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My Taurus has a new sound. 115,000 miles, and we are juuuust cleaning it up to sell it...
Upon startup, just after I put it in reverse and began backing down the drive, I heard a singing noise, just like brake squeal. I stopped, and backed up a little, pumping the brake, start and stop, trying to isolate the source. It persisted unbroken (not brakes). I put it in park and it persisted, except now it had a belt chirp (so now I was thinking a belt-driven component). I mashed the brake pedal (no change), turned the wheel (smooth operation), and then punched the gas a couple of times. With the gas, I got a pronounced belt chirp and the squeal got louder, then stopped. It chirped and squealed again with the gas pedal, and then stopped when the engine returned to idle. A/C was on the whole time. I parked it.
A few minutes later, I started it up again, and there was the singing. I turned off the a/c and it stopped, but it didn't start again when I flipped a/c back on. In a few seconds it started again, and seemed to stop shortly after I turned off the a/c. I'm thinking the a/c compressor is beginning to seize and fighting the serpentine belt. I've only started the car these two times since this began.
This is Grand Rapids, Michigan, and we have two and a half hot months here. The rest of the year, you could get by without running much a/c, with the exception of a few muggy days. We have been running the a/c since the heat began in early July. In three years, three seasons, we haven't charged the system. I notice that it runs with the defroster sometimes, too.
We just financed this car's replacement, and I want to sell this one. It's in beautiful shape, with leather, cold a/c, keyless entry, 6-disc changer, moonroof, pl, pw, ps. I need to fix the problem myself, or at least figure out for sure what it is so I can sell around it.
I hope maybe the a/c system is low on refridgerant, which I suspect also lubricates the system, and that's the culprit. But maybe I'm totally wrong, and it's something else. How can I be certain?
-Michael
I had no change in the engine - just the light coming on. The car has run great for six years until about 2 1/2 months ago when I had hesitation and poor excelleration - plus the engine light coming on again.
After about 15 visits to my regular mechanic, he put a new coil in the #5 cylinder last night. Two months ago it was the #3 cylinder that needed the coil but while he had all of the hardware off he suggested that he do all of the plugs. This went on (light on and "missing") since mid-June. I am hoping that the light is still off when I drive home from work tonight.
I am stunned that with all of this new technology that the scanner does not do a much better job of defining what exactly, is wrong with a car. It comes up "cylinder #5". Well, that could be the spark plug, coil, or the rubber boot. In order to not rack up a high bill he replaced one item at a time starting with the cheapest item - spark plug. This is why I had to make so many visits after work.
It hit the frame beside the left wheel, and dinged the frame there, but left no marks past that point. Immediately after, there was a vibration that has since happened every day but only around 65 MPH. Since this happened, I replaced the tires which were worn out, balance/aligned the wheels, replaced a worn ball joint on the left side which was diagnosed when the previous owner had the car, replaced all brake pads/shoes and turned all discs/drums. These things all needed doing anyway.
The wheel bearings seem OK, no play in there. There does seem to be some very slight play in the driveshaft, but both right and left feel the same and the noise is definately coming from the left side. It sounds a lot like blowing across the top of a beer bottle that's about empty. There is no wiggle of the steering wheel, no feedback from bad handling or anything other than the noise. It's not related to engine RPM; I have tried gunning it. It starts around 60, and goes away around 70.
At first I thought it was the frame ding making wind noise, so I tried duct-taping a few things but no success.
Still the noise happens, right at 65. Any ideas?
Remove the wheel bearing nut, it's about 30mm (you should need a breaker bar). Jack up that side of the car, support on the frame rail where the driveshaft goes through it. Remove wheel. Remove brake pads, caliper, caliper support, disc. Loosen and remove nut on bottom of ball joint. Remove the lower part of the plastic support from the suspension. Remove the end of the steering tie-rod from the steering knuckle (you'll probably need to press it out).
Loosen the nuts/bolts on the lower control arm where it is attached to the frame; if you don't it's really hard to remove the other end from the balljoint stud (my trick to you).... Using a press, push the balljoint out from the control arm, so now it's just held in by being pressed into the steering knuckle.
Get a steel pipe nipple about 2.5" long (actually get several, in 0.5" increments in this area) and 3/4" diameter, thread a cap onto that. Put that over the balljoint so it rests agains the top part of the balljoint that is pressed into the steering knuckle. Now use a press to get it out.
Probably it's necessary to remove the steering knuckle, but at this point it is just by loosening the pinch bolt on the strut. This makes it easier to press in the new balljoint.
For assembly, it's reverse of removal. One trick though. When tightening the nut at the bottom of the balljoint, put the car's weight on the control arm so the friction between the tapered surfaces will stop the balljoint from spinning.
