I own an 04 ford taurus that just recently turned 39000 miles, factory warranty stopped at 36000. Car has been in service upwards of 20 times having these items repaired/replaced.

~Power steering pump has been replaced three times and is out again.
~Left rear window motor has been replaced twice and the wiring harness for that door replaced once.
~Two front window motors have been replaced twice each.
~Car has had 4 sets of tires, been balanced and aligned a dozen times, two sets of rims and still has a wobble at 60+mph.
~All weatherstripping has been replaced and front window has been remounted because of a leak.
~Gauge cluster has been replaced three times because the gas gauge just isn't accurate.
~Brake booster has been replaced and still making noises.
~Dealership broke the cruise control fixing the brake booster and had to order a part to replace it (an extra trip)
~Battery has been replaced three times because of the power window motor problems, car would die/radio would turn off if you held the window switch down.

Now the engine has a screaking/grinding coming from the rear cylinder head, I'm positive it's not a belt.

I just wanted some feedback to see what i should do with this vehicle since it is no longer under warranty. Do you think i would have a problem having them fix these issues. Also is it to late to lemon law the vehicle?

Thanks alot for your time and please be sparing since this isn't lsx related.

EDIT: I took out the pic that didn't work and posted a new one at the bottom.

 

Well the obvious problem is that it's a Ford Taurus. Sell it for what it's worth and buy a used Honda or Toyota. Problem solved, lesson learned.

 

I definitely agree with you there.

 

I have an 02 taurus with 137k on it, never had a single major issue. Your wobbling problem is probably tie rod ends or the inner tie rod. I just replaced my inner tie rods myself, pretty easy. An alignment wont do **** if the rods or ends are jacked up. Lift the front of the cdar and put a hand on each side of the whell and see if it has play in it, if it does you need tie rod work because theyre loose.

Sounds like you got a lemon taurus.

 

Wow, good advice there from the peanut gallery.

 

bump....

 

I have 164,000 on my 2000 Sable and its been incredibly reliable. Sounds like you got unlucky. The screeching noise is probably a belt tensioner/idler pulley. If your PS pump keeps going out you probably have an issue somewhere else in the system(flow restriction/rack binding) causing the pump to burn up.

 

I've been a certified Ford tech for over a decade, and have NEVER seen this many repeat problems on a single car, even if it is a Taurus...

Anyway, if the noise sound similar to a belt, and you own a 3.0L Vulcan engine (12v pushrod, not the DOHC variant), the noise is most likely coming from the camshaft synchronizer. Its located at the back of the engine, between the cylinder heads near the transmission bellhousing. It fits in the old distributor hole.

If you have the DOHC engine, the water pump is on the rear of the engine, and has its own drive belt.

I'm assuming you have the OHV engine, as you've stated you had power steering pump problems. If you decide to replace the synchronizer, I can walk you through the process.

Finally, again, if the OHV engine, and you replace the power steering pump again, do NOT use power steering fluid. Go to a Ford dealer and buy 1 quart Mercon V trans fluid and a bottle of Ford Friction Modifier (limited slip additive). Add 2 oz modifier to the Mercon V to keep the pump somewhat quiet. These pumps will ALWAYS make noise!

Edit: With my experience with Ford's warranty process, I'm willing to bet you are exaggerating the number of repeat repairs. Ford WILL NOT reimburse the dealer for repeat warranty repairs, and I doubt the dealer would eat it twice in such a short period. Not trying to bust your ***** or anything...

 

Not able to answer the questions but you should really consider filing a lemon claim since it's been in the shop so many times to fix reaccurring problems.

 

Well thanks for the advice but i really wanted to know how to lemon law it if I still can. I'm just sick of having to take it back.

Here's a pic of some service forms I have in front of me, the rest are in the car. Don't get me wrong, I don't think ford is a bad brand, I also have a 2003 F-150 that has 80,000 with absolutely no problems. This car just sucks.

Oh yeah, and if i can't lemon law it now, how in the hell do you fix that wobble that taurus' have at highway speeds?

