1999 Ford Taurus SE V6 24 VALVE

Summary:

Costly to own

Faults:

I have problems with the power steering. I just bought a pump to install. Looking for a pulley to fit the shaft.

General Comments:

Ford should recall the car!

Would you buy another car from this manufacturer? No

Review Date: 18th September, 2005

19th Sep 2005, 13:00

You complain with just one problem???

24th Jun 2006, 13:53

I have 99 Ford Taurus that was bought new. I've had numerous problems with it.

It seems as though I need a brake job every year, tires wear excessively, check engine light comes on, it seems like every year before its annual inspection, had transmission replaced.

AC compressor blow and locked up engine, compressor was replaced by Ford dealer, AC worked for one month after that, took it back to Ford and was told compressor didn't cause recent problem and it was a leak in one off the lines. Compressor replacement was approx $1200 with labor and they wanted $500 to fix this problem, I refused. Went over a year without AC.

I decided to get the AC serviced this year by another company, and they said they couldn't find any leak. I picked up the vehicle, cost was $169.00, drove it, AC worked fine. I made a stop on the way home, got back in car, then the ac/heat control fan and switches will not work.

I give up. I will never buy a Ford Taurus or similar vehicle again. I forgot that I've replaced I think all the sensors on this vehicle at one time or another.

1999 Ford Taurus SE 3.0

Summary:

Its put together nice, but with bad parts

Faults:

My 1999 Taurus encountered its first problem at 20,000 miles. The automatic shifting handle would not engage, which left my wife broken down. The next problem started with my heating system where it made no heat. At 98,000 miles the power steering went out as well as the heater again, and its still in the garage for a second time.

General Comments:

I've had 3 new Fords and now I think its time for a import.

Would you buy another car from this manufacturer? No

Review Date: 8th September, 2005

1999 Ford Taurus SE 3.0 Duratec

Summary:

Reliable car that flys when it needs to

Faults:

Rack and Pinion went at 80,000 miles.

Shifter cable broke at 69,000, car was still under warranty and dealer fixed for free, even though it wasn't covered.

The "haunted" wiper switch, especially after using the turn signal.

Who was the genius at Ford who put the ashtray where you can't use it when you have the center console open. which I do 90% of the time except when I'm using the center seat, I've left a lot of cigarette butts scattered over 72,000 miles.

General Comments:

At 140,000 miles still takes off quickly really handy when 8 lanes of toll plaza becomes 2 lanes of traffic.

Stock stereo still blows away after market sets, in fact blows away kicker box set-ups.

Would you buy another car from this manufacturer? Yes

Review Date: 26th June, 2005

30th Jul 2006, 15:43

I recently acquired my parent's 99 Taurus LX standard model. My parents have owned it since new & I can say they drove this car to 84,000, & have had nothing to go wrong with it at all.

Recall on the idle air solenoid under warranty, fixed free.

Everything works flawlessly.

Wish it had more power.

Also replaced the EGR pressure sensor beside the EGR valve. Cleared codes light, never came back on, great car.

White car though, so hard to keep clean. Still looks brand new.

1999 Ford Taurus SE

Summary:

This car is a piece of junk, and makes my engine blowing Hyundai look good

Faults:

I bought this car used in October 2003. It came with a 90 day warranty.

I had no heat the first time I tried to use it (within the first 2 weeks of ownership), and returned to the Ford dealership. The service department told me I was low on antifreeze, added some, and I had heat again. I returned nearly every 2 weeks after that with the same problem: no heat and low on antifreeze, but had no sign of a leak.

After the first trip to the dealership, the service manager started saying he didn't know what the problem was, or that he didn't see any problem. I returned nearly every 2 weeks with the same problem until the warranty ran out. Nothing was ever done. I kept returning with the same problem after the warranty ran out, and they continued to give me the run around.

Finally, my oil light came on and wouldn't go off. We asked if it had anything to do with the missing antifreeze (I was using 9 gallons of anti freeze a month at this point, with no sign of a leak), and we were told no, that is was the oil sending unit and the oil sensors themselves. They were replaced ($100), I drove the car to work the next day, and the oil light came back on! I returned to the dealership, they looked at it, and said they had no idea what was wrong with it (I was seeing a theme at this point). It was never repaired.

