Ford DESERVES to Go Bankrupt (Rant)

[m21sniper]

Originally Posted by gprsh924

I see your problem: you bought a 99 Tarus.

Tauruses are junk. Always have been.

[m21sniper]

Originally Posted by lane912

i have a 98 tarus that is falling apart faster than my 66' 912 project!

What do you expect from a 11yo Taurus?

I mean seriously...

Originally Posted by TerryH

They may be crap, but Taurus was the top selling or top 5 selling american car for about 15 years in a row. Guess it just shows how bad the alternatives were.

What it shows is how stupid car buyers are.

Originally Posted by ruf-porsche

That's not the oil pan, that the TRANSMISSION PAN. UH OH

Who think these thing up at FORD? engineers and designers.

LOL

A trans pan with a drain plug is a rarity for ANY maker. For the life of me that one amazes me to this day. I mean...wtf? Why no drain plug guys?

[HardDrive]

I have owned 2 Ford cars, including a 1998 Tarus, and I thought they were fantastic cars. I put 122,000 miles on my Ranger, and the only thing that went wrong was a broken clutch slave. It cost me $160 to have fixed. Not bad for 8 hard years of ownership in the midwest, sitting outside during the winters.

Why do you keep comparing Fords to Porsches? They are so obviously in different leagues.

[Hugh R]

I had a Taurus SHO, the hot one with the Yamaha built V-6, man that thing would haul ass. Everything under the hood was built to shoe horn in around that V-6, including the air conditioning compressor. They couldn't use a standard $250 compressor, no that had a special one just for that car. $1000!!

[911Rob]

Taurus SHO, talk about your ultimate sleeper car.

[red-beard]

Originally Posted by imcarthur

This is a very common problem with BMW E46 3 series too. As well, sunroof drains plug & fill your rear seat wells with water. I know first hand btw . . .

Ian

That happends on 911 SCs as well.

Also, the 914 LOVES to collect water in the trunk...

[pwd72s]

Originally Posted by HardDrive

Why do you keep comparing Fords to Porsches? They are so obviously in different leagues.

Yeah...the Fords are more reliable, and cheaper to fix in the unlikely event something goes wrong.

[carr914]

Try finding the battery in a Ferrari 355. You'll be looking for days, before you give up and call the dealer. Then you'll say, "WTF were they thinking."

[Jim Bremner]

just remember, the ford logo is a blue oval with a silver outline around it. ( they circled the problem)

My DAD got 280,000 miles out of his '78 ranchero Before rebuilding the engine and trans. I think that it was over 380,000 when he sold it

My mom had a '86 mustang that my brother was giving 10 years later. @
260,000 he swapped the intake and dropped a washer down #7 it ran one more day after that.

Just remember, this is a fan-boy site for an engine that has a magnesium case, cast-iron cylinders,aluminum pistons and heads, and is held together with cro-moly bolts. just think of the heat expansion ratios involved.

[Arizona_928]

my mothers 94 3.8L Taurus! complete piece of ****, at 100 grand the head gasket blows, from factory defect. call the dealer, denial until i tell them i have the recall notice in my hand, still refused to fix it. doing the HG would've required to remove the whole engine. sold it the next day for 5 bills. BB was 1,200.

[ruf-porsche]

Originally Posted by m21sniper

What do you expect from a 11yo Taurus?

I mean seriously...


What it shows is how stupid car buyers are.


A trans pan with a drain plug is a rarity for ANY maker. For the life of me that one amazes me to this day. I mean...wtf? Why no drain plug guys?

Get yourself a BMUU 525i with the GM autotragic. It has a drain plug, but no dip sticks.

LOL

[ruf-porsche]

Originally Posted by pwd72s

Yeah...the Fords are more reliable, and cheaper to fix in the unlikely event something goes wrong.

Parts are a lot cheaper and they don't have to be special order.

[idontknow]

Originally Posted by red-beard

That happends on 911 SCs as well.

Also, the 914 LOVES to collect water in the trunk...

Not for long though, the 914 tends to promptly make it's own drain holes.

[speeder]

This is funny. I actually owned a '99 Taurus wagon for a year about 3 years ago and it was a great car for what it was. I paid $1700 for it with a bad PS pump, it had the regular 3.0 OHV V-6. It never gave me any grief and drove fine for an "appliance car". Tons of cargo room w/ rear seat folded down. Cops, thieves and everyone else completely ignores you in that car, that's one of my measures of a great DD.

