1998 Ford Taurus SE from North America - Comments

I found this site via google search, and have noticed that a lot of the transmission issues are after the good ol' 150K mark. My 98 Ford Taurus SE/LX was sold to me as my first car with 102K on it. I was told that the dome light doesn't work when you open the doors, however you can still turn it on via the switches, but other than that there is nothing wrong. Well lo and behold, I noticed the check engine light. Went to the closest Advanced Auto Store, got the reader to find out that the cylinder spring coil was misfiring. Cool... I got it replaced.

Then I noticed how that when you move from a complete stop, my car goes very slowly for a while, and then as you are trying to gain speed and push on the pedal just that little more, the RPM sky rockets to 5K and that's when the tranny decides it wants to shift, and if you hold it that way, it rockets again to shift to 3rd, but if you hold it after that... the RPM's stay at 5K or until you let off the gas completely. I was told it might need a new tranny filter and oil change, so I am getting it done today. I will let every on here know if I was successful and if it helped or not.

I have a 1998 ford Taurus SE 90,000 miles - Turn signal sometimes blinks (or not) solutions:

I live next to a Ford technician who suggested (1) bumping the steering wheel (2) moving the steering wheel TILT wand and see if this makes any difference while the blinker is on. There is a connection at the steering wheel wheel that sometimes gets jarred and separates slightly. Doing these movements sometimes helps.

It might alternatively be the blinker relay (as mine was). When the relay was (temp) cold the relay would work intermittently. The heat of the day would warm the relay and it woulds work (sometimes) more reliably.

The blinker relay is a blue box cube 1"x1"x1" under the dash driver's side to the left of the steering column and above the driver's side fuse box (you have to get on your back underneath with a flashlight to see it). Went to a junk yard with the defective unit for comparison; found a (free) replacement on a similar 98 Ford Taurus and it solved the problem. Advance Discount auto parts also sells a replacement $11 (and it functionally works, but does not have same form (rectangle block vs. cube). The only problem with using the Advance relay is that you cannot physically remount (with original screw) to same location without thinking of a workaround. But it electronically solves the blinker on the blink problem.

Happy driving =)

I have the 98 Taurus SE, well, for the next day or so I'll have it because we're just going to get rid of it.

The transmission was doing the thing where it only shifts to first, then the rpms go way up, until it's warmed up, then it jerks into gear. Well, now second gear is pretty much ground to nothing, and it's not worth $3000 to fix it.

I HATE this car. I had the dome light problems, that worked intermittently with the auto lock problem.

The head gasket blew, had to have that fixed.

The front tires wobble; I had to get a steel wheel put on one side and was about to get it on the other, thought it was the brakes and had those replaced.

Console compartment broke.

Dash lights dim or go out at random.

Pretty much everything mentioned on here except the check engine light, although mine would go on if I went through a large puddle that splashed even the slightest amount of water. The car actually stalled once from that.

NOT WORTH A PENNY!!! It will suck money out of you unless you can do all the repair yourself. My husband got his 88 Sundance for free, and has done most of the repairs himself. I'm getting a Corolla this week instead of this piece of junk.

I bought a used 98 Taurus SE from a guy I thought I could trust but I'm still not sure. I was in a financial bind and this car was in my price range. It looked great and a test drive was very good so I bought it. The next morning before the engine was totally warm it refused to go into second gear until I pushed the rpms way up. It then shifted roughly but it worked just fine the rest of the day until it got cold again. When I ask the seller he said to just have the filter changed and I should have but I thought I had been bite so I just kept driving the car like that for about 2 years (60,000 miles). Then the transmission died and now I have had a used trans installed. Who knows how long that will last. Basically, I learned to test drive a car and keep it over night before paying a penny to buy the car.

I bought a 1998 ford taurus se with 162,000 miles on it the only issues I have had with it is I have had to replace a brake line front end alinement and the fuel line vent that was it so far and it is the DOHC 24 valve duruatec motor I don't know what the issues are with that car but I don't have very many.

You have to flush the 1998 and later Taurus transmission every 30,000 miles, then you will have no trouble. The Taurus V6 engine is a durable good performing workhorse, just change the oil, and the filters on a reasonable schedule. I know 3 people who bought one in '98, did reasonable maintenance, and had trouble free service from the cars for the last 10 years. Nice performance and handling, good convenience and comfort features. Low insurance rates, too, a safe car.

The crybabies and complainers don't maintain, or bought un maintained cars. Foreign cars are over rated and expensive to maintain and repair. People maintain them intensively, drive them with kid gloves, then bray about how foreign is better because they supposedly have less trouble.

I agree with the maintenance portion of the previous post. I took my 99 Taurus to a repair shop because the transmission wouldn't shift out of first gear. They "flushed" the system and the transmission shifted smoothly for about a week. When it started doing it again I took the car to another repair shop that took off the pan, replaced the filter and filled with fresh fluid. Working fine up until now, about 10,000 miles later. I've been told to have another transmission filter, flush, refill done since dirt can be trapped in the transmission. I was going to have that done at 150,000 miles, may have to get it done sooner :- ( (

My Taurus also had a problem with the door ajar light staying on all the time. Every once and a while it would "beep" then go off (like its supposed to do). It wasn't until recently after checking up on this issue that a solution was posted on another site.

Go to your local auto store and get a can of brakleen (aerosol brake cleaner), jar of white lithium grease and a rubber glove. Take the small red nozzle (mounted on the side of the can) and spray into the latch jaws and surrounding mechanisms of each door. The latch jaws are the mechanisms that "lock" the door into place when you close it and "open" the door when you pull the handle. Then take the grease and place it on your finger with the glove and lubricate the latch area. Open and close the doors about 10 times. Start the car. Open each door and see if the light comes on and goes off. You should also hear a "beep". I did this on all the doors and they all worked except the passenger front. The light continued to stay on. I went back and sprayed the heck out of the latch jaw with brakleen and closed the door. The light went out. I then reapplied the grease and opened and closed the door about 10 more times and it worked!

I keep great records on my Taurus and have spent $5,200.00 since I bought it in November of 2000. This amount includes oil changes, tires, brakes, battery, etc... This equates to about $51.00 per month. I do think that this amount is high for maintenance, however it beats a car payment anyday.

I plan on keeping this car until something major goes wrong with it. The value of my Taurus is about $2,500.00, so any type of engine issue would probably result in this car visiting the scrap heap.

Would I buy another Taurus?? Probably not. You would think after this car being the largest mass produced vehicle by Ford and the king for so many years the issues that we are all having would be resolved.

The best thing about the Taurus is the purchase price of a used one. They depreciate tremendously, great for the used car buyer. You have to take the maintenance cost and headaches into play to see if this car is for you..