Ford Taurus/Mercury Sable Sedans Pre-2008

bolivar · September 2001

I'm not a great mechanic, but brake squeak is usually NOT caused by rotors.

The squeek/squeal usually comes from the pads. Ususally from the back of the pad vibrating aganist the mountings at slow speed.

There is adhesive that cane be applied to usually or sometimes stop this. It will probably cost about in labor what a brake job (without turning the rotors) would cost because the pads have to be pulled, adhesive put on the backing, and replaced.

On some brakes, there are also anti-rattle or anti-squeek clips on the pads. These might not have been reinstalled on your last brake job and are causing the noise.

A thought - if it isn't much of a noise ignore it.

I once put 'full metallic' drums brake linings on a 1972 Duster. The last 30 feet coming to a stop, these things just screamed. People on the sidewalk would look at the car, sometimes appearing to be about to cover their ears. I just drove it. The brakes were great!

regfootball · September 2001

ok.....so i have this squeak...yes from the rear discs that has been bugging me greatly the last couple months.

And also, after getting my tires rotated by the local station (who i used to trust because they said they tightened the lugs by hand and even wanted me to come back after a couple hundred miles and have them retightened) the wobble and vibration in my steering wheel of my 99 SHO is almost unbearable where as before it was almost hardly a trace. DO YOU THINK THESE PUNKS USED AN AIR GUN ON MY LUG NUTS?????

Looks like I'll be needing a brake job to get rid of that squeak and wobbling front and only 27k miles. This sucks. My brother in law didnt b put brakes on his 97 SHO until 80k and only had his rotors turned once before that.

%^$%^**%&))_&%^$%^ MECHANICS!!!!

minnesotaart · September 2001

My sympathies on your squeeks and impending brake job. I should also mention that I am a firm believer in NOT rotating tires. There are two reasons that I have for this.

Number one is that there is less of a chance that someone will not tighten the lug nuts with hand tools if the tires are not taken off as often.

Number two is that I feel that tires take a "set" on the corner that they are installed on (especially radials). If the tires were properly mounted and balanced when new, then they do best for their entire tread life on the same corner of the car. I used to rotate tires (tried both same-side rotation and cross-side rotation, but invariably this introduced some other problem - vibration, sidewall "wrinkles", etc.). So now, I just leave well enough alone. With front wheel drive, I end up replacing the front tires when they wear out while the rears still have plenty of tread on them. I buy the same tires again as replacements for the front and then replace all 4 tires when the fronts wear out again. More expensive? Yes, in terms of tire cost it is. But in terms of satisfaction with the ride and handling of my car as well as fewer expenses related to solving tire-related problems, perhaps not. I have never been dissatisfied because of some spurious vibration or mysterious "pulling", so the cost is worth it to me. I get about 2 years out of each set of front tires and 4 years out of the rears. At $100 apiece, that's $600 over 4 years, or about 27 cents a day for driving satisfaction. I'm worth it! :-)

Two words of caution if you follow this approach:
1 - I usually loosen and retighten all of the lug nuts once or twice a year so that they don't "freeze up" on the lugs.
2 - When I do have the car serviced and I know the wheels will be coming off, I mark the tires with chalk so I know where they came from (RF, RR, LF, LR) in case they put them back in the wrong place (if they do, I make them fix it). Then, when I get the car home, I loosen all of the lug nuts and retighten them with a torque wrench just to be sure (oh, and wash off the chalk too!). A few extra minutes of my time, but it pays dividends in peace of mind.

Once again: no warped rotors and no tire related vibrations, shimmies or pulls. What's that worth?

regfootball · September 2001

Hey Minnesota Art, that was the Excelsior Amoco that did my last rotation.

