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Will Every Taurus Need a New Fuel Pump?
Ask Bob: The Auto Answer Man
Dear Bob,
I read with interest the letter regarding a '92 Taurus with a bad fuel pump. My '97 Taurus (3 liter, 24 valve) also shut down while going down the highway at approximately 65 MPH. A fuse had blown and was replaced, but that one also blew. Another fuse would not correct the problem, we assumed the fuel pump had finally shorted completely. Our Ford dealer did a search and could only find 8 fuel pumps in the US. The part was backordered and was not going to be shipped to Ford for at least 2 weeks, and our dealer might receive one of these pumps in three to four weeks after that. I have to say our dealer did a great job on getting us one of the eight. We were rolling again in a mere four days. (Luckily we were at home and not on a trip, staying in a motel.) I'm concerned about the reliability of the fuel pumps since there were so few to be found. Are they dying all over the country? Is this going to be an ongoing problem every 2 years? I only had 35,900 miles on my Taurus. Humm. . .have they got planned obsolescence down that well? Beginning to believe the old saying: Found On the Road Dead.
Susie C.
Susie,
The Taurus is usually a good solid car, but like anything else, it has its problems. There is a reason it was the number one selling car for almost 10 or so years. What may have happened, is that the factory got a bad shipment of pumps. It happens, I have seen on one particular model of a certain foreign car, that the manufacturer of the fuel pumps changed a glue that seals the wires in the top. This glue turned out not to be compatible with the new fuel introduced in America at the time. So, the reason that there are so few pumps around, is that they are replacing them as the become bad.
There is a thing known as a Technical Service Bulletin. Basically its like a recall, except they wait for you to come to them as opposed to them sending you a letter and informing you of the issue at hand. That could be happening here.
Good Luck!
Drive Safely!
Bob, The Auto Answer Man
If you have a question for Bob send it to AskBob@stretcher.com. He's able to answer many of them personally and we'll include the best questions in future issues of The Dollar Stretcher.
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