Good luck....
Taurus 2000 DOHC 24 V. The problem showed up when the car
was sitting more then 8-12 hours. Namely :
the engine started at very low RPMs - about 300 RPM. When I tried to accelerate it as usually - it stalled. When I accelerated it gently and was driving for some time - everything suddenly returned to the norm - the idle RPMs were about 800 RPMs. Sometimes the engine started but had 5-10 secs hesitation at low RPMs. Sometimes it stalled right after start... and I had to re-start it a several times
Three mechaincs ( including a Ford dealer ) failed to locate the problem ( I wasted a lot of money for replacing of sensors that were not faulty... )
Finally Bob Thibodeau Ford Dealer repair team found the real cause:
it was I.A.C. valve located in air bypass controlling idle speed. It was contaminated by carbon and oil deposits and was sticking intermittently choking the engine.... If I were a mechanic - it would be the first thing I checked ... After replacing of the valve - the problem seems to go away ( so far (:-) )
Hope it will help to you...
Dmitriy
WP Slid
They were throwing a smokescreen at you. They probably showed you another Sable with the same problem because they were the ones who repaired that one as well!
New ones might have a small gap difference from one side to the other, but nothing like what you describe.
and can not find out where its coming from. all the rubber looks good. I have a spoiler and thought it
may be coming in from the bolts for the spoiler,but find no evidence of water
coming in from the bolts. I was hoping someone had a similar problem and could
direct me to the cause. thanks
Two days ago, the power steering appeared to go out, however, it would kick in as soon as I started to drive. No PS at all until I started going forward. Okay...so I take it to a repair shop. I get told it could be the rack, it could be the pump, the lines are clogged, etc.
Well, he wanted 1700 to totally replace everything....that seemed a little steep to me, so I call the brother in law...
We check it out, and notice that when the car is in idle, and we turn the wheel, the fluid gets sucked right down into the pump, the PS works fine. When we turn the car off, the fluid backflows into the resevoir, and is very foamy. If we add fluid, as we did as we thought there was not enough in it, it literally shoots out of the resevoir when we turn the car off. Not good... :sick:
Okay, so we replace the pump, the pulley, and blow out the lines. Hook everything up....same thing happened!! :mad:
So, obviously a pressure problem. Question....what is that black bulb on the line going into the rack, leading from the pump? We thought this to be a filter, or possibly a pressure valve.
Could it be the rack...the only thing we did NOT work on?
Any ideas here???
I was told that my head gasket was the likely culprit. Yes at 120K miles it wasn't a bad idea, execpt there is no place where high pressure oil can leak into the coolant at the head or lower intake manifold gaskets. I know because I took them off.
The head gasket is an excellent place for coolant to leak into the cylinders or the lifter area. This would put coolant in the oil, but this is not my problem.
Since the engine is all but dismantled with the removed heads, I see that the oil pump is in the the same engine cover where the waterpump is mounted.
Does anybody have experience with removing the front engine cover on the 3.8L engine? How likely is there a high pressure oil leak within the cover unit OR at its gasket on the engine block? I can see that the waterpump has 2 ports into the engine block. Also the cover contains the oil pump so it should have high pressure oil there.
Is there any special warnings one needs to know about taking off the cover?
WD 40 down into the emergency flasher (on top of the steering column) and press in and out the button about 50 times. That may clear out any dust or other grime that fell in between the button and its housing, and clear up your problem.
The bolts closest to the block are the hardest to reach. I used 2 long extensions with 2 swivels to get to them. I don't know if this could be the source of your leak or not but the Ford 3.8 has known problems with the timing cover gaskets leaking. When mine went it literally gushed oil all over the drive, however no leak into the cooling system.
I had a shop do the repair and the cover turned out to be warped which caused the leak. (they had to pull the engine to get it out) A new cover will run you over $200. Total cost of the repair was over $1000. Hope you can do it yourself and save some bucks.
Good luck!
Thanks!
Basically these Tauri are rugged, no nonsense vehicles that should give you good service, just change the oil regularly and transmission fluid change every 30K miles.
Much underappreciated by the automotive press and the public in general, and because of that used ones can be picked up for a bargain price, and there should be plentiful amounts to choose from.
I wouldn't think an alternator is all that expensive to fix, compared to other items that could go. Whether the hum is alternator related, I couldn't tell you.
Most tires on Taurus should last 50,000 miles or more, but this could vary widely depending on how you drive, rotate tires, and the type of tire. Don't go so much by how many miles the tires have on them, but by how much tread is left.
