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Ford Taurus/Mercury Sable Sedans Pre-2008
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A noise like a growl (sounds like failing bearings or rubbing) can be heard with the car in drive or reverse and running but stopped. This noise becomes a chirp (sounds like a slipping belt) when I take off. While driving at a constant speed, the sound becomes a randomly spaced but persistent squeak that stops when I put the car in neutral.
I first suspected the tranny, since I have had so many tranny troubles. I took the belt off and started the car. When put into drive it made no added noise. I concluded it must be something connected to or rubbing on the belt.
With the belt back on, I listened to the water pump, alternator and ps pump w/ a stethoscope. Both the alternator and the ps pump sounded much different with the car in gear. WHY IS THIS? WHY IS THE LOAD ON THESE ITEMS DIFFERENT WITH THE CAR IN DRIVE BUT NOT GOING ANYWHERE?
The water pump has 24 k, the alternator is original and both the ps pump and the idler pulley have 400 miles of use.
With the belt off I spun everything that would turn. Nothing sounded or felt noteworthy except the water pump really only wanted to turn one way, but it sounded the same in gear and out with the stethoscope.
Any ideas? Someone suggested the harmonic balancer. Would it behave differently with the tranny in gear than out?
Mercury will discontinue its long-suffering Sable sedan after the 2005 model year. Production of the Sable at Ford Motor Co.'s Atlanta assembly plant is expected to end in April.
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http://www.autonews.com/
I haven't had any serious problems, and the ride and fit of the car is just fine for my wife(she has the 2002 Sable LS}and I.
Here is another link:
http://www.autoweek.com/news.cms?newsId=101362
Maybe the styling of the Montego will grow on me after a while. Also wish Ford would upgrade the horsepower a bit (225 to 250)in the Duratech. It's been such a good powerplant though maybe they don't want to mess with success
it doesn't compare farorably to its conterparts from honda, toyota (3.2 not the 3.0), GM (3.6 OHC) and nissan.
Jon
The cost of replacement wouldn't have been all that much even if it had been past warranty, maybe $100-$150 max, but I don't recall exactly what the statement listed.
I recently purchased a silver 2001 Ford Taurus SES! It has 57,000 miles on it. The body is in excellent condition, as well as the interior. This car came with power windows, locks, mirrors, and power driver's seat. It also has CD player and the bench seat option. The engine is the Vulcan V6 (which I feel is plentiful and pulls well).
The dealer put new brakes all the way around on this car, as well as had it serviced and lubed. They initially wanted $7,999, but I got it for $6,500! Did I get a great deal? The car runs GREAT!
Thanks!
- Alex
As for your price, It looks pretty average to me. Every dealer will discount their cars over asking prices.
You can book out your car here on Edmunds if you really want to.
~alpha
Thanks, Shannon
It could be
1) The blower motor selector switch or the connections to it
2) The wires between the selector switch and the blower.
3) A bad ground wire
- Good luck ! Electrical problems can be very tricky
It has a popping noise on the right front also.
Do Ford know what to do now.
Thanks so much for your help.
Thanks
It seems that my speedometer is 10 mph higher than what I feel I am going. Have you heard of this problem before. I am also only getting 14.8 average miles per fill-up. Is this normal or are my gauges not working correctly?
Thank you again for your help!
I managed to get it to limp forward briefly by putting it in "D" and revving the engine a bit while pushing the car manually, before giving up and calling for a tow.
Upon arrival at the shop, the tow-truck driver lowered the car and surprise, surprise -- it went into drive and pulled forward as nice as you please! The shop (NOT a tranny specialist but owned by a friend of a friend, who had recently done a major tune-up on the car) was unable to find anything wrong after a cursory inspection and a diagnostic they had done at a another garage also turned up nothing. The car then ran fine for a while...
Well, one fine Sunday morning less than two months later, my wife tries to run an errand and wouldn't you know, the Taurus has other ideas (i.e. no forward motion)...
The car is now at a transmission shop and they're telling me that it's an internal problem and I have two choices: ~$1200 repair w/ 90-day warranty; ~$1800 rebuild w/ 1 yr. / 12K mile warranty.
Any advice you knowledgeable folks may offer would be GREATLY appreciated!
Thanks!
well the cheapest thing you can do is go down to the auto parts store and buy a quart of Transmission solvent. Brands like Trans-X, there are others. Should cost around $5 to $10 bucks. Also think about changing the transmission fluid. This fix might buy you a few more months (or even years) before you have to spend some real money on your car.
The $1200 or $1800 fix are up to you. How long do you plan on keeping the car ??
Keep it in perspective. $1800 is alot of money but it's only about 5 months payment on a new car. So it may be alot cheaper to fix your present ride than get a new one. Also since you have 146k miles on the car didn't you ever expect to do some major repairs.
I have now driven my 2001 Ford Taurus SES for almost a month now. My follow-up is that this car is great! It HANDLES well and has plenty of pull from the V6. The ride is very SOLID, yet the suspension is firm enough to handle road irregularities and handle the curves with ease. The factory CD system sounds GREAT and plays them all (even scratched) with no problems.
Now, of course there a few cons. For starters, I have a little bit of paint coming off the front bumper (my car is silver). It looks as if a little bit of clearcoat is coming off? This can't be noticed unless you are right in front of the car. Also, there is some belt under the hood that sometimes squeaks. Sometimes, when driving low speed it sounds like a bolt in a can coming from somewhere (usually only happens on rough pavement). It can only be heard if you are dead silent. And, the cigarette lighter when you push it in to let it light up, just FLYS out and onto the floor when it's ready! I just hold it from now on, but that shocked me!
As far as the cars performance, it meets all my needs and attains 22-24MPG mixed driving. I am about to take a 600-mile round trip and can't wait! This car is so comfortable and the power driver's seat is a plus!
So, I do recommend this car or the Mercury Sable for an awesome used car buy!
- Alex
Also, it is a 1996 Taurus with 140,000 miles, so it isn't surprising that something is wrong with the transmission.
I quoted that there was a sound like a "bolt in a can" at low speed. Turns out it was just the antenna jiggling! YAY! It happened on rough/crappy roads and turning sharply up or downhill. So I twisted it a little bit and BAM!
I love this car!
- Alex
P.S. This car got 27MPG on the highway trip doing 70+ MPH!
When I go to my hometown in Cincinnati to visit once a year in April it is about 520 miles from Northern Virginia and I get around 30mph each year. I check it every year thinking that my math is wrong. I even had my all-knowing brother-in-law do the math and he was speechless (he drives a Grand Marquis).
I love when I go to Lowe's and buy long pieces of landscape wood and can easily put five of them all the way in the car and close the trunk because of those wonderful folding rear seats and folding the passenger seat all the way back. The boy loading was in awe. I drove away with a smile on my face. Who needs a mini-van!!
You could probably also buy them new, but in most cases this will cost you your first born child.
The junkyard route is the way to go here.
The other option is just to open the trunk, disconnecting the trunk light, and let it air out for a long time. It should eventually dissipate.
From BLUE OVAL NEWS
"Mercury will take their last orders for the Sable on 11 March 2005 and the last Sable will be made at the Atlanta Assembly Plant toward the end of April."
This is no surprise, it's been known for a long time....