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But obtaining the filter, brought questions to the surface, such as could someone have replaced a AX4?? with an AXOD-E? I'm told they are very similar and might bolt up. How can I tell other than have the VIN number checked?
Open for suggestions.
I would like to know the correct name for the subframe bushings on my 97 Taurus. I think I need to get the replacement kit to correct the awful popping noises when stopping/turning. I can actually feel the vibration in the floorboard. I am stumped as to what part to look search for on the Napa and PartsAmerica sites, Ive tried all the obvious search terms.
Thanks for your amusing comments, you seem to have a good sense of humor which is great!!
Read your hand book and it will tell you to only use the overdrive setting when you are on the open road. Use the correct gear and your MPG will always improve. The ratios in the overdrive selctor are too high for around town. My credentials? trained by the British police class one drivers, who with all due respect, have the highest trained driving standards in the western world. They drive autos all the time. I bet you leave your car in "park" too without applying the parking brake?
You might want to read it carefully next time before you post something to particular participant.
1-apply only the parking brake?
2-leave the parking brakes on as i drive in reverse?
3-apply only the regular brakes.
Please explain and I sincerely appreciate your response. Additionally I just got new rotors on the front wheels but the braking problem still exists.
I'm no engineer but I too am inclined to believe that the vehicle engineers are now designing cars for the "average" Joe to drive. I don't even think we HAVE to change our oil every 3 months anymore...do we?
- Rob
Maybe he'll post his address so when someone pulls it into low on ice and ends up in an accident because of it they'll know where to send the subpoena.
You can read my earlier post on tranny and parking brake, which kind of fits with changing oil or not to change. Alot of it depends upon how long you want to keep the car and the roll of the dice. That is no two vehicles are exactly alike to start with so what you get away with on one may not work for the next. I worked for someone who had the rule gas and add oil only. Two years, 50K, they would only give him so much and he had a new one. I sure wouldn't want that car. Another man I worked with had a full size late 70's LTD. His rule was drive it till the oil light blinked, then add. He was bragging he had 70K and was doing it since it was new. The following week it died in heavy traffic at a stop light. Repairs started with timing chain and gears, then entire rocker arm assemblies, and finally all the lower bearings because they were so worn there wasn't enough pressure to push any to the new rocker arms. $3000 seems to me would be a lot more than the cost of the oil changes for that milage. Also $2000 bucks for a tranny rebuild hurts. Hint: the factory fill and recommended oil for a new corvette is Mobil 1, especially if you have the Mercury Marine built high output engine. Choose your own poison, these are only my thoughts.
I never noticed any driveability problems. Mine is a 97 with the Vulcan. Had about 90k on it at the time of repair.
I changed my cabin air filter on my 2000 SES myself last night. This is the first time I did it, well overdue at 28K miles, but having a filter loaded up with crud does no harm except to restrict ventilation airflow some, so it doesn't really hurt much to stretch the service. It is a reasonably easy job to do yourself. Good instructions are in the operator manual however one tip I would add is to turn your ignition key to "on" and the wipers to "on", then when they are at the peak of travel, switch off the ignition to temporarily park the wipers at their maximum stroke. This gets the passenger side wiper arm completely out of the way. I used an aftermarket Purolator filter-cost $16.85 at an Autozone. Kind of pricey, and maybe I should have checked the dealer price for the OEM filter, but I didn't bother.
Also, my low coolant light had been coming on occasionally even though the overflow tank was not low. It happened again to me last Friday on the way home from work, so I drove right to my dealer while the light was on. They fixed the problem on the spot by replacing the entire overflow tank assembly. I was on my way home in only 1/2 hour. Car is still under warranty, but I am down to only 3 more weeks of warranty coverage.
My dealer service department on these issues has been superb. No appointment seems to be necessary, they have extended evening (until 11 PM) and Saturday service hours, and they have been extremely prompt and did the job correctly.
