1993 Ford Taurus GL from North America - Comments

Blown head gasket at 112,000 miles (this is the second head gasket, the first time around it was replaced by the dealer during Ford's recall action in '94. the car head 55,000 miles on it at the time).

• Warped font brake disc's (had the disks rotated and new brake pads installed, 2 weeks later it sounded and stopped worse than before)

• Leaking driver side front strut.

• Speedometer cable noise.

• Interior air fan motor noise due to worn motor brushes.

Well, I owned a few Ford's before this Taurus and was going against all odds. Every one I knew advised me not to by a Taurus.. I gave it a chance and learned the hard way.

At first impression, I liked the car for its roominess and versatility. The look was alright and the handling a bit like grandmas old couch. The 3.8 V6 had plenty of power; however the transmission seemed to have its own agenda.

Knowing about the reputation of these transmissions, I went to the transmission shop for a fluid and filter change right after I got the car. At the same time I had the front rotors rotated and new brake pads installed. The rear breaks got new drums and new pads.

Two weeks later that car was the biggest embarrassment to drive since it sounded like a train making an emergency stop at every time I tipped on the break pedal.

I looked into changing the spark plugs, but came to find out that in order to do that I would have to remove my intake manifold just to get to the 3 rear cylinders.

So and the main event in the short relationship with this car was when the head gasket blew. That was the end, I proved my valuable friends right. This time I listened and bought a Japanese car. Very sad for American cars!

Just a note to others reading this: you don't have to take off the intake manifold to get to the rear spark plugs. I replaced mine along with all the spark plug cables about two months ago with no problems. Took me less than an hour!

What engine did you have? I have had three 93 Ford Taurus' with the 3.8 engine and all have over 200,000 miles with no problems except for the ignition module. One has 267,000 miles. And it is not like I pampered my cars either. I'd say oh, oil changed every 10,000 miles or so.

(Original Reviewer) Well, I admit I was pretty upset when I wrote the review the first time around. Nonetheless, it's the plain truth. I find this site very helpful and frequently visit it prior to imminent car purchases. I bought the '93 Taurus Wagon because of it's utility which is getting harder to find these days, with out jumping on the SUV hype. The Taurus Wagon simply is the best deal on the market when it comes to family vehicles. I knew about the engine (3.8 V6 Essex) head gasket problems before I purchased the car and was under the impression that since the original owner had a Ford dealership repair it, it it was taken care of. Naive, I know. Guess what, 2 years later, I bought another Ford Taurus. This time an '03 wagon. I made sure to get one with the Duratec engine, as I'm hearing only good things about it. I have high hopes...