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1995 Ford Taurus problems?

Ford taurus transmission problems: mass myth or truth?

  • Seems like everywhere i go (online) i see reviews or complaints talking about the transmission in their ford taurus going out at around 100,000 miles. Obviously a biased site skewed towards the negative side, but carcomplaints.com has a buttload of complaints about the tranny going out and it being so expensive to replace. I've researched the crap out of this issue and the only hard data i can find on the ford taurus's reliability says it's a reliable car and that the transmission problem isn't a problem. All of these tranny complaints i see are from angry people posting online. Such a strange contrast. Online i can find 100 people talk about how their tranny went out, yet offline i know people that have taurses that lasted 300k miles with routine maintenance. I can find the same for car listings online - tauruses with a quarter million miles on them So on this issue: Is there really a problem with the taurus tranny on a mass scale that for whatever reason ford will not address, or is the public perception of the taurus so tainted by negative word of mouth that we're seeing complaints from a) people that have had a genuine issue with their tranny, but because of the taurus name, generalize it to the entire brand of car rather than just a defect in their specific car or b) just like how people fight xbox vs playstation, there are those that spread misinformation just because.

  • Answer:

    It may not be the best transmission out there but its hardly a terrible one either. Google any car and problems and someone has a website complaining about it. Nobody is going to start a website telling you that their car was trouble free. The small percentage with a problem is going to appear huge. For example I have a Chevy Cobalt SS/TC. There are complains all over the place about the rear brake pads and rotors grooving. You would think its a massive issue. Its a small issue and if those people complaining would simply get the slide pins lubed or do it themselves the problem disappears and it costs maybe $5-10. Most of them simply wont do either and then complain on the internet about having to pay several hundred replacing pads and rotors.

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Well, I was driving down the freeway in my cousin's 1997 Mercury Sable when the tranny let go (no more power to the drive wheels). I believe it was a pump in the tranny. Had to be replaced, which cost more than the car was worth. With any issues with modern cars, it isn't that every one will fail. It means that a certain percentage are pre-destined to fail and that number is particularly high. You don't have to look far to find higher quality cars that have the same problems. The difference is the frequency of occurrences and thus the odds of you getting a lemon. I also think the Taurus is at a bit of a disadvantage because it is generally owned by people with lower incomes and doesn't typically receive the preventative maintenance required.

lowlevel

The taurus has earned such a poor reputation for reliability that the car has no resale value thus winding up in the hands of poor people because it is all they can afford and from there it goes to the salvage... I have experienced 2 of these taurus tranny issues and it sure lends credibility to the so called myth and even had one of them abandoned at the shop!! So called good used ones at the recyclers are premium priced and often exceed the value of the car...

if you service the transmission as recommended the transmission will last as long as you want to ( i annually replace the fluid and filter on mine and it has160k on the original tranny) 8 out of the 10 people who didn't service the transmission, will fall into the category of needing to replace it if trans fluid is black, brown, low for most of its life etc..the tranny cant keep cool and lubricated....hence failure, pretty elementary results good luck....

Chris

I had a 1997 taurus and the transmission was shot at 89,000 miles. I bought the car used from a large dealer in the area and expected better. It went 6 months after I bought it. We are older adults and drive our cars very conservatively so the transmission's demise can't be blamed on hard driving. I suspected that the dealer did a low cost fix on the transmission before selling the car........but that would have been hard to prove.

Duke50

i have owned 4 taurus cars and out of 4 i had to change 2 transmissions one was at 93k and the the other was at 98k because of the pump shaft breaking.ford has changed the shaft after i think 1999 or 2000.the other two i had were a 2003 and a 2004 and i have never had any problems with the trans.it take me about 4 to 5 hours to change the transmission.and yes i keep up with maintains.

kawasaki

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