Depends on what engine you have. I know replacing the alternator on the duratec is more expensive than on the vulcan, because of the placement. I mean most cars these days are getting more complicated so when it comes time to repair something, labor is ridiculous..

 

^^^^^ +1

Any FWD V6 car can be a PITA to make some repairs on. Actually, the Vulcan is one of the easiest FWD V6 engines to work on out there. FYI, you do not have to remove a Vulcan to change the timing chain. In addition, with regular maintanance (oil changes, etc) the timing chain on a Vulcan will last nearly forever, as wil the rest of the engine.

 

On a Vulcan Taurus the only thing I'd consider uncommonly difficult to work on is the suspension, unless it's the rear on a wagon. I can't think of anything else that isn't endemic to FWD cars or to modern cars in general.

QUOTE (SilverThunder @ Jan 8 2010, 08:37 AM) index.php?act=findpost&pid=777959

I mean most cars these days are getting more complicated[/b]

Nice to see you finally coming to that understanding

 

In my opinion, ranked from most expensive to repair to least expensive to repair:

- V6 EcoBoost (2010) *just a guess, really*
- V6 Duratec 3.5L (2010)
- V8 SHO (1996-1999)
- V6 Duratec 3.5L (2008-2009)
- V6 SHO 3.2L (1993-1995)
- V6 SHO 3.0L (1989-1995)
- V6 Duratec 3.0L (1996-2004)
- V6 Vulcan 3.0L (1996-2007)
- V6 Essex 3.8L (1988-1995)
- V6 Vulcan 3.0L (1986-1995)
- I4 HSC 2.5L (1986-1990)

 

QUOTE (Racer X @ Jan 8 2010, 09:31 AM) index.php?act=findpost&pid=777963

In my opinion, ranked from most expensive to repair to least expensive to repair:

- V6 EcoBoost (2010) *just a guess, really*
- V6 Duratec 3.5L (2010)
- V8 SHO (1996-1999)
- V6 Duratec 3.5L (2008-2009)
- V6 SHO 3.2L (1993-1995)
- V6 SHO 3.0L (1989-1995)
- V6 Duratec 3.0L (1996-2004)
- V6 Vulcan 3.0L (1996-2007)
- V6 Essex 3.8L (1988-1995)
- V6 Vulcan 3.0L (1986-1995)
- I4 HSC 2.5L (1986-1990)[/b]

IMHO I think the Essex is slightly less expensive than the vulcan to repair on a G2. I don't have experience with 2.5L cars at all, so I can't comment. Otherwise, I agree wholeheartedly.

 

To give cars more interior space while shrinking the overall size of the car, engineers have designed the engine bays as small as possible, with the minimum amount of clearances. That's why, for example, to change the serpentine belt, a lot of times you have to access it through the right front fender well, or from underneath the car. Plus, today's engines don't need anywhere near as much maintenance as before...one used to have to tune up the engine every 10,000 miles...now it's at least 100,000 miles or more before you need to replace plugs or wires. Service requirements are not as frequent. My '07 Edge doesn't need the transmission serviced until 150,000 miles. It will probably never need to have the plugs and wires changed. Everything is tied into the computer, which makes it almost impossible for the average person to do any work on the car.
My '97 LX with the Duratec has about 1" of clearance between the pullies and the inner fender. If I ever need to have something done, such as p/s pump, water pump replacement, I will pay my excellent local family owned repair shop to do it. They have the experience and tools to do the job correctly, and I don't have to skin my knuckles.
I do still change the oil and filters on my vehicles, though....and I have over 40 years of experience and knowledge to know what's what...experience gained by doing things myself...but, now that I'm older, and, can afford it, I let others do it for me.
I do have to say, though, that this site has been an excellent source of information on all things Taurus, and I thank everyone involved.

Having owned three Tauruses ('86 GL, '95 GL, '97 LX) I haven't found them to be any more or less than most other fwd cars in repair expenses. They are certainly cheaper to maintain then my '67 Lincoln was......

 

In my opinion, taurus is a pretty decent car to work on, though there's definitely ones out there that are easier.

