I need advice asap!! Ford taurus questions

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4spdragtop

4spdragtop

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Ok I have my 91 500 Indy for sale. $800. A guy just emailed me and wants to trade. I have been contemplating getting a cheaper set of wheels, my 01 f150 crewcab is around 20 mpg and its killing me to go back and forth to college. What he wants to trade is his 94 4 door taurus. From what I have seen it is mint and no rust anywhere. Fully loaded, pwr everything 245 hp. 180k. The guy even put stainless dual exhaust on it. DONT LAUGH AT ME FOR THINKING ABOUT THIS!! But it might be a good daily driver and give me an opportunity to keep my truck for when I need it. Anyone got advice or feedback on these things???

Thanks
4spdragtop
 
4spdragtop said:
Ok I have my 91 500 Indy for sale. $800. A guy just emailed me and wants to trade. I have been contemplating getting a cheaper set of wheels, my 01 f150 crewcab is around 20 mpg and its killing me to go back and forth to college. What he wants to trade is his 94 4 door taurus. From what I have seen it is mint and no rust anywhere. Fully loaded, pwr everything 245 hp. 180k. The guy even put stainless dual exhaust on it. DONT LAUGH AT ME FOR THINKING ABOUT THIS!! But it might be a good daily driver and give me an opportunity to keep my truck for when I need it. Anyone got advice or feedback on these things???

Thanks
4spdragtop
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Taurus USED to be #1 fleet vehicle, my son has a 98 and has 245,000 all highway, runs perfect does not use any oil, in fact he ran it into a tree and totaled it sort of, I bought a 98 cut the front clip off it installed it on his tree'd one and it's still running, If you have to put a heater core in it THAT is a pain but other than that you should be good to go, he gets about 18-20 mpg in city and 27 highway. hope that helps
 
Thanks 412 my uncle has an 01 with no issues either, but it could be luck of the draw. 18-20 mpg isnt much really. How in the heck do you get 245hp out of that car?? This would be a disposable car for me...if I get 1 or 2 years out of it it would be worth it. I just dont want to buy a lemon that I am constantly working on.
 
If it has that high mileage on it and still in good shape, it's probably a good one.
 
see if it has a cast iron block like the other post they were fleet vehicles other words rentals i have hauled a bunch of them and they wasnt bad for always firing up and i have a fordaholic bud that owns one and seldom has to do anything but regular care to it i say go for it just look it over good best of luck to you
 
If it has 245 hp would it be an SHO Taurus? It's easy to tell by the bigger 16 inch wheels factory "body kit" and leather seats with the front having big bolsters. If it is a SHO Taurus they can be troublesome; they can have transmission problems (automatic) and the motors are a pia to work on
 
73golddusterkid said:
If it has 245 hp would it be an SHO Taurus? It's easy to tell by the bigger 16 inch wheels factory "body kit" and leather seats with the front having big bolsters. If it is a SHO Taurus they can be troublesome; they can have transmission problems (automatic) and the motors are a pia to work on
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Yes it is an SHO, and auto...what kind of tranny problems?? Thanks everyone for their input!
 
if its a SHO than it has a yamaha engine in it.

the newer taraus shows have 8 cylinders in them.

the best thing I would say to look out for is transmission.....I don't know how many of them cars I have seen with the trannys out of them....family member is a transmission specialist and those cars are on the top of the lists for tranny failures.

normally from 80,000 miles up.....so with it having that high of miles, you may find that it has had a tranny replace/rebuild once already in the past.

other wise they seem to be pretty decent cars....the only other things I can think of off hand to look for is rust...the like to rust out pretty good depending on the region the car has spent its life in.

they use the dog bone style motor mounts I believe which like to snap.

make sure it has no over heating problems.

struts tend to go bad on alot of them

I use to have a 99 taurus with the 3.0 sohc engine,180,000 miles and it ran like brand new,drove like brand new and got great gas mileage ....only complain I really had about it was the heater sucked because the 3.0 has small coolant ports in the backs on the heads that tend to clog if the coolant system isnt flushed often and mine had never been flushed by the previous owner.
 
oh and I can't remember if the taurus of that year was the same as the ford tempo's of that era.....but they had them damn automatic seat belts the seamed to grab your head when you open the door lol.

not really a fault of the car to look for....just a little nit pick I personally had with those cars that I figured I would mention lol
 
SHO=Supercharged V6 thats why the 245hp.Yes tranny,s can be an issue.Take for a testdrive first,decide from there.Good Luck.
 
If the SHO is in perfect condition with decent mileage, its a good deal. You know they have a Yamaha engine, don't ya?
 
pettybludart said:
SHO=Supercharged V6 thats why the 245hp.Yes tranny,s can be an issue.Take for a testdrive first,decide from there.Good Luck.
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SHO actually stands for Super High Output. They weren't supercharged, they had a solid valvetain yamaha v6. The automatic sho that he's looking at came from the factory with a 3.2 which made 200 hp and 220 tq. Ford had one v6 that was superchared, it came in the 89-95 thunderbird supercoupes which were 3.8's
 
Yep its a yamaha engine?? Not familiar with those...well not in a car anyway. No rust anywhere, but I havent gone to look at it. Here,s a few pics
 

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73golddusterkid said:
SHO actually stands for Super High Output. They weren't supercharged, they had a solid valvetain yamaha v6. The automatic sho that he's looking at came from the factory with a 3.2 which made 200 hp and 220 tq. Ford had one v6 that was superchared, it came in the 89-95 thunderbird supercoupes which were 3.8's
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Ah whats a couple of doors...4 door...2 door..LOL
 
Ofcourse you,ll get rid of the sleds Steve,then we,ll get the most snow we,ve had in years.It always happens that way.Nice little school girl car!LMAO.Means more money for your Mopar!8)
 
Yeah 2 down 1 to go.... on the sleds, not the school girls...Im still 0 for on the school girls LOL But I had a well endowed one sit down and study me er study with me today!!
 
it "looks" like its ok, however.....it looks like the grass is pretty tall around the car which concerns me......like its not driven very much.....I would want to know why its not driven much.

around here.....thats a cheap price and I would have use for a car more so than a toy but thats just me.

yeah it may be a girls car or a grannys car but heck....if your getting almost 30 to the gallon and got a cool ride parked in the garage...who cares.

just make sure you look it over REALLY well
 
Mine was a sort of different animal '03 Taurus, 3.0. I got 20-25, but almost never drove on the hwy. Power and handling were ok, nothing to get excited over. Head gasket blew and took some of the internals with it. Overall, I'd say it was extremely average. I've heard that the transmissions on the standard Taurus was only good for around 120k. Also, I noticed from the pics that the plastic container where you add coolant is rust-colored. Mine was like that, it had a leak, the coolant sprayed all over the inner fender on the passenger side, often. I flushed the system about twice a year, never could get the rust out. Not real surprised when the head blew, but there's never really a "good" time for catastrauphic engine failure.
 
My last daily driver was a 93 Taurus,if it has the 3.0 its a great car, if its the 3.5 or 6 stay away from it.My car never let me down in 10 years that I had it.It had almost three hundred thousand when it just would not pass the e test so it had to go.I find myself thinking of that old car I miss it.I am sure you know that all cars have problems,don't get it if it is not the 3.0 all others have tranny problems and head and intake gasket problems.I know all this because I have a great re pour with 5 mechanizes at Fry ford In belleville.Also insist it be e tested first.
 
Thanks everyone, Hey Snake, its got the yamaha 3.2, so stay away??

4flats, thanks for the heads up on the coolant reservoir

Thanks eveyone for the input!!
 
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