Yes I am MN too.

minnesotaart · September 2001

I'm in Apple Valley. I'll remember to avoid the Excelsior Amoco!

regfootball · September 2001

well, overall I give them very good marks....but this tire rotation thing does irk me.

shank6 · September 2001

What if you don't own a torque wrench ?. I'm having new rotors installed, and my car should be ready Saturday morning. Any suggestions ?

minnesotaart · September 2001

You can always tighten them with a traditional lug wrench. Get them good and tight, but try not to be a he-man about it (just nice and tight with normal strength applied to the wrench). Remember to always tighten every other lug nut until you've done all 5. In other words, tighten #1 then #3 then #5 then #2 and then #4. Don't do 1,2,3,4,5 as that can make it uneven and cause a rotor problem too! Torque wrenchs (the kind with a pointer rather than a ratchet - can't remember their proper names) really aren't all that expensive. I bought mine at Sears many years ago and it has served me well. Good luck!

taurusman · September 2001

Why is everybody so worried about the taurus' resale value. In my opinion the idea of buying a brand new car with the intention of selling it in two years is ludicrous! Another point, cars that have "high resale value" are expensive to begin with. In the current issue of Car and Driver the new Jetta compact station wagon was listed at almost $30,000 dollars.!!!
30,000 dollars for a wagon the size of the Focus wagon. A fully loaded Sable wagon, which is larger I might add, is less than $25,000!!! Any way you slice it the Taurus/sable twins are great cars at unbeatable prices. The only cars that can really compete are the base Passats, which are just as good. Lets stop worrying about resale values and care for and agppreciate the cars we have!!!!!!!! Long live king Taurus!!!!!!!!!!!!!

fdthird · September 2001

I have to agree...if you are going to sell a car in a couple of years, lease the car!

In our disposable society people are always looking to the "next" purchase. We kept our 89 Taurus wagon till we replaced it with my wife's new 2001 Taurus SEL.

To my mind buying a car based on selling it in 2 years is a very silly notion.

FDIII

tomcat630 · September 2001

The bset thing to do is get a 1 year old car to save the first year drop in value.

The old saying "a car loses $1000 when you drive it off the lot" is outdated. Now, a car loses $2000 or more!!

A Taurus at least doesn't lose as much $$ as a Lincoln or Caddy. Those lose $10-115K the 1st year.

pickerib · September 2001

I have a 99 SE. The other day I pulled my cell phone cord out of the lighter and "pop", out came the whole lighter. I can't seem to find a way to remove the whole ashtray assembly (not just the piece to empty the ashes) so I can get to the cable to reattach the lighter. Does anyone know how to do this?

oxx93 · September 2001

looked at both vehicles--taurus was easier to obtain due to the financing--both are very nice cars---very happy with the taurus-2001 ses-just turned 2000 miles-one nit-picking item--has anyone noticed that unless the steering wheel is straight the turn signals will not stay on?

iusecad · September 2001

that seems to be a Ford thing...

scdlin · September 2001

Hi oxx93,
I noticed the same problem, but mine is like
the signal switch won't stay if the steering
wheel is at the opposite direction (eg. you
want to keep the switch at 'LEFT' while you want
to turn 'RIGHT'). It happens to my Taurus because
I need to make a sharp left turn right after
I move out my garage, which is a sharp right
turn. Most of the time it's okay to me.

mtanner5 · September 2001

Just bought an '01 SE. It has been 18 years since I've had a Ford,(T-bird as a young single), and it feels great to be in a good car again. I've had 2 compacts, (Corolla - not too bad, Cavalier - yuck), a 4 cyl Dodge minivan, and a Dakota truck since then. After testing several Intrepids, I tested the SE upon advice from a friend, and was immediately won over. I traded my 2 year old Cavalier, getting 7K for it - reliable car but just could not subject myself or my now 6'1" son to it anymore. I got the SE for $14,400, and it has 12,000 miles. She is a beautiful dark blue with tan interior. Only lacks the CD changer, which I will get later. I must return it to the dealer tomorrow for better wheel balancing - I noticed a vibration in the steering wheel during braking from 50 mph, but not from less than that. I figure that must be it since they just put new Firestone Affinity's on it (the one's everyone is griping about - lucky me). But, I love this car's ride and handling. I feel very safe in it. The best thing is that my insurance actually goes down with this car by $16.00 per month!!

wrx_al · September 2001

I agree the Taurus is initially a good value but if one's car requirements change five years later then selling the car makes sense. I should not have to keep my Taurus simply because I cannot afford to sell it! Could Ford make some effort to insure a reasonable resale value?

vince4 · September 2001

Get used to the shaking steering wheel. I have the same thing and the dealer said the rotors are within spec so they balanced the front tires. It helped but didn't eliminate the problem. I'm hoping the rotors will go a little more out before the warranty does. This seems to be a chronic Taurus problem, why I can't understand. Let us know what happens with yours.