If you live where there is snow in winter, you may not want to run your tires down to the wear bars, as your winter traction will go before the tires are worn out. I got over 51,000 on the original equipment tires and probably could have gone at least another 10,000 but I wanted better winter traction.
What price range should you expect to get the transmission replaced with a remanufactured one once it fails?
How about the cost of engine overhaul or replacement with remanufactured?
Problem: After 3 hours of driving, I could place & leave my hand on engine. During the trip the heat gauge was on cold.
I took the car in, "they" said that "because my rad leaked [which was very little & I topped it up regularily to avoid overheating] it could not build up enough pressure to work properly". I authorized the work but the the problem continues. And I have since found out that the rad did not need to be replaced. They did not do a pressure test nor any tests to my knowledge. And when I picked up my car they said "we hope this fixes the problem, if not maybe its your heater core".
Since when is mechanics a guessing game? or a process of elimination?
The problem continues, & now, 4 days after the initial problem, the battery light came on, I lost all power to my brakes & steering. The engine [or something else under the hood] squealed, 5-10 seconds everything returned to normal.
Recent repairs due to overheating:
July 27- new thermostat, with "fail safe" type
Aug 1-Cooling fan motor replaced
Anybody have any ideas what could be the problem, I want to know before I take it back.
1) Do you have the correct temp thermostat installed?
2) Is the cooling fan on all the time?
3) What climate (hot/cold) are you in?
4) You said you had an overheating problem first?
5) Is a thermostat installed? (Maybe mechanic was tired)
6) Defective thermostat?(Stuck open)
7) Check serpentine belt!
8) Is temp gauge accurate? (Check upper radiator hose, it should feel hot after running more than a half hour)
Let us know.
2,8) The cooling fan was running when the engine was cold, I don't think it runs all the time. Is the rad hose the one that runs from the rad to the thermostat? If so, no it was cool as well after idling for about 15 min. The mechanic that put the rad in pointed out both these things and said the fan should not be running & the hose should be hot.
3) I'm in Ontario, we got snow yesterday.
4) The overheating problem began in late july, the temp was the top third of the guage, the thermostat appeared to fix it, but about a week later I drove for about 10 min & the guage was on hot, was not steaming & the coolant level was up, I took it in & the cooling fan motor [Aug 1] was replaced & the car has been fine since until Friday nite [Oct 6] when the engine ran cool.
6) I've already called the place that put the rad in, they said they will put a new thermostat in, & do a flush & refill all at no cost to me.
7) What should I be looking for? cracks, what exactly, I've put 187000 km on the car & have never changed it.
Thank you
It's running ok now, at ~84k miles; but those Mercury grill lights are all out. I demounted the lens to find out the bulb type (it's not in the owner's manual) and found that the (plastic) socket was burned and shattered. Same with 2 more of the four. (I assumed the 4th was the same.)
The bulbs are still available (at $16 ea.) but the dealer parts dept. tells me that the sockets were only available as part of a wiring harness, which is not available. Neither have I been able to find the thing at JC Whitney or by Googling it.
I asked in the dealer service dept., and they offered to fix it somehow for $150, but I doubt if it will be OEM.
Does anyone have any ideas on replacement sockets which will fit into the lens, and bulbs?
Thanks.
What elso do I need to remove in order to get it out. Your '95 may be arranged differently and you might not have had this proble.
Thanks for the help!
Got a little problem that is escalating into a big one.
I replaced the exhaust from the cat back, and replaced both O2 sensors (the check engine light was on because of them).
The Check Engin light was off for aboutr 40 miles - and came back on. The first code was P0136, then another code the next day P0150.
P0136 is: OXY SENSOR CIRCUIT (BANK 1, SENSOR 2).
P0150 is: OXY SENSOR CIRCUIT (BANK 2, SENSOR 1).
The new 02 sensors I put in were made by BOSCH.
I've tried resetting the codes, and disconnect the battery (in desparation) in hopes to reboot everything. But it has failed.
The major problem is the fact that the car is due for an inspection & will fail because of the light.
Any feedback would be appreciated.
Notes on the car: 96 Wagon GL, 95,000 miles. Runs fantastic & strong.
Can anyone pls advise how to replace a cracked washer fluid hose on my '02 Taurus .I got the replacement part & the line runs under the hood insulator. Not sure how to access the end of the hose that goes into the nozzel.
All you have to do is remove the lower part of the backing under the hood (closest to the windshield) it is held in place by plastic xmass clips. Carefully pry them off & take care not to damage them (you'll need them to place the backing back on).
Once you peel the backing, you'll see the hoses - simply pull the hoses from the sprayer & from the pump (passenger side corner) and push in the new hoses. You don't need tools for that part...