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Going tomorrow to look at a 2002 Sable for the girlfriend with the 3.0L Vulcan engine in it. I'm reading about head gasket failures and transmission issues, but other than that they sound like pretty solid cars, just curious if you guys have any experience with these cars. This one only has 122K miles on it, the guy says there are no service lights and that the car runs great, but we'll see when I look at it tomorrow...

The motors, while not the most powerful or refined are very reliable. Rarely see any major issues. I see plenty at the shop, but it's usually just normal wear items, crankshaft sychronizers, tune up issues. Mostly just lack of maintenance as they're pretty much workhorse cars. Transmissions are no worse than the 4T65E's in GM products. The main thing to look for is heat output (heater cores like to plug - can be revived by flushing them) and saggy rear suspension components. Also rust. Very rust prone - besides checking the usual spots look around the front door hinges and pinch welds/rocker panels for structural rust.

Overall, it's an underrated car in terms of reliability and a good solid car for the money. The best bang for buck of pretty much anything due to low resale values. A lot of good deals out there on them and parts are everywhere. Not exciting to drive but not exciting to maintain either - good reliable transportation.

I have a taurus se with that exact engine engine is fair in my opinion but my transmission went out at 140 k

I had an '86 (or maybe '88), Taurus with this motor. Car had 280k on it when I inherited it from my deceased uncle (and where I got the CMNT MXR license plate). Car had the usual rust as mentioned above and custom front fender dent from a go-round with a Chicago police car. Other than leaking *shoot* constantly, the only other major issues I had were 1) No matter how I could align it, it just wore front tires like Rosie O'Donnell devours Twinkies. 2) One day it decided to shatter the harmonic balancer.

Otherwise, the car ran great (for a ford), and I primarily used it as my beater and car I used to go into Chicago. Especially if I were going into one of the 'hood's. I more or less blended right in and if something got damaged or broke, I laughed. If someone wanted to steal it, I'd just gladly give them the key, saving a window or two in the process.

Well I'm thinking just about anything is going to be better than her 96 Tracer... it has low miles and still runs ok but it's starting to fall apart... Started out as a temporary car, and now 3 years later... Going to look at the Sable after work tonight, I like the miles on it and for the price it's hard to go wrong, will post pics this weekend if we end up picking it up.

The Vulcan is a tuff little motor.. just never let it get hot, it will Crack a head if over heated.. oil changes and it will run forever..

It sounds like it should be a good car, the Vulcan, while underpowered, is a good motor, and by 2002 Ford had all but phased out the more troublesome AX4S in favor of the AX4N (Synchronized/Non-Synchronized). Another notorious rust spot is the dog legs behind the rear set of doors. Check the passenger carpet, if it is wet, the heater core more than likely is clogged, like said above flushing it can fix it, but it might need replaced.

There are 2 forums that have a lot of information about the Taurus/Sable, the Taurus Car Club of America and Taurus Sable Owners Club. I was a member on both forums when I had my 95 SE, and I flip through everything every so often. TSOC was founded by a bunch of old TCCA members after Autoguide bought out the TCCA forum and changed everything overnight with NO warning. However, both of them have a lot of good information, TCCA more so, but the TSOC guys seem to be more tight knit then TCCA.

TCCA: http://www.taurusclub.com
TSOC: http://www.taurusowners.com

That engine can be nodded for the SHO intake as well... it has the same bell pattern as the 95 SHO Taurus if I'm understanding correctly

Bought it, car runs and drives great, no shakes or shimmies and the brakes feel solid. Needs a motor mount, has had some rust fixed above the rear tire, but everything else seems pretty solid yet both on the body and underneath. Paid $1400, didn't think that was a bad price for a 2002 with 122K. But of course the girlfriend calls this morning and it kicked a CEL, the joys of owning used vehicles...

Probably just an EVAP code, in the cold, if it hasn't been run in awhile.

That's what I'm hoping... She says it still runs fine.

Oh, that good ole "disconnect the battery before the prospective buyer comes to drive the car, the light won't come back on until after they buy it" bit.

yep. seen that movie.

hopefully something cheap for ya Chris! those aren't *awful* cars...they just weren't Ford's best creation. Built right here in Atlanta!

give 'er a good tune up and once over and i'm sure it'll exceed the tracer expectations!

Scanned with my brand spanking new OBDII scanner (I'm way more excited about that thing than I should be,) it's sounding like a catalytic converter so it's just gonna have to deal with it for right now lol. Goes into the shop some time this week for at least an oil change and a good once over with a fine tooth comb. Seems like a solid car though so far. Still have to get it detailed up then I will post up pics.

I have a 2007 SEL and really do like it. In fact, I only planned to keep it temporarily and still have it. It's a very comfortable, capable car. I regularly get 26 MPG out of it. It looks sharp, runs perfectly, and is very comfortable. It's no speed demon, but can hold it's own at 85 MPH, too. I'm at 125K.

One of my employees has a 98 Taurus with the Vulcan motor. He's on his third transmission and the car looks like absolute hell. But it runs perfectly with only 372K on the odometer. His biggest complaint are all the coolant leaks he keeps having to battle.

I know its a little late but here's my opinion.

Bullet Proof car. Dare I say, better then a GM with a 3800.

My brother has had a 98' since 2006, bought with 80k. It now has close to 150, never gets oil changes, drove with a leaking transmission line that eventually ran his trans dry on a 400 mile drive home, YET STILL OPERATES 3 years after it was repaired and refilled. (badly, but it gets him home 2-4 times a year and around where he needs to go in Lafayette, In.)

The body is absolutely gone, and I repaired his driver floor pan with some steel, rivets, and some seam sealer and basically told him this was the last year he was going to get from it. But it's been an amazing car, esp for someone like him who never does maintenance, or even pays attention to the performance of the car, along with an obvious lack of car washes. LOL.

Underrated and great deals can be found on the market.

Both of my sisters owned one of these as there first car... However they spent a lot more money on them when purchased . Very smooth running vehicles, and the 3.0 is quite rubust, however I dont feel they are as strong as our 3800. Try more like a gms 3.1 motor. Decent little motor that is quite reliable, but has its faults. Our 3800 is more motor than the car needs and car be driven into the ground and still get around... Fords 3.8 was garbage because they tried to hard to beat Gm with power and the motor couldnt handle it, ive known very few to make it to 100k with out needing a rrebuild.

I've always felt Ford did its best with 4-bangers, most people dont realize that the Volvo 240's and Ford Rangers were almost the same back in the eighties. Ive had a couple 4.0L Fords as well that felt a bit wheezy but were solid trucks.. if the right car came along id pick up one of those Taurus/sables but only with a 3.0... Always felt the 1st gen was the prettiest