P.S. I can give you info about the CD changer if you are interested. I added an aftermarket (Kenwood) unit to mine and it works great.

tboner1965 · September 2001

First, tighten each of the five lugs a different tightnesss.

Then, make several hard stops from 60+ to 0

Finally, spray some cold water on your very hot rotors.

I bet you will have severely warped rotors in no time 8^)

TB

riswami · September 2001

Do anything about resale value. That is set by the market. Also large numbers of Tauruses coming from the rental car market. Do you think Ford should stop Fleet Sales?

The used car market is set by demand. Like other people have said on the board - either buy new and hold em for ten years or buy one year old and enjoy the savings.

I bought a former rental car. Have had it for 3.5 years and have no complaints. Solid car at a good price. Is it perfect? Nope, but I can live with it very easily thank you.

mad0865 · September 2001

Unfortunately, there is nothing that can be done about it. There are thousands of Ford Taurus/Merc.Sables out on the roads these days, so in order to make them affordable their resale value lowers. We have our '98 SE and love it. Still drives smooth with great pickup and good mileage. At 70,000 miles (was a previous GM owner) this car has been nothing less than spectacular. She takes us on all of our family vacations, back and forth to work and not one hitch. Mind you regular maintenance is a total must. Two words to describe it: Solid & Dependable.

-mad

vjstangelo · September 2001

I wholeheartedly agree. I bought a '95 Taurus from my company in '96 for $8500. The mileage was 45000. The last 5 years have been practically trouble-free. The car has 110000 miles now and is still going strong. If mine is typical, these are solid dependable cars.

riswami · September 2001

some positive post. Just by the lack of activity on these post you can determine that the Taurus is reliable.
I'm looking into a wagon when my 93 Escort Wagon dies. That may take awhile.

I'm pretty religous when it comes to maintenance, so I'm hoping my Taurus ages well!

mad0865 · September 2001

While I have the sedan without any problems, a co-worker of mine bought the Sable wagon fully loaded; He complained to the dealer that he was feeling a slight skip in the transmission and the dealer replaced the whole thing (their suggestion). Is Ford/Mercury that willing to replace than troubleshoot a problem? Not sure.

Our company uses a lot Ford Taurus/Dodge Intrepid as company cars, and everyone of the Taurus owners that I spoke to said to leave the trans alone and not get the trans tuneup that Ford suggested. BTW, all of those owners had trans troubles (don't need to be rocket scientist to figure that one out). I've been getting my trans tuned up at about every 30,000 miles (trans fluid drained thru the catalytic converter, not with the filter replacement) and have not had one single problem. Not one. Ford states those maintenance requirements for a reason. To maintain the vehicle.

People who complain about lousy Ford transmissions (98 and later, no comment / experience about earlier) are not following the recommended maintenace schedule. My only major complaint is the "General" tires they put on the car when I purchased it off the lot. After they were worn, went to my mechanic who put on Bridgestones, car drove much smoother (not that it didn't drive smooth to begin with). Rotate often, and get the 4wheel thrust alignment every 10 to 15,000 miles and good to go.

-mad

riswami · September 2001

have had complete tranny fluid drains at 30 and 60 thousand miles.

I know a mechanic at a Ford Dealership. He says the samething as ma0865. The tranny filters clog up when the fluid isn't drained. My mechanic says you should change the tranny filter at 90k. Nothing in the owner's manual, which leaves a lot to be desired anyways.

