Other Ford Tech Question

[Mike Franklin]

Straight to the question. What is the best way to brace the freely spinning water pump on a 01 Taurus pulley so I can wrench the bolts off?



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The story behind the question.

Sorry I've been quiet fella's, the wife and I had our twin girls last month and we moved to a new house in pa. My trac is right at home in the woods and muck of lower Pa and the living is great but, I LOST MY TRAC TO MY WIFE. Yup, being that its the best maintained vehicle in our "fleet" and it's the most pratical, I had to give up the keys and had install the baby seats.



Then to add injury to insult, she dropped the keys to a hatefull spitefull 01 Taurus. I swear the Taurus is the absolute armpit of the Ford lineup. It's a awfull place to be, but it holds everything together. Anyway, 7 years of straight abuse this Taurus has seen. Stop and go, stop and go, neglected saftey recalls, bare minimum service and now, it's mine. So I ran out and bought a 91 SAAB 900 Turbo convertible to make myself feel better while I jack the Taurus up and give it some much needed TLC. More info on the SAAB later, what a fun car that has been for 1400 bucks, though the interior looks like a rabid animal lived inside of it at some point. Ok, so I'm up to my eyeballs in baby bottles and cars. Not really a bad place to be but it's hot out and the Taurus has cold ac though it's suffering from a SEVERE timing cover coolant leak. From what I've garnered, the timing cover gasket around the water pump area is notorious for rotting out. Anyone else seen this or am I the only chump with a Taurus.

 

[Tom Schindler]

You could use two wrenches. One for each bolt 180 degrees of each other. You could also use a strap wrench around the pulley.



As for the comment about the Taurus being the armpit of the Ford lineup, if it has had 7 years of abuse, it must be a tough vehicle though.



Did you remove the wheel to get access to the waterpump. I have not looked where the waterpump is. Dad has a Taurus with over 104,000 miles, which runs perfectly. Gets 30 MPG, and will coast for miles and miles.





Tom

 

[Todd Z]

I normally leave the Belt on and loosen them then take the belt back off...



you can wrap the belt around the pulley and then wrap it around a pipe an have some one hold it while you crack them loose..



Todd Z

 

[Mike Franklin]

Your right Caymen. It is a tough vehicle that I have a love hate relationship with. It was doomed from the start with me because we bought it at a time when we were upside down on a repair with the wife's other car and we got bent over on the financing. Not the tauru's fault at all but I was soiled from day one. Then 7 years of constantly having to cnag my wife to take care of the car, at the same time, 7 years of back at ya nagging from the wife how the Taurus is "just not me and I don't like driving it". Again, not the Taurus's fault at all but still..grr. She knows though, if the Trac get's abused in any sort of way, THERE WILL BE HELL HELL HELL TO PAY.



Ok, so to get to the water pump, no you shouldn't have to remove the wheel to get access, you should be able to do the top down approach. If you need clear clear instructions, I bought the ford service manuals for the 01 Taurus with the 3.0 L Vulcan OHV engine. I can make copies and email off to you. However, I am going further because the leak from the timing cover gasket. In order to get the timing cover off, you have to take the passenger wheel off, remove the crankshaft dampener and then the water pump parts.



Was thinking I'd replace the timing chain while I was in there too. I am so not qualified for this but I am still willing to try.

 

[Tom Schindler]

I have the repair manual on CD's, but thanks for the offer. Many people fair to realize that pulling the wheel, many times, will give you more space to work and easier access to get to stuff.



The Trac's are that way with many items.



My dad has the Vulcan V6 too.





Tom

 

[Gavin Allan]

We have a bunch of Tauri in our fleet at work. They are abused like a red-headed stepchild, get very little quality maintenance, and most are 7-8 years old with 150,000+ miles on them. However, they are tough little POS, and most will clean up very nicely inside and out.



There are a few weaknesses that I have observed:



1. Molded dash polyurethane delaminates on all of them. Starts at the curve above the instrument panel and then eventually falls apart big-time in the center next to the windshield.



2. Brake rotors warp like crazy. Vibrating brakes is the norm.



3. Steering wheel vibration is normal.



4. Headlights will all turn cloudy and opaqe, making night driving treacherous.



5. Parking brakes don't self-adjust and go away very quickly.



6. Windshield gets scratches and rock chips much more frequently than other cars. (don't know why this is).



7. Stupid cup holder/center console design is worthless for holding cups and cannot ever be kept clean.



8. Seat cover on front seat cushions creeps forward and looks like heck at seam with the bottom of the backrest.



9. Heater cores rot out after 5 years or so.





Other than these things above, which affect nearly every one of our Tauri, they are tough cars.



Like I said above, it always amazes me how well they clean up when I spend a little time on them, or even take them through the full-service car wash. For some reason the paint and the interiors hardly wear or stain at all. Even though a car will have 200k miles, it can easily look like new!