1996 Ford Taurus SHO Engine Problems

Which parts fail

• Engine
  8
• Engine › Gasoline
  6
• Exhaust system › Emission control › Crankcase (pcv)
  1
• Cooling system
  1

Components named in complaints (engine, cooling system, oil leaks, timing chain, exhaust).

Mileage when the problem started

• Under 25k
  00%
• 25k–50k
  18%
• 50k–75k
  217%
• 75k–100k
  542%
• 100k–150k
  433%
• 150k+
  00%

Owner reports

Selected complaints filed with NHTSA by 1996 Ford Taurus SHO owners, lightly cleaned up (personal details are redacted by NHTSA).

The camshaft in my car failed and caused engine failure. It was a 1996 Ford Taurus SHO. It caused a complete power loss around a corner and I was almost involed in a head on collision. This has been happening to many SHO owners. The repair costs are running me $5000 dollars. This is nothing compared to what it could have done to my family. Please help this not happen again. Ford knows there is a problem. Some May not be as lucky as me.

I have a1996 Ford Taurus SHO v-8,it just turned 80,000 miles and has had all regular service and now the camshaft gear has failed on the camshaft and damaged the engine!I work at a Ford dealer and see this engine failure often. It seems that this is common on the v-8 SHO engine around 75,000-85,000 miles and sometimes there is a ticking noise that is considered a warning sign too get repairs but there was not any warning from my engine. I have done all kinds of research and found that there are lawsuits and numerous complaints and blogs devoted to this exact issue but I don,t have any information available for assistance on these very expensive repairs that are definitely due to a design flaw and I have 18 Ford technicians that are factory trained too back this up!I did not buy this vehicle new so I can,t say it was never abused but after partially disassembling the engine so far it is …

96 Taurus SHO v8 3.4l camshaft failure. I have kept my car in perfect shape with tune up and all. It is in mint condition and has no rust. I have nice exhaust system put on by a mechanic and also a cold air intake put on and a new trans in July now with only 3000 miles on it.. I heard ticking from under the hood out of no where. I don't beat on my car and have read that it doesn't matter either way if you beat on it or not the cam failure can still happen. So I heard the ticking so I drove it home from work to park it because I figured it was the cams. So I was going to get it welded the next day and 5 min from my house the car shut off and so I pulled the valve covers and sure enough it was the back cam near the fire wall that had slipped. I don't think its right that anyone should have to deal with this especially when the car is well maintained and in such great condition. …

The failure of the camshafts in a dual over head camshaft engines can cause engine shut down at highway speeds. The camshafts (per dealer) are failing and I fear that they will cause damage to my passengers or myself. The detroit free press has published a series of articles on the failure of camshafts in Taurus SHO engines since 1996. The manufacturer of the vehicle refuses to admit they have a recall issue even though they began replacing camshafts on vehicles with as little as 30,000 miles for the failure of the welds that attach the camshaft sprockets to the camshafts. After spending nearly three thousand dollars on repairs to the vehicle it came back with a noise which the dealer has identified as camshaft failure. The costs of repair were estimated at between two and fifteen thousand dollars. …

Camshafts in the 1996-1999 Taurus SHO. I have had a failure like many others, there have been over 250 failures of this type, mine was failure number 221. I was driving the car and the engine seized causing the car to dart to the right, if there was a vehicle there, we would have collided. $8500.00 in damage, Ford will not cover any of it, this is a quote from a Ford rep. "metal wears" but at the rate that this is happening is alarming, 18 cars so far since 02-01-2002. At about $8000.00 each car is $144,000.00 damages febuary alone, for all 250 cars, it is $2,000,000.00 in damages (estimated). This is a serious problem with the design of the camshaft, and should be looked into.

Engine failure as a result of camshaft gear spinning on cam. During normal driving engine stopped in roadway,requiring tow off roadway to repair shop for diagnosis. The auto is a 1996 Ford Taurus SHO 3.4 v8 .after studying this problem I find this cam failure is a known problem to many and could be prevented by welding the cam sprocket to the camshaft. The repair to this engine is very expensive,and I thought nhsta should be aware of my failure.

I purchased a 1996 Ford Taurus in 1998(February). In the summer of 1998 I began developing cooling problems. Since I purchased the vehicle, I have had problems with rusty radiator water, have had to have the fuel pump replaced twice, and am now told I possibly need a new motor. I am told that there was a recall on the cooling system of these cars in or about 1999, that has since expired. I never received a recall.

I was driving home from work April 17,2003 on a four lane highway at 50 MPH and my 1996 Ford Taurus SHO just quit running . I took it to a garage and they told me that the timing chain slipped and bent all the valves (32) in the engine. When I asked what it would cost to fix they gave me a figure that I could not believe. With labor and parts approximately $9000.00. I only have 61,000 miles on the car.

Engine abruptly shut down at 30-40 MPH. Vehicle can be started, but engine stalled within 2-3 seconds after shifting out of park gear. Inspection by the dealer next afternoon points to damaged crank shaft as the cause.

My automotive is making a noise from my valvetrain area that my mechanic indicates is a potential camshaft (and subsequent engine failure) problem that should be fixed before continued operation of the vehicle.

Engine complaints in other Taurus SHO years