 

Honestly, I get really tired of hearing people throw the lemon law thing around. The whole lemon law thing is a joke. Its usually expensive, very time consuming, and must meet very specific requirements. Actually getting the manufacturer to buy the car back is about as rare as winning the lottery or getting struck by lightning - it just doesn't happen. Are you taking the car back to the same dealer for all these repairs? (your link isn't working)

You ask how to fix the wobble that Taurus' have like its a common thing for this model. Its not. There is no inherent wobble, vibration, shimmy, whatever you want to call it in the Taurus model. Get the wheels and tires road force balanced with a genuine Hunter machine - no exceptions! If the vibration still exists, look to the driveline (which is extremely rare on this vehicle).

Finally - 4 sets of tires in 40K miles?!?!?! Why were they replaced?

 

Im a master tech for Ford and I agree with marc85z28. A vibration at high speeds is not a normal concern for a Taurus. If you have Continental tires on your car that might be the problem. Ive seen a lot of them come egg shaped.

 

Right. Which is why I'm recommending a road force balance as its not just a tire balance, but a very thorough diagnostic tool.

 

Ya, Ive used it a lot, my last dealer had one. I dont like doing it, they only pay 1.5. Even if you have to brake the wheels and tires down and swap them around to get the best results, its still just 1.5

 

honestly you shouldn't have to deal with headaches such as that....sell the bitch or junk it!

 

All service was done at the dealership, tires were replaced because of the same wobble or whatever you want to call it. So were the rims and even hubcaps. After talking with one of the techs he confirmed the taurus wobble and said about 50 or so have had the same problem. Just came back from Ford's local service shop and complained about the same problems. Ford's answer was "...they quit making the car for a reason." Also since the third power steering pump was replaced over 12,000 miles ago they will not cover it. The noise was the camshaft synchronizer, which they charge 124.47 for the part and either only ford sales it or no one around here at any of 5 auto parts stores knows how to look it up on their computer.

Furthurmore the wobble was reported before 5000 miles so apparently it was an "internal" problem never reported to ford by the dealership. So basically after scrolling through my file that ford had on my vehicle, I had to give them the rest that they were missing because it's wasn't "documented" (documented meaning in my vehicles file folder at my local dealership). Their best advice was to call ford directly since it's only been 4000 miles since the warranty ran out. They also had no explanation why all of my documentation wasn't in their records.

Car no longer has Continentals on it. After the third set I demanded they switch makes. Car currently has michilens, I don't know the model of the top of my head but I'll check later. Dealership does not have a hunter machine, the only tire balancer I saw in the service area was made by schenck. I'm pretty sure it's a two plane machine.

Total estimate for the sychronizer and power steering pump repair (or prolonging) came to 663.60 with no gaurantee the power steering pump won't go out again. they did notice that the tires were chewed up pretty badly (the michilens according to my documentation have less than 20,000 miles on them) and need replaced soon. They checked the tire pressure which I have set to 38 pounds, to high but that's the only way they wear evenly and I can get an atleast tolerable ride on the freeway.

Legal proceedings start today...can't be any more time consuming than having to take it back constantly. It's wasted almost 4 hours of my time today alone. I guess i'll have to buy another daily driver and park it. I'll get a video of the shake tomorrow sometime.

 

wow, sorry to hear that, as a ford master tech the conly concern ive seen is the brake booster. those are usually pretty good cars that last years

 

No offense, but are you sure about the Ford Master Tech part???? Taurus' have TONS of problems, but the problems he is having are somewhat unusual.

Whats going on with the vehicle history? It should not matter one bit what the dealer has on file. Any and all warranty repairs are documented through Ford, and display on the OASIS report, which any dealer or Ford authorized entity should be able to access via internet. If you want your warranty records, demand the OASIS report - its your right.

If the Ford dealer does NOT have a Hunter tire balance machine, I would bring that up if you do contact Ford. Ford very specifically states ANY AND ALL tire balance concerns MUST be addressed on the Hunter road force balancer - NO EXCEPTIONS!

If the lemon law thing fails, I'd highly recommend a larger, more modern dealer. Heck, even most GoodYear tire stores carry Hunter equipment!