2002 Taurus SE problems

robinpa · 09-14-2008, 08:20 AM

Hello all. I'm new to the forums and have some issues with my 2002 Taurus. First of all I have been through all the same problems some of you had with rotor warpage with this car. The solution was I bought quality parts and did the job right. The previous owner had just put brakes on the car before I bought it. I got it with 67,000 miles on it and at 69,000 I had to re-do the brakes. At 70,000 miles the trans went. I had it rebuilt and 6 months later, it went again. I had it rebuilt again under warranty from the trans shop and at 80,000miles all is fine with the trans. I'm at 82,000 mile now and had a bad shake in the steering wheel. I just had new inner tie rods, tires and a 4 wheel alignment done at the cost of $650.00. I took the car back because at 60-80 mile per hour there is a vibration in the steering wheel. The tires were re-balanced and now the vibration is gone till I hit 80mph. I read somewhere on the internet about someone with the same problem and they had the motor mounts replaced and the vibration went away. I guess what I'm trying to find out is if anyone else had this problem and how hard is it to relpace the motor mounts.

2002 Ford Taurus
1987 Mercedes 420 SEL
1986 Explorer

jfjohn · 09-14-2008, 08:47 AM

It's just a guess but I believe that the rotors end up warping more when you have aluminum rims. The reason being is that the aluminum on the rim corrodes where it mounts up against the steel rotor. Since it doesn't corrode evenly, the lug nuts loosen up in different spots unevenly because of the gap that opened up between the rotor and rim. Maybe it you paint the mounting surface of the rim, it would help but then that might affect heat dissapation from rotor to rim.

Torch · 09-14-2008, 12:06 PM

wow... Why did you buy that car? It seems to only have caused you problems since day one. Didn't you get it checked out before you bought it?

BroncoJoe19 · 09-14-2008, 02:52 PM

Yeah cheap rotors may warp faster than quality ones, excessive heat may cause even good ones to warp; and if the tires are not equally torqued that could cause the rotors to warp too.

I don't have any experience with having a front end vibration with any of my front wheel drive cars. However, motor mounts would not be the first place I would look.

SInce you already did alignment and tire balancing, I would think more along the lines of the CV joint may be showing signs of wear, or ask around and find out the likelyhood of an out of balanced axel. I don't know if there is a way for them to be bent at all. For the vibration to occur only at 80 and above, it would have to be real slight.

With a rear drive car/truck the universal joint is like a simple CV joint. That will vibrate more when it is under load if it is going bad. Does your's vibrate more when you are accellerating? Does the vibration decrease if you coast for a bit? IF so, I would think that it would be drive line connected.

I am really talking out of my hat on this one. So certainly ask around to see if what I suggested makes sense at all.

theoldwizard · 09-14-2008, 06:46 PM

Outer tie rod end fail more frequently than inners. Those are much less expensive to replace (and I'm a bit surprised they weren't done at the same time.) Yes, bad motor mounts can cause vibrations.

If you want to get it fixed, your going to have to take it to another shop. Try to find one that specializes in front end/suspension work or better yet, one that is recommended by a friend !

As for CV joint, they last a long time and don't tend to cause the same vibration issues as a bad U joint. The most common failure is after a tear in the CV joint boot allows dirt into the joint. You will know it because you you will hear clicks and pops when going around low speed corners. That's the CV joint saying "I'm going to have a catastrophic failure soon !"

BroncoJoe19 · 09-14-2008, 09:33 PM

Wizard,
Thanks for clearing up the CV issue. I'd hate to lead her down the wrong trail.

robinpa · 09-15-2008, 08:16 AM

I bought this car from a friends mother and she never had any problems with it. So the price was right and since I had been in the car befroe, I thought it would be a safe buy. I had an 89 Taurus that I bought with 126,000 mile on it. I put another 100,000 miles on it then gave it to a friend. That car is still running around New York City today with over 250,000 mile on it. The trans is still good and the only thing that was replaced was the steering rack and an ac compressor plus your normal wear and tear items.
Getting back to my car, I took it to a friends garage and checked the CV boots and joints. The boots look good and there is no excessive movements in the joints themselves. My friend checked the outer tie rod ends and there seems to be no play in them either. Maybe I should have them replaced any way just to be sure?

theoldwizard · 09-15-2008, 11:27 AM

Not to knock your friend, but I still say take it to a shop that specializes in front end/suspension work.

satrol58 · 09-15-2008, 05:46 PM

i own a 2002 se myself found that the lower ball joints give me more poblems than anything i have about 200 000 miles on it and i have only ever replaced one tie rod end but been through about 4 ball joints and one out of round wheel bearing, as for the rotors get a set that is slotted have had a set of them on the car for about 45 000 miles and no problems all the other ones warped after about 12 000 miles

robinpa · 09-16-2008, 10:35 AM

I took the car to the same guys who rebuilt my Mercedes front end. They specialize in front end and suspensions. They couldn't find anything wrong with it. I took them down the highway and at 80 mph, the car and steering wheel was shaking. They put it back up on the lift and still nothing. So now I'm going to borrow my father's Taurus and swap rims and tires to see if maybe a rim or tire is out of round. He has the same rims and new tires. If that takes care of the problem, then it's just a matter of isolating the specific rim and tire. I hope....