We asked if the antifreeze could possibly be going into the engine, as we were using so much coolant, there was no sign of a leak, and now the oil light wouldn't go off. We were told no, but that they could tear down the engine and look around, at our expense as the warranty had now run out. We told them to forget it.

Meanwhile, the heater core plugged up and I lost all heat again. They agreed to fix it and have Ford pay half the bill.

After a few more months with the oil light coming on, and them either saying "I don't know what it is" or "I don't see the light coming on", they finally put dye in the radiator to try to track the coolant to a leak... 3 times. The dye never appeared anywhere but the radiator.

Finally, they took an oil sample from the engine, sent it to a lab and tested it to see if there was coolant in the engine... almost 6 months after we asked about coolant in the engine being the problem. They also offered to get a special machine from Ford to power flush the coolant system. Funny how Ford had a special machine for this problem that they couldn't figure out, huh?

They kept the car for 3 days, we picked it up and there was no more coolant loss, but the oil light still came on. We figured out that they had put some sort of sealer in after flushing the coolant system (without telling us or asking permission), as we had the coolant loss every day for a year and a half, and it stopped all of a sudden. We then tried changing the oil before the 3,000 mile due date to see if the oil light would go off without a coolant leak. With a plugged leak and fresh oil, the oil light hasn't come on since. That confirmed that the coolant had been going in the engine and diluting the oil. The dealership never said a word about it to us.

We finally had to call them 2 months later to demand the results of the oil analysis. They gave us a copy of the analysis that the lab had sent them within 2 weeks of originally taking the sample from our car. It said that there were "critical" levels of coolant in the engine, that there was engine damage as a result (based on the oil breakdown), exactly what parts of the engine were damaged, and they strongly recommended that the car NOT be driven and immediately serviced. The dealership sat on this information for 2 MONTHS, and let us drive the car.

We started looking into legal help, and now the service engine light is on. We took it back to the dealership again, they put it on a diagnostic machine, and said the code that caused the light was for a bad sensor. They said they would replace it, but not charge us labor for the 2 minutes it took to put it on. The repair was $157.

I drove the car exactly 60 miles, and the service engine light has gone on again! We called Ford itself, and were told they would talk to the dealership, and the dealership would call in 2-5 days. They never called. We called Ford back, and were told that they spoke with the dealership, and they said they tried to fix it by replacing the head gasket. We told them that never happened, and the head gasket was never suggested as being part of the problem. We were also told that since we bought it used, Ford was not liable, that the dealership was our problem, and they wouldn't get into it. So Ford Certified Pre-Owned Vehicles means nothing.

I just put "1999 Ford Taurus and head gasket" in an Internet search engine, and found out that leaking head gaskets causing coolant loss and finally a blown head gasket is a very common problem on the Taurus of any model year. Ford knows about it, and even sent their service departments a technical service bulletin telling them that. Unfortunately, very few model years were recalled, even though all the Taurus have the same engine and defect.

General Comments:

If you have no heat, look into the head gasket leaking coolant into the engine.

If you have missing coolant, look into the head gasket leaking coolant into the engine.

If you have a plugged heater core, look into the head gasket leaking coolant into the engine.

If you have a Taurus, look into getting a different car!!!

Would you buy another car from this manufacturer? No

Review Date: 11th May, 2005

29th Jan 2006, 13:00

Sounds like your biggest problem was with your dealership. My main question: when you routinely pulled the dipstick to check your oil (as I assume you must), didn't you notice that your crankcase level was getting higher and higher? Didn't you see any little green globules of anti-freeze on the dipstick? Maybe you'd have had better luck to try a different garage as soon as you suspected the run-around. It seems as though heater hose/core restrictions are common in these cars. My parents have a Mercury Topaz that had heater problems, and it took 4 pressure flushes to clean it out, and now it's been fine for 2 years. Probably the previous owner drove it clogged and warped the head, and then you got the problems when you bought it used.