Don't understand why people will pay good money for a car and not maintain em. Then they complain when it breaks. What do they expect?

mtanner5 · September 2001

Shimmy in the steerling wheel seems to be a result of bad rotors, imagine that! The service dept transferred the car to their sister, Ford dealership. They could not work on it today so I have an appt on Mon. Let you know if they managed to fix it. Vince4, yes please let me know about the car stereo, I want as much advice as I can get. I do love this car even with the problem, this will be my 3rd Ford. I had forgotten about the Fairlane Futura I owned in '79, my very first car!!

ezaircon4jc · September 2001

After 4 Sables (the current, a '96 with 103k), I've found the way to avoid this chronic issue is to buy a good set of aftermarket rotors. I've had good service from NAPA rotors. When I need them again I intend to get slotted ones. The factory size is too small for the car. Slotted rotors should dissipate heat quicker.

mtanner5 · September 2001

Thanks for the advice. I was wondering about after market rotors, but you are the first to mention this. I simply could not believe that after reading about this chronic problem on this board - I go buy a Taurus and it happens to me immediately, with only 12K miles!! I remember my ex using NAPA for all aftermarket products, and I will remember to buy slotted. You would think by now Ford would know about this and start installing something better suited to the car.

tomcat630 · September 2001

Ford is planning to cut Taurus?Sable production by 2004, when the new "Sport Wagon" comes out. One of the Taurus plants will make this wagon.

They want to cut the number of cars sold to fleets to try to rasie the resale values,

scdlin · September 2001

Hi everyone,
I just bought a '01 Taurus SEL about two months ago. Now I have some scratches on my right front bumper. I am wondering if any Taurus owners have ever repair their paint chips/scratches by themselves using Ultra Touch Prep, etc., mentioned in the Manual page 217. Mine is with Silver Frost exterior. The major two defects are each about 1/4 the size of a penny. There are also 3 thin shallow linear scratches. Or do you just go to dealer's body shop to make them up? I really appreciate your answers because it's a relatively new car and I hope it can be as pretty as possible.

riswami · September 2001

see the Taurus ever having great resale value. I don't mind, I plan on buying one used.

Let's face it, Ford and GM have lost a whole generation of new car buyers to imports due to decisions made in the 80s and 90s.The had a period of lousy quality. People don't perceive them to be as good as Hondas and Toyotas.Thus the imports fetch a lot more at trade in. You also pay more for the import. I think the Taurus is a great buy. A lot of import owners think their junk. Don't think that'll change for a while.

mtanner5 · September 2001

I am going to try the Meguir's Scratch X. Only for light scratches, but if this is as good as their other products... As to the resale value of Taurus, I bought my '01 recently with only 12K mi. and plan on driving it 4 or 5 years, and then giving it to my son for college. The imports have good resale if you can afford the up front price to begin with. I am a single parent/homeowner and have to be very careful of my note amount. I got my Taurus for $14.4, and a comparable Accord, Camry, or 626 would have been thousands above that. When in a couple of months I get the extended warranty after market, I will STILL have saved thousands, and I will have a much better warranty than any of them. I too, will have a worry free ownership but for much less money. I don't keep cars much past 100K anyway. If my son has problems with it after that - well at least he won't have a note too!! I have always, except for one Toyota Corolla, owned American - this is my 3rd Ford, and have had NO major troubles with any of them - 100K + on all but the last. I believe if you take care of your car's engine and trans, American made or not,it will most likely give you many many miles of service. Reasonably priced extended warrantys abound that are transferrable and give a pro-rated refund if you cancel or trade in. I am getting back a nice refund on the warranty from my recent trade in. The Hondas, Toyotas, etc. are reliable, but not totally problem free. My sister owned a Honda lemon and since has only purchased Volvos and Fords. I bought Taurus not just because I got good vehicles from Ford before, but because the styling inside and out beat the boring Camry and Accord hands down. Even my former "dream car" - the Intrepid lost out after I experienced the much tighter handling of the Taurus, and seeing that Taurus did not have that dull, cheap, monochrome interior. The pick up isn't as good as the Trep, but realizing my son will be driving this car in two years, I did well choosing the less spirited engine, I think.

riswami · September 2001

live (what part of the country) and what model and engine did you get?

I agree with everything you said. Althought I have never bought an extended warranty for a car. Actually the only extended warranty I've ever bought is for this computer.