Many, many cars have the spare upside-down w/ a tool tray in the offset (inner) part of rim. Being able to check the air pressure in the spare while it's stored is simply not a design consideration. 99.999% of vehicle owners never check the psi. in the spare. I never do. Don't get me wrong, it's a smart thing to do but most will never do it. The design consideration is how to pack the tool kit and the jack with the spare while taking up the least amount of trunk/cargo room, that's pretty much it.

Plugs and oil changes were no problem on mine and it definitely had an oil drain plug. these cars are so cheap on the used market that they are practically free. They sold zillions of them, they're a dime a dozen. I would not hesitate to buy another wagon for pennies if I needed a plain old car.

[aigel]

Originally Posted by m21sniper

A trans pan with a drain plug is a rarity for ANY maker. For the life of me that one amazes me to this day. I mean...wtf? Why no drain plug guys?

Three reasons

- The filter inside the pan has to be changed at the same time you change the oil.
- The trans drain plug could be mistaken for the engine oil drain plug.

A well trained mechanic or DIYer can drop the trans pan without spills. The pan just has to be dropped with one edge leading (while the other stays on the bolts) and you'll be fine. Also, if you are inclined, there are aftermarket drain plugs available.

My 993 has the spare valve facing down.

George

[Jim Bremner]

I just went to check the spare in my che'vette, cheap azz batards didn't even give me a spare

[Scuba Steve]

Design flaw... changing a clutch on a 944. I hear the 968 clutch housing is in two pieces so the transmission, exhaust and drivetrain don't have to be removed to gain access.

[SLO-BOB]

Originally Posted by ruf-porsche

Only if you own a 2.7L or a 964.

Glad I sold my 2.7 and brought a SC

The two best P-cars I had were a 2.7 and 964.

The 2.7 had the engine rebuilt with timecerts so it was fine. Loved the sound!

The 964 was a 92 so it had head gaskets. The car was an amazing performer and a joy to work on. If I get another P-car, it will be 964 for sure.

The SC traded case problems for stud problems.

BMW owners wish they had a spare to complain about. When they did have spares, the well filled up with water too. How 'bout plastic water pumps? Let's not forget oil issues requiring total rebuils of M3s, among many, many other BMW issues. I'll never have one again. Well, maybe a nice E-30, their last good car.

The Toyota Camry I rented last year had me wishing for a Taurus rental. Worst pos I've been in including the Yaris, which sucked, but was better.

I have to remove the plastic fender on the driver's side to replace the headlight bulbs on my daughter's Civic. I actually have to crank the wheel one way or the other to get the tire out of the way and R&R the bulb from the wheel well! Talk about bad design!

My buddies Mercedes needs a new engine block . The cylinder coating is bad. Lots of those I hear.

My point is, all manufacturers have problems - design or otherwise. All things considered, it sounds as if the Taurus is doing quite well.

My Grand Caravan has 250k miles on it. The only repair it has ever needed was a new window motor. Other than that it's been the usual maintenance - tune ups, brakes, tires, etc. I wouldn't hesitate to buy another one.

[Heel n Toe]

Originally Posted by competentone

A design "problem" such as the installation of the spare tire "up-side-down" -- so that it requires complete removal in order to check the air pressure -- is not any age-related problem.

I wonder how many dozen people reviewed the design of the spare tire storage during the planning of the car, yet it never dawned on any of them that a simple design change would save people a lot of hassle.

I think the donut spare in the '88 Taurus Wagon we owned in the mid-late '90s was similarly oriented... but it was over to the left side under a plastic panel that was a PITA to undo and reinstall, not in the floor... because that area was the footwell for the rear-facing seat.

IIRC, those donuts are supposed to have about 60 PSI in them, but I just resorted to carrying a can or two of Fix-A-Flat in case I ever had to use it.

[JavaBrewer]

Originally Posted by 911Rob

Taurus SHO, talk about your ultimate sleeper car.

A friend and I worked a local car club rally to Vegas. He had a buddy that worked at a rental car place and we got a SHO Taurus for the long weekend. The car was in need of new tires when we returned it. If you think the SHO is fun on the road you should try it on dirt