Consumer Complaint Detail

FORD / TAURUS SHO / 1996

Recalls
0 Injured
Investigations
0 Death
Complaints
No Fire
Components - Details
NHTSA Complaint Number: 002093728 Incident Date: May, 04 2002
Consumer's City: CONKLIN Consumer's State: NY
Vehicle Transmission Type: Manufacturers Name: Ford Motor Company
Model Name: TAURUS SHO Model Year: 1996
Vehicle Involved in a Crash: No Component's Description: Engine and engine cooling:engine:gasoline
Vehicle Involved in a Fire: No Persons Injured: 0
Vehicle's VIN#: 1FALP54N4TA Date added to File: May, 25 2021
Date Complaint Received: Jun, 01 2002 Complaint Type: IVOQ
Incident Reported To Police: No Purchase Date: Apr, 30 2001
Was Original Owner: No Anti-lock Brakes: Yes
Number of Cylinders: 0 Date of Manufacturer: -
Was Vehicle Towed: - Description of the Complaints: My 1996 ford taurus sho started making a chatter noise on the top end of engine. i took it to a ford dealer in albany, ny. the dealer was orange motors. they charged me 100.00 to diagnos the problem. they said i needed a new engine and the cost was going to be $12,000.00. since i was in shock with the price, i looked into the problem myself and found a website v8sho.com. they described my exact failrure. this is a common failure among all 1996,97,98,and 99 sho's. the engine is built by yamaha for ford. the problem is the design of the cam shaft. the timing gear sprocket is pressed onto the cam and can come loose at any time. if you hear the audible chatter from the engine, you must stop driving immediately. if you continue to drive the gear will slip on the cam and the engine will self destruct bending valves and destroying the engine. it doesn't matter how an individual maintains the car. this can happen to anyone at anytime. ford knows of the problem. they issued special service bulliten 15879 to check for the problem. in my case the ford dealer where i took the sho didn't even tell me not to drive the car any further. when this is caught in the beginning stages you can weld the sprokets to the cam. after taking my car apart myself, i found both front cams to have a problem. one moves left and right on the sproket and the other is loose on the cam.(ready to spin completely loose and kill the engine. the cost os this safety issue should not be the consumer's responsibility. this is a latent defect by the manufacturer.*ak