I need some guidance....

Hi all,

I recently acquired (less the 72 hours ago) a 1993 Ford Taurus GL (3.8 V6, 4 speed Auto) which has supposedly about 30000 miles on a rebuilt motor. The last owner, (family member) basically gave my fiancee and I this vehicle. This vehicle has drove the previous owner crazy and she has passed this vehicle on to us. I knowing this when I got this vehicle I have come to you all for some suggestions. The vehicle cosmetically is in great condition and overall runs fine. (There is a special note at the end on recent driveablilty though which has caused the vehicle to be parked)

Please note I have purchased a factory manual (CD), Technical Manual, Owners Manual and a Haynes manual for reference but I will not have them in my possession till next week and recent driveability has caused some concern.

I will lay out the problems in a list form from most severe to less severe (I will be doing all repairs myself)

1) Oil light comes on after engine is warm (with thermostat open) and will appear only in drive but in park or neutral or driving it goes out. It occurs about every other time the car is taken out and is not consistent.

Receipt shows oil change about 6 monthes back (car was not driven for last 3 months except to get to my place). It was last changed with

5W30. I am thinking oil should be a 10W30 or 10W40 something a little thicker. I have a Corsica 2.8 V6 that did this to and I upped it to 10W30 and never have seen problem since (more then 60K miles back) and I am hoping this is similar. Otherwise I will start looking at Oil pump, Bearing clearance, sensor, and or the pick up tube. Any other ideas on this issue?

2) We also have a temperature issue (Thermostat was replaced less then a year ago according to receipts). The temperature issue acts like a short almost. You will be driving along (speed does not seem to make a difference) and the temperature is between a quarter and a half then all of a sudden it goes steadily all the way to the hot side then as fast as it went hot it will drop back down to where it was before. Feels like bad thermostat.

The system was flushed about 9 monthes ago (same time as the thermostat replaced). The belt looks good and there is no abnormal noise from the waterpump. The hoses look weak especially the heater core hose coming from the top of the intake off of what I am guessing is a electronic control valve for the heater. It is very large (expanded) and is/was being replaced this weekend along with a oil change. Anyways, Receipts show thermo sensor replaced, thermostat, system flush, radiator cap, lower hose replaced (maintenance?).

The thermostat job looks shabby, used a lot of Gasket sealant probably to keep gasket in place. My feeling the problem with the temperature does not lie in the cooling system directly. Maybe engine timing (its a distributor), bad head, could be waterpump, could be bad thermostat, could be partially clogged radiator. I will put the system under a pressure test tomorrow afternoon. What I am looking for here is anybody that has experienced anything similar on this type of vehicle/engine and figured out what it was. Otherwise I will check timing and change out the complete cooling system since its not overly $$$ even with the radiator.

3) Outside Door Lock does not seem to operate on drivers door. My guess is the lever mechanism is not connected anymore. Electronic lock and unlock work. Is there anything special I should know before I take the door skin off and figure whats not connected.

4) The vehicle has a locking mechanism on the drivers side floor near the door. I believe it controls the rear trunk. I put my key in the lock but neither one turns the lock. The trunk key works fine in trunk. Is there anything I can do to get this thing working. I am thinking some extra WD40 or PB to see if its frozen. If not can this mechanism be replaced?

5)RECENT Drivability. (Vehicle is now parked) Last night I took the vehicle out and all was well. I drove it about 50 miles and the only thing I saw was the oil light that appeared twice when we were sitting at a light for a extended period of time. We even got a full tank of gas before the night was over.

Then tonight we decided that we would do a quick run to the store (groceries) and the vehicle just ran horrible but not at very first only once it warmed up. Then coming back home the temperature gauge began to climb. When it got to the hot mark I shut it down. When I restarted it, it puffed a few small (and it was small) clouds of white smoke from exhaust (head gasket or head?) I drove it about 8 miles the temp began to rise again so I shut it down again. Let it sit and cool and this time it was a bare to start and quite a bit of white smoke and ran very rough. (again head or gasket?) After a about 30 seconds of running it ran fine. I got it home and no smoke. I restarted it about 10 minutes ago and started instantly and no smoke. Now I have blown a head gasket and a head before but in both cases there was water in the oil or oil in the water. Both water and oil are clean. I know a pressure test will show if the gasket or head has problems but is there any other ideas. Another unlikely thought was maybe bad gas? Any ideas?