I really like this car, however three minor warranty repairs in the last 2 months have me a bit uneasy. Hopefully I got all the pending failures in under warranty and it will be smooth sailing for a while.
I am soon due for a transmission oil/filter change(I'll let someone else do it-maybe the dealer based on my good experience, even though their price is higher than the independents) and will tackle the fuel filter myself soon.
You must have the world's greatest dealership to take customers with no appointment and fix things so quickly. What were your other two warranty repairs?
It did take two trips for the wiper motor as they were out of stock of wiper motors, but they got a new one in the next morning and I got it fixed again after work that night
I guess Edmunds allows mentioning dealerships, so I will as these guys deserve praise in my opinion: Best Ford in Wauwatosa, WI (near suburb of Milwaukee) This is my second Taurus from them, the first was a '90 base Taurus L with Vulcan V-6, which was a very reliable car. Only major repair was The AC and radiator at about 7 years and 70K miles.
They also have had the lowest prices on new Taurus. I checked 3-4 other local dealers for both Tauri and couldn't find one to match their price, and if you come in armed and educated with what you think is a reasonable deal, they don't mess around too much.
Can anyone help here? Is this info available anywhere on the web?
Three sisters in a family I know had each purchased a Ford Taurus. The 1990 Taurus transmission failed at about 100,000 miles so she just junked it and got a 1997 Ford Escort with manual transmission.
The 1993 Ford Taurus was the best of the 3 and went 115,000 miles before the transmission failed. She had it fixed, gave it to her daughter and got a Toyota Camry LE which she loves.
The 1994 Ford Taurus transmission failed at only 58,600 miles of conservative driving with tender loving care. She junked it and got a new 2003 Toyota Camry LE.
Hardly any surprise that Ford Taurus has not been the # 1 selling sedan after people found out that Ford Taurus is not a good car to buy.
To warnerdave1: in my current Taurus I've used nothing but regular trans. fluid from the oil change shop. FYI
- Rob
From what I understand, Mercon V is a full synthetic fluid, or nearly so. It's good stuff by itself.
In any case, whatever you pick, stick to ONLY those fluids that are Mercon V, not Mercon, not Dexron, not anything else. If it doesn't say that it meets Mercon V specs, I would strongly suggest you not use it. I'd be wary of the ones that say 'Mercon V compatible'--does that mean it's the SAME as Mercon V or just that it mixes okay with Mercon V?
Ford specs that stuff for a reason, and you probably don't want to find out why you should not use other types. This is becoming common--several carmakers spec a certain kind of fluid other than Dexron III (Ford, Honda, Chrysler, among others).
I believe the change interval for normal service is 30,000 miles, so the car may be due for a change by now anyway.
To get to my point, I'm not up to doing the radiator change anymore so I was reading the manual and notice that it states it should never be filled with tap water - only distilled water. When I go to my regular mechanic for this service, does anyone think that they are going to use distilled when asked to? Unless you're standing right there, I just can't see those guys doing this.
Next, what damage is done to my 2000 Taurus if they do use tap water instead of distilled. Also, why isn't tap water good anymore? It never hurt any of my former Mustangs and Cougars that I've owned.
All thoughts welcome.
- Rob
By the way, I use a Brita water filter especially since Washington, DC water is not fit to drink. Lots of bottled water sold in this area.
My cabin filter had about 25k on it. I've had it for a few months and hadn't gotten around to replacing it. When they get dirty the a/c doesn't work well on the normal setting. My a/c was fine this time; last time I had to run on max a/c to get lots of cool air.
Ok, sorry this was so long but as a final word on anything automotive. Always follow the manufacturers instructions, they make the car and know more about it than the average mechanic in a local garage. Dealerships should know better.