I have a 93 Escort Wagon that I bought new with 141k. Still in great shape and run strong. I know someone with a 94 Escort Wagon with 227k. So these new cars can go mucho miles when driven properly and maintained.

mtanner5 · September 2001

I live in South Louisiana and bought an '01 SE with the standard Vulcan engine. I too, usually don't deal with extended warranties, the few I bought over the years proved to be useless. However, because a car can cost so much to repair, I figure it is worth the peace of mind. I plan on purchasing one with my Xmas bonus, but who knows what other expenses lurk around the corner to eat that $? The only thing I am mad about is that there were no books for my car! My salesman says he is trying to get me books and an extra keyless fob from their sister dealership, but of course I will probably have to hound him about it.

vince4 · September 2001

The CD changer I installed is a Kenwood 10-disk model. It requires a protocol adapter to work with the Ford head unit. Cost was $200 + $80 from Crutchfield. It works perfectly and doesn't skip.

I bought my car from my company with 8800 miles on it, and it came with warped rotors for no extra charge. I doubt lug nuts had anything to do with the rotors at that mileage. Since the problem is so common, it's obviously a design or material problem. I had a 82 Accord with a really really bad rotor problem. The dealer ground them every 3k miles under warranty until they were too thin, then the same on the second set. I bought a set of slotted aftermarket rotors from a Honda performance shop and never had to grind them again.

Regarding the question about touch up paint, get the paint number off your door jam sticker and go to the dealer for touch up paint. Then dab it on it very lightly. I've never had much luck making touch up look good, it always seems like the paint is too thick, but what else can you do. I'm not going to pay a body shop to fix every scratch. I bought some paint from the dealer a few weeks ago when I brought the car in to have them "not confirm" the problem (as usual) but haven't gone after the scratches yet.

wendell95 · September 2001

Have a 1997 Sable with 83,000. How do these units stand up to high milage, say 150,000?

riswami · September 2001

didn't have an owners manual when I bought my Taurus. The dealer got me one within a couple of weeks.

What really bothered me was the missing lug wreck. I went to rotate the tires and found out I didn't have a wreck. I went a little ballistic on the salesman. There is no excuse for a car not having one. Develop a check list and make sure the darn thing is there; ditto for the owners manual.

bolivar · September 2001

I bought a used car with locking lugnuts.

And no 'key'.

I never noticed them on the car as I was checking it out.

But, I quickly found out locking lug nuts are no problem. Any local tire shop (and all the thieves that steal wheels and/or tires) have a special 'socket'. It's just a socket with no 'hex' pattern, it's just smooth inside, and somewhat tapered. You just tap this over the locking nut, which is round of course, put your half inch breaker bar in the socket and the locking nut comes right off. Took the tire shop about 2 minutes to do all 4.

427435 · September 2001

I recently aquired a '96 Sable from my mother. It has keyless entry but Mom didn't ever bother with the code. Either didn't lock it all in her small town or used the key fob. The manual says the code is on the engine computer but I can't find it. Ford dealer said it was under a kick panel on the passenger side but not so. Also not under either front seat. Car has the 3.0 4-valve engine.

Anyone know where the engine computer is on these cars (or the keyless entry code)?

cexbos · September 2001

Have 94 Taurus GL. The "CHECK ENGINE" has been on suddenly during driving and off again 5-15 mins later or off after ignition off and re-started. This happens as often as every other day. I check all the fluids and they're all OK.

Does anyone have same problem or know what causes this problem? On the owner manuel stating that there should not be a problem if the CHECK ENGINE light turns off by itself later.

eng6ine · September 2001

Just picked up my 2001 SEL for 0.0% finance. Silver with gray leather interior, I love it! Hope to report back with positive things to say, hard not to say good things with 0.0%. And all I have to do for the first three years is make the payment and fill it with gas, everything else covered, oil changes every 3mo/3000 miles, all recommend maintance covered! With the savings of no interest at least $5000 I went ahead and extended the warranty. Just got to keep it for ten years now, after being at the dealer all that time tonight I really don't want to go back for ten years......I'm so beat.....and the dealer was great! I have been shopping for almost a year for a car, all the salesman I have encountered over the year, well almost, hardly knew the car they where selling. My salesman was a 19yr/old kid that had more knowledge about the car he sold me then all the salesman put together over the year I was looking. The dealer is Chapman Ford in Philadelphia, I wont give his name but all you have to do is ask for the inter net manager.