Thanks for your time, Chris

Reply to
Chris Gray
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Read 'em and weep:

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(After that, go back and do a search on Transmission problems. You'll be putting one in somewhere between 50 and 80K miles).

Reply to
Bob

Chris Gray wrote in rec.autos.tech

sniplet

As you said, change to a the 10-30 oil, then check the sending unit for proper operation.

Is your fan working? Next time it starts to do this I would check to see if the fan was working. Might be a loose connection or a bad sensor or switch. If your car has AC try turning it on because the second fan will pull air through the radiator and help cool it down. Below, you mention theromstat and hoses, go ahead and replace them all, cheap, won't hurt and may very well help.

snip

A blown head gasket will not always put water or gas into the oil. If the gasket is leaking between a water port and a cylinder, then you can have water in the cylinder and not in the oil. However, you could have gotten some water in the gas, which would cause the white smoke and rough running. Try putting some gas conditioner in the tank. Do a compression test, check your manual for other gaskets that might have blown, and hope for the best.

Reply to
Dick C

Bob wrote in rec.autos.tech

LOL, I just moved into a new apartment 2 and half months ago, and there is a ford taurus for sale, hasn't moved since I first looked at the apartment,

3 months ago. The for sale sign says New Transmission. Talked to a man who has an escort of the same vintage and he said that the trannys go out at 80,000 like clockwork. Sure glad I don't have one.
Reply to
Dick C

Change the oil to put 10W30 in and sell it. Let it be someone else's problem. I now own my second Taurus (a 1990 and 1992) and have been relatively happy except for the transmission failure in the 1990 about every 70K (not that that's small). I have made a point, however, to not even consider buying a 3.8L.

Reply to
hyundaitech

Couldn't have said it better myself Bob! Whatever happened to the Golden Rule? Do unto others...................

Doc

Reply to
"Doc"

Thanks everyone for your responses...

I confirmed today through a coolant pressure test that the head is definetly cracked or the head gasket has problems. I actually believe the head is fine but the gasket is shot. In either case I found each head for around 200 rebuilt. Not a overly big deal either way. I probably will do the lower end (cam, crank, rings and bearings, timing chain) to just to get a good reference point for maintenance in the future.

I have to finish the rebuilding of my swift first before I start this project and the swift may be finished and installed next weekend. Still waiting for the lower conversion set.

Anyways does any one know of a good place to get a rebuid kit for this vehicle or any suggestions of places to get cylinder heads? I usually get mine from EPW out of detroit (since I can go and pick them up) but any other suggestions would be great for parts.

Thanks again, Chris

Reply to
Chris Gray

If the sender is ok, then it sounds like your oil pressure is low. As you rev the engine, the pump pumps more oil and it reaches the oil light threshold and the light goes out.

Look in the owners manual and use the oil recommended there.

Could also be air in the system. See if there is a procedure that needs to be followed when you fill the cooling system. On some cars you are fine with just pouring in the cooland till the tank is full. On others you need to run through a system to purge out all the air.

If the head is bad you would see white smoke out of the tail pipe and the coolant level would drop. You might also see oil in the coolant.

To me it sounds like who ever installed the engine did not do a good job.

Pull the panel off and look at the mechanism. See what happens when you activate the electric function and then compare that to what happens when you use the manual function. You should be able to figure out if part of the linkage is missing or broken.

Could be the locks were changed on the car at some point and that is why the key doesn't work on that lock.

Maybe.

If the problem with the head does not go near the oil passages, then water and oil won't mix, but you can still get the water in the cylinders that will cause the white smoke.

I would find out who did the engine work on the car and then make sure I kept away from them.

-------------- Alex

Reply to
Alex Rodriguez

I made no implication that he hide the problems, only that he get rid of the problem. I wouldn't sell any of my vehicles with a known condition without disclosing it. A number of people who have expressed interest in my sister's Caravan have heard from me that the valve cover gaskets are leaking, the fuel gauge intermittently incorrectly reads low or empty, and that the paint is beginning to peel off the roof (they may not be tall enough to see it).

Reply to
hyundaitech

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