things last night. Here they are...
--Heard from another Ford site a small number of 2002-03 models with a 3.0L Duratec had a casting issue-the sand used in casting the engine block was not adequtely removed and resulted in blown engines-Ford will warranty or goodwill warranty any vehicle that has this problem as long as it has been serviced regularly.
--The rear disc brakes on some models can sieze and cause the brake pads to overheat and set a small fire. Over time the calipers are exposed to the elements and the eventually sieze. Another thing that can happen is if the rear parking brake cables are bad they will jamb applied and cause the same concern. You usually can tell a bad cable by a bulging housing. This is rust and dirt in the bulge. The parking brake utilizes the rear calipers as a parking brake, rather than having a seperate drum system in the rear rotors hat. Rear disc brakes were introduced in 1989, on the Taurus SHO. In 1990, rear disc brakes became available on any car with the new option of ABS. (It was standard on the Taurus SHO) In 1996, when the Taurus/Sable was redesigned, all wagons had rear disc brakes standard, without ABS. It has stayed that way to this day, with ABS available. Sedans only got rear disc brakes if the vehicle had ABS. Early 1999, the standard non-ABS rear drum brakes were modified to accept an ABS wheel sensor, eliminating the rear disc brakes when ABS was ordered. This has been the setup to this day. The rear disc brake issue on these vehicles is somewhat common, but not as widespread as the rear disc brake setup used on early ninetie's General Motors front wheel drive cars such as the Lumina.
--On 1991-95 3.0L Vulcan and 1988-95 3.8L engines engine mount failures. The engine mounts were filled with hydralic oil to further quell engine vibrations. I'm not talking about the shock/dampers mounted to the shock towers on other models or years. I don't think the Taurus SHO used these mount because they had at least 3 of the shock/dampers. What would happen to the mount is that they would stretch and eventually tear, causing a loud bang when accelerating from a stop. I have heard they make solid replacements for these however, doing them is very involved on a 3.8L engine. There is more room to do them on a 3.0L Vulcan.
--1986-87 Tauruses with a 2.5L HSC or a 3.0L Vulcan had head gasket problems. They were remidied immeadiately by Ford.
--Spring rot-out-in salt belt states.-There have been recalls for front spring rot-out sporadically on different model years. If the springs are not cracked or rotted out, Ford installs spring shields under the springs on the struts. If the spring has cracked or shattered, the springs are replaced, along with anything that was damaged by the shattering spring, which is usually 85% of the time. This is dangerous I will admit. My uncle had a LF spring break. Luckily it was when he was only backing out of the driveway!!! It damaged the LF tire, the upper spring mount and the LF Wheel Speed Sensor. Ford paid for the damages. This only happens on models with a recall. I heard sporadically heard of rear springs shattering.
These are all of the MAJOR problems on these vehicles. I will touch upon the MINOR problems next time.