I found a 2015 ford Taurus SHO on Facebook marketplace with less than 70K miles on it. Thoughts? please don't mention anything about hondas or Toyotas because that is the answer everybody goes to and frankly it doesn't help me out. The owner says it has been well taken care of, documents of oil changes every 5k miles, and a transmission fluid change is also on record at 30K miles. runs smooth and shifts perfectly
I'm tempted...
I'd be a little leary of it unless it was owned by an older person, or was not beaten the crap out of. Those model Taurus have their water pump internally mounted and driven by the timing chain. An impending failure isn't obvious like a normal car, and if it's not caught in time, it will dump coolant in the oil pan and wreak havoc on the engine if it doesn't destroy it outright. You will want to replace that as preventative maintenance, and it may be expensive.
thank you for your input. I have thought about the internal water pump and have found an OEM water pump to replace it. We are on the same page with replacing that as preventative maintenance. Would you recommend just having a professional replace it or do you think it is a pretty easy DIY job (besides removing the timing chain cover, and removing the timing chain, and making sure the camshafts are locked in place, and not f***ing the DOHC setup) it probably could be a fun weekend project with a lot of reading and youtube videos.
I've never torn down an engine that far, so I can't say from experience how difficult it would be to do it. I would imagine you need some special tools, since you'll be dealing with the variable valve timing stuff. You can always research it and see what it involves, then decide if it's within your wrenching skills based on that. Price around and see what places will charge to put it in for you. Those SHOs are good looking cars. I wouldn't mind having one except for this issue. I don't get Ford's stupidity with putting a water pump inside an engine. That just violates all common sense engineering. A non-turbo version of it is in my Mustang and the water pump is a normal one.