[the_intimidator_02]

As many are aware I no longer have my blue 1997 Taurus no more. Sold that back in February of this year. I took possession of my parents 2005 Taurus now which they bought used in 2006. I had it since about November when they bought a new 2012 Camry through me and my job at a Toyota dealer.

This 2005 had just under 112,000km when I got it. I have all the maintenance records and receipts from the time they owned it. They installed a heavy transmission cooler and electric brake control for a tent trailer they hauled for the first 4 years they had it. Anyhew since I put the car on the road, I installed new front pads and rotors, steel coolant line assembly (see my write up), and re-charged the A/C system. Other then that I upgraded the radio to a mach RCU, wood grain bezel around the stereo and installed the oil pressure and volt gauge that I had in my old Taurus.

My plans in the near future are a new battery (tested bad at work, but it still starts the car fine for now), a new paint job to fix the rust starting and get rid of the rest of the cosmetic damage, and install new speakers to replace the stock ones and installed the tweeters.

 

[behlinla]

They were hauling a pop-up trailer with a Taurus! Did the original transmission survive? I sure hope the heavy duty transmission cooler was installed proactively instead of reactively.

 

[Automender12345]

It's great to get a used car that you know everything about. Think about soaking the wheel well and doglegs with an oil from inside the trunk to stop the rusting. I have three and when they are gone I afraid I will be moving to another brand since the Fusions are small and the new Taurus are to big. But since I usually get about 15 years from each, my 2006 should last until 2021.

 

[the_intimidator_02]

Trans cooler was put in prior to the trailer being hauled. And it's the original transmission, never had an issue with it. They flushed it at the maintenance intervals. It's do for a fluid change again, but that may have to wait for now. The fluid it still good. As for oiling the car, it's been undercoated by me since 2007. The inside of the dog legs are well coated and so are the rockers, they're still solid as they were new. I have kept it undercoated every year and made sure it was well coated because I knew at some point I'd have the car.

 

[bull geek]

I definitely liked the blue on your old car...unique, nice color.

Silver is a nice shade too on the 4th Gens. Well suited when cleaned up. Hope the 05 provides you with good service. You have the right motor and trans under the hood.

Funny seeing the speedometer in kilometers...don't see many pics of KPH on here.

 

[the_intimidator_02]

Everyone that seen the car really liked that blue. I was thinking of painting this car the same blue, but it would cost significantly more to have to paint the door jams, inside the trunk lid, etc. Nothing I hate more on a car is a nice paint job and then open the door and it's a completely opposite color. So I'm going to keep it a silver color, and add a pearl like the old car. Only downside the pearl may not be too noticeable because of the lighter color of silver. But I won't know till it's painted I guess.

 

[JIMMER]

Very nice. She looks mint. As a fellow Canuck, I know how hard it is to keep rust away from these.

 

[The White Falcon]

How hard was the voltmeter install? Obviously I can't put one where yours is, but...

 

[the_intimidator_02]

Volt meter is not hard at all, just have to tap into anywhere there is power when key is on. Both gauges are electronic and require four wires to run each. Black wire is ground, red wire is for +12V constant, purple for +12 accessory, and green for signal, in my case. If you were to get a mechanical gauge, you would only need +12V with accessory and a ground.

The one thing I like about these gauges is they have a warning system that I can set to my preference. When the gauge goes either below or above the min/max I set it at, it will flash the back light orange on and off. When the gauge gets into the normal range, it goes back to the blue and white back light.