Drive to work car

Pistollero1050

Bought a drive to work car today. Couldn't pass up the deal. 1994 Ford Taurus. 44,000 original miles, New tires, new battery, new starter. Bodies clean with good paint. $1000 bucks. Little old lady couldn't drive any more. Payed what she was asking. Didn't' dicker. Not a Ford guy but what the H. What do you guys think?

select-fire

I am glad you didn't dicker. Good price with lots of miles left.

hillbille

any car safe enough to drive home and still look good, is worth a grand around here..

Sav99

Ford Taurus is a good used car. For a thousand bucks you got a very good deal.

spasmcreek

yep...haven't found a few years newer tacoma to replace so did buy a 2004 honda cr-v AWD with 52k miles for a gofer...185 miles back home at 65 to 75 mph average was 26...getting close to our suzuki sx4 crossover AWD...2000 tacoma was getting 20-21...gmc is 17 empty & with trailer load 10-11.....gas here is $3.26 today...thank you nodrill owebama

fishkiller41

U done good Andy!!
That's a hellova buy!! U may even be able to pass that one down!!

LesWVa

Not a bad little car. You did good and you both got a good price for it..

Biggest issue I have saw from them is the timing belts breaking. If it is the 4 cylinder they are what we call a free spinning engine which if and when it does break. The engine will suffer no damage. People here that takes care of their cars like to change the timing belts out somewhere between 50 and 75 thousands miles.

cce1302

cool. I'm on my second Taurus right now. I'm not a ford guy either, but I can't deny they're good cars.

47studebaker

most had transmission problems. Might want to get the fluid and filter changed.

n/a

You got a steal..


The biggest issue I have seen with them has been the CV joints. I have seen alot of Taurus' (or heard would be better) going clicky clack turning corners and taking off.

shilowar

going to look at a motorcycle tomorrow in the event gas prices go high enough that I lose my take home car.

n/a

quote:Originally posted by dano
Their transmissions are junk.

If you see 100K miles, you'll be lucky.




I bet it sees more miles than your BMW money hole.


[}:)]

cce1302

what years had junk transmissions? My 1989 had 112,000 on it when I totalled it and no transmission issues. Several of my friends in college had them approaching 200,000. My 2004 has almost 160,000 and is going strong. maybe just the middle years.

shilowar

we've had to replace 2 transmissions in 2 of those Taurus' in a couple older admin cars.

buddyb

One of the old guys around here,that swears by Amsoil,has about 400,000 miles on a Taurus.He said it has never given any engine or transmission problems.

catpealer111

Do a low pressure trans flush right now and every 30,000 miles after and your trans will last as long as the rest of the car. Does it have the 3.0 or 3.8? The 3.0s need their cooling systems flushed every 2 or 3 years to prevent build-up which can lead to plugged heater cores and potential blown head gaskets. The 3.8s came form the factory with weak, sub-par head gaskets and are prone to failure. Good luck.

http://www.taurusclub.com/forum/82-maintenance-repair/90758-how-flush-your-tranny-home.html

That link will lead you to a Taurus owner's group. The write-up I'm posting for you is a well proven and effective at home transmission flush procedure. Most everyone in the group does it that way and I've done it to a few cars myself and it's perfectly safe and will extend the life of your trans. I recommend using Mercon V or a full synthetic ATF fluid and installing an external aftermarket trans cooler to extend the life of the transmission. All Taurus are good cars, it's just that most of the people who own them don't maintain them the way they need to be. They're not an oil every 3k and rotate tires car. Everything on them needs routine attention. If you keep up with it, you will have a very good, dependable car.

Pistollero1050

Thanx guy's I'll be looking into that.

catpealer111

quote:Originally posted by LesWVa
Not a bad little car. You did good and you both got a good price for it..

Biggest issue I have saw from them is the timing belts breaking. If it is the 4 cylinder they are what we call a free spinning engine which if and when it does break. The engine will suffer no damage. People here that takes care of their cars like to change the timing belts out somewhere between 50 and 75 thousands miles.


Taurii NEVER had timing belts. In '94 between the three available engines two were overhead valve V-6s and the third was a chain driven dual overhead cam. A 4 cylinder wasn't available in '94. The first generation cars did have a 4 cyl but this was and OHV 2.5 based on the old 200 ci. six cylinder.