For example, my family had at least 10 taurus/sable in the last 10 years. Then I had a 2006 Sonata and couple of intrepids. Sonata was the easiest to do work on believe it or not even though it is also a V6. They seemed to have spaces and such well planned out. Intrepid was nice in that the motor and tranny are mounted longitudinally so lots of major repair/maintenance are very easy to do. The OHV taurus is much easier to do things like changing spark plugs than DOHC. I've replaced an air compressor in a OHV taurus and that wasn't too bad. But I do find the suspension of the Taurus a little more difficult to deal with because of the cramped space and the placement of the y-pipe blocking access.

But because the taurus is pretty reliable, and most things that do break are easy to repair, I recommend taurus to other people. Because Ford uses a timing chain, you shouldn't worry about having to replace that. This applies to both OHV and DOHC. In some other vehicles where the chain drives the water pump, then the chain because a maintenance item because the water pump is a maintenance item. That's not the case here.

 

Thanks for all the responses. If you had to rank the generations (one through three), which would you say is the easiest to repair? Would it simply be gen one is the easiest, whereas gen three is the hardest? (I've left out gen four because it's presumably too new to have required significant repairs).

 

If you're not talking about SHOs then G4s are similar to G3s in difficulty and G2s are similar in difficulty to G1s.

 

QUOTE (Qwertz9586 @ Jan 8 2010, 09:05 PM) index.php?act=findpost&pid=778073

If you're not talking about SHOs then G4s are similar to G3s in difficulty and G2s are similar in difficulty to G1s.[/b]

And (G4=G3) is more difficult to repair than (G2=G1)?

 

Yes. But only slightly.

 

Just bought a 2001 (gen 4) vulcan a couple of weeks ago.

I've been driving (and repairing, LOL) gen 2's for the past seven years. Looks like the gen 4 has about half the space btwn the rear head and firewall that the gen 2 has. The gen 4's dash is about twice as deep, how come? Also, the gen 4's radiator is buried under shrouding. I can't see that there is any space difference at the front of the engine or around the transaxle area, gen 4 vs gen 2.

BC

 

The engine bay size between a G2 and a G4 is actually similar if not bigger. The Duratec and V8 SHO are much bigger engines (physically) than the Vulcan and Essex so the engine bay couldn't have shrunk. It only looks smaller because of the windshield cowl protruding from the windshield over the rear of the engine. With it removed, there's plenty of room between the rear head and the firewall.

The G4's dash is deep because of aerodynamics. Look at how much more angled the windshield is compared to the G2. Same for the radiator.

 

Ford isn't any worse than other manufacturers.

I have a 95.5 4wd Isuzu rodeo and Everytime I have to work on it , I go crazy.

Everything seems to be layered. You have to take one ,two or three layers off to get to what you want to fix.

Mike
:angryfire:

 

I'd say Tauruses are uncommonly inexpensive to own, maintain, and repair. They are domestic and quite common, which makes parts cheaper. They have a good safety rating, which makes insurance lower. They don't have a high resale value, which also makes insurance lower. They are plentiful in salvage yards, which makes decent used parts easy to find. Transmission problems are the #1 fault, but I believe that is primarily due to poor maintenance. Look at the typical Taurus owner (not the TCCA crowd) and you'll find a person with lower than average income, kids, no mechanic skills, and who simply needs a cheap vehicle to get from point A to point B. They either don't know how to maintain a vehicle, or can't afford to.

 

For ease of repair/maint, I would say go with the Vulcan engine, since it's smaller in size and less complex than the Duratec engines, of which take up more space. A few items can be labor intensive, like the heater cores on all years for instance, but most parts on these cars are dirt cheap, even compaired to GM models. If you've ever replaced a timing belt on a v6 Accord, these cars are a cake walk to work on. Are they reliable? They can be if well maintained, I'm on my second Vulcan engine Taurus, both of them have treated me very well, I would say average to above average reliability. The 2'nd generation Taurus seemed to have a little more room in the engine compartment, if memory serves correct, but not by much.