I also feel pretty good about buying an American auto now in these times, reliability is way up from prior decades, and our economy could use it!!! And one of my old friends I was in the Army with works for Ford.

God bless all the family and friends of all the victims in the WTC and in Washignton....remember your neiborhood Police officer and Firefighter and EMT-Paramedics, they may not show it all the time but they all have hearts of gold

mad0865 · September 2001

I have a '98 SE, and have had the check engine light. Every single time was because the gas attendant didn't tighten the cap all the way (In NJ, we can't pump our own fuel). But, according to my owners manual and from past experience, the light doesn't go on and off, but stays on for a few days at least, the longest being 2 weeks. Guess it takes that long to have the O2 sensor reset itself. It also states that if it's blinking during normal driving to have it looked at. I've read that it could be problems pertaining to the catalytic converter or a damaged sensor. Good luck.

-mad

riswami · September 2001

with your Taurus. Both Ford and GM are offerring 0.0% financing through October. Temptation is there to buy. But I don't have a need.

s852 · September 2001

Is only good on very short term loans, not on 60 or 48 month loans that most people want.

eng6ine · September 2001

Hard to believe but I got 0.0% for 60 months. It just came down from Ford on the 24th of Sept. And I almost bought a car the Friday before at 6.9% for 72mo. Good thing I decided to think about it for the weekend. I knocked off a year of payments and stayed in the same monthly payment I wanted to and saved about $5800 in interest!

s852 · September 2001

I just saw the new TV commercial that says it's available for up to 60 months for 2001 models now.
Besides the financing, did you save money on the selling price of the car?
Are you required to put up a down payment to get the zero percent interest?
Too bad the Taurus loses so much value.
A 2-3 year old Taurus in good condition is only worth $8-9,000 as a trade in and if you plan on keeping it past the 36 month warranty, it is a good idea to get the Ford warranty that costs about $2K for 6 year/100K miles if you get the zero deductible option.

eng6ine · September 2001

I did not need to put anything down to get the low 0.0% finance. I also got the vehicle for $500 under invoice. I'll be honest I only bought new because of the financing. If I don't see it again I won't buy a new car for myself again, on the other hand my wife will probably get new cars in the future.

s852 · September 2001

I heard that you can get a $2000 rebate instead of the O% if you want to pay cash or use some other financing.
$500 below invoice at 0% sounds tempting as long as you have no concerns about reselling it and losing most if the value in just a few years.
Heavily loaded with leather and moonroof, the Taurus SEL stickers around $25K and invoices around $23K. If you want to get rid of it in 3 years, you would be very lucky to trade it into a dealer for $10K. That is a lot of depreciation plus the sales tax.

eng6ine · September 2001

Yes, you can get the $2000 rebate in lieu of the 0.0%. Yes I could lose money if I trade it in, in two or three years, but it would not be to wise for me to do so. For me to go from paying no interest for 2-3 years then to trade and end up with negative equity and then pay interest on that would be crazy. I am keeping this one at least until the 6 year warranty runs out, I'd like to try to keep it for ten years. My wife and I plan on using this car for road trips, 50+ miles a trip, and I will use it for work, about a 12 mile round trip on most days, I only work four days a week. So I do not plan on piling up the miles.

Oh I paid about 21,300, it is heavily loaded with the exception of side air bags, traction control, Mach stereo, and passenger power seat. I might be missing a few others but it has everything I need.

mdr6404 · September 2001

What is everyone getting milage wise on 2001's. I Bought one 6 months ago with the 24v motor. LOVE IT but, the milage fell off suddeny i think. Dealer says nothing is wrong about 20 highway and 20 city.

Ford Taurus/Mercury Sable Sedans Pre-2008

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