Comments: 1-15, 16-17
I bought our 1999 Taurus wagon with relatively low miles. We thought great a decent used car without having to spend a fortune on upkeep.
Our power steering started to fail I added a small amount of fluid to the unit thinking no big deal it was a little low, my wife was nervous we bought the car with a closed out 401k.
We needed a car we could trust so I did research on dependability and such.
We have two young children and we are just getting by. Power steering failed again after a few miles. I bring it to a ford dealer thinking 100.00 or so maybe a hose or something similar. Bang 800.00 for a steering rack DOA at 62000.
Now I see too many people with the same amount of miles and the identical problem, call ford everyone. This is definately a recall issue,800-392-3873
My car sits now waiting for me to save cash to fix it. My summer is ruined for my young family. Ford said they have never heard this before its been documented, and is very easy to find this problem, I never ever thought a power steering unit would waste our 7000.00 investment.
We dumped our ford money pit, we hope you do the same.
Same problem with my 1999 Taurus. Just replaced the rack after 60,254. That is Kilometers NOT miles.
POWER STEERING WENT OUT ON ME TOO AFTER 50XXX MILES. VERY DISAPPOINTED IN THIS VEHICLE. I WORRY ABOUT THE TRANSMISSION ALSO.
I just tried calling the toll free number listed and it has been disconnected. Hmmmmmmmmm...
I bought my 1999 Taurus new. At 39,000 miles the steering rack went. This car should have a recall.
I own a 1988 Toyota Corolla, I bought it in 1996 and have never even had to add a single drop of anything into the power steering, and it`s 2006 now, I don`t know how old the fluid is, I guess I should change it just because its probably time, not because I have to,,, and get this...it`s still clean.
I feel terrible for people who get sucked in buy Fords no interest payments,,, trust me you will pay dearly, so much that you won`t be able to buy another car while you are paying off all of the repair bills..
Shame on the Ford Motor Company,, and all the other North American auto companies, as far as that goes.
Wow. My 1999 Ford Taurus SE has about 78,000 miles on it. I thought it would be trouble free for a few more years. Just a few days ago, I heard my power steering start making some noise. So, I added only about 4 oz of fluid to the line. Now, it is making even more noise. I just thought I would search on-line for some info on the matter, and found this website. Steering Rack!?!? $800.00!?!? GULP! Would Ford Motor Company do a recall on such an expensive part? GULP!
"We have two young children and we are just getting by. Power steering failed again after a few miles. I bring it to a ford dealer thinking 100.00 or so maybe a hose or something similar. Bang 800.00 for a steering rack DOA at 62000."
You were victimized. The power steering pump is nothing but a pulley driven pump that helps make steering easier. It has zero to do with the solid connection of the steering components. The pump forces pressurized fluid through hoses into a gear box on your steering column. That has ZERO to do with the tie rods, bolts, and steel Pitman arms that actually turn the wheels. If your power steering pump were dry and non-functional, you could still steer the car (with difficulty). Don't fall for this $800 "steering rack" scam because your power steering pump is making noise. One has NOTHING to do with the other. If you hit a foot-deep pothole going 70, you MIGHT need to repair the steering rack, or rack and pinion steering.
Also realize that Ford vehicles DO NOT use power steering fluid in their pumps; they use Mercon ATF. If you added anything other than Mercon ATF to your pump, you ruined the seals and created a problem where there was no problem.
I'm sympathetic, because I almost did the same thing myself until I read the owner's manual. In fact, my dad added a quart of water to the power steering pump on his '97 Mercury because he thought it was the radiator overflow neck (yeah, old people...), and we had to suck out the bad fluid with a giant syringe. We then made the mistake of adding power steering fluid, and it now makes more noise than it did before, but it works. You can try to drain out the old fluid by disconnecting the hoses, and then add the correct fluid to the correct level.
I have this car, and my uncle (a retired mechanic) just replaced the pump. It works; I mean I can steer easily and there seems to be no leakage. But the buzzing noise, not as loud as before, is still there after one day.
Damn...that's no even funny.
I came across this website and I just dumped 850.00 for my rack at 75,000 miles and it's still messed up.
I'm actually looking for another car now...
Any time now, and my car is history...
I have a 1999 ford Taurus, its been good to me,iv had it 4 years now,it had 36000 on it,and has 78000 miles now, I say it (has been),i just drooped 600 in to it the heat stopd working, i had the works done to it, the dealer said the heater core was fine,thay could not find a reson why the heat doesn t work it blows out, but cold,thay said maybe there is air in the system, so thay flushed it and now. (i still have not heat) a ford is a money pit,i will never ever get a ford agin, i m going to take it out in the field and shoot it in the block,
Can we all say "class action". A hundred bucks apiece and we get thousands back... Our lawyers more, but who cares...it's a frickin problem...
IF YOU HAVE HEAT PROBLEMS READ THIS...
If you have a 1999 Ford Taurus with no heat, the problem is actually a strange problem that creates an electrical field between the chemical makeup of the red coolant and the system. To fix this problem, do a radiator flush and ONLY USE GREEN FLUID. Your heater will pack the heat after that.
NOW YOU CAN FINALLY ENJOY YOUR CAR.
I just repaired my stepson's 1999 Taurus because of a rusty colored foam coming from his expansion tank. I first just flushed the system and put in a new therm-stat, but it still comes back. (He also had no heat). So then I removed the water pump to find that all the fins on the pump had rusted away. With new pump installed all is good again. But due to the lack of coolant and a bad water pump, his head gasket went bad (another repair job).
I have a 98 Taurus that I replaced the rack and pin - dropped $1200 over a year ago. Now I am hearing that noise again. I am glad that I read not to add power steering fluid, because that was exactly what I was going to do. Guess I will run by Auto Zone tomorrow before I have a problem on my hands.