They had two tall clear tubes of plastic next to each either; one filled with green (or orange) fluid and one empty. My old fluid went into the the empty container and then the green fluid went into the radiator. It stops automatically. No, it wasn't distilled water. It amazes me why auto makers make engines that require something that they KNOW is not going to be adhered to by garages or quick change places - or by most owners for that matter. I've never used anything but tap water and never had any problems.
there is this odd buzzing noise that occurs upon accelerating... what can this be, it is constant.
also my car has no power in the morning until I warm it up some, and if I attempt to drive it "cold", it will shake and make unstable noises while at stoplights, is there something seriously wrong here?
any advice would be appreciated. Thanks.
I had a 92 Taurus and their was a loud hum that came from the back. Start your car and crawl under the back and listen by the gas tank. I think this is a common problem.
Finally isolated it to the tranny...vehicle doesn't seem to downshift when you apply the brake...it seems like you are fighting against the engine; when you shift from park to drive/reverse you really feel the gear kick in like it isn't fully disengaging. Lastly, I isolated the noise in the engine to being tranny related...in drive, no noise; if put in park once the transmission sets the car to a stop, it returns; if you stop the car, put it in neutral and apply the e-brake first, then shift to park, the engine is quiet. I don't quite know what to push them to look at....the service manager seems to think it's a pain in his posterior, and is trying to have us wait for the Ford Engineer since he doesn't want to do anything with it in the shop.ANyone have any similar problems and have a suggestion as to what it needs to be narrowed down to?? Thanks.
Before I take it into a service center, I wanted to get some opinions on what it may be. I am going to get new tires on it soon anyways (Yokohama Avids) but am wondering if I should have them look at the brakes or rotors too. If it is a brakes issue, should I just have them resurfaced, or what are the opinions
I have the tires rotated and balanced about every 7500 miles, and did the main 30000 mile service from Ford (alignment, etc...)
Any suggestions?
Thanks in Advance
KRH
Get new tires!
Torque convertor lock acts like slipping when engaging. The one-two and two-three shifts seem solid. Most noticeable under light to moderate acceleration. Also torque convertor seems to stay engaged at too low speeds. I've found that after deceling such as for a corner and mildly accelerating car will be in 3rd, torque locked with only 1000 RPM. Slowing forcing increased accelerator, it will eventually unlock and simultaneously down shift to 2nd. Flooring it will give a nice solid 1-2, 2-3. There are no stored codes, but milage also seems to suffer by about 2 MPG, local and highway. Post suggestions please.
Also try posting your symptoms on Flateratetech
Shudder from the torque converter lockup can often be cured with a fluid change. On the '98s and up, this is required at 30,000 mile intervals. When was yours changed last? It might be due and could be the cause of the shudder.
Also, check your brake lights. The converter clutch uses the brake light switch (on the pedal) to know when to unlock (like when you start braking to slow, it needs to unlock). That can screw up the lockup or keep it locked when it should not be.
My car has pinging issue. It was intense during summer time. It's got worse and I emptied 20 oz Chevron techron into half way full tank, sprayed 1 can CB cleaner and 1 can TB cleaner into TB towards upper intake, cleaned up the plugs with wire brush. BTW, plugs were nice and deposit free. The car picked up some power and pinging was gone.
200 miles later I heard light pinging. But today, after AZ erased the code, it pinged and I felt performance was down. I realized that now it is using more fuel. 3 quarters of thank I've got 160 miles. I used to get 21 miles per gallon in city. How the heck donwstream heated O2 sensor on bank 2 causes more fuel consumption?
I bought Autolight 764 copper plugs but haven't installed them. Also I am planing remove the upper intake, TB and all other thing along the way and clean them.
I am not sure whay O2 sensor is givin this much early problem.
I wonder whether CB or TB cleaner has any effect on O2 sensor problem. What you guys think?
Another thing that when I pull upper intake out and discover that lower one is dirty how I should clena that up?
With all the sophisticated controls and sensors in current engines to reduce emissions and maintain optimum mileage, I wouldn't be surprised that a bad oxygen sensor could causing pinging and poor mileage.
You might want to check with a dealer on warranty coverage for this part. Some emission controls I believe are by law warranted beyond the standard 3year 36K warranty.