Emergency help please

Well, what happened.. the ride was fine, then something happened (my father and I weren't driving, my mother and grandfather were in car at the time that this happened).

What happened.. well suddenly all lights went on or something as she tells us, then car started slowing down... she pressed throttle, throttle, etc.. but nothing happening so she pulled to the side.. and couldn't start the damn car.

So we came since they were stuck in middle of road not too far from house... we tried starting her up and nothing... all you hear is a CLICK CLICK CLICK.

So we checked battery, fuses (took em out and back in), etc.. we assumed starter motor is crapped.

So we call up canadian tyre pricks they pick us up takes hour and whatever, i go home dad sticks around.

What did they try.. they took off starter motor, they hooked it up and it worked... they tried turning engine with that wrench, manually starting... but its STUCK. So they said something about too much compression pressure or something... and so they thought about removing spark plugs so they did, and nothing.. supposingly all fine...

So then they said the engine is just crapped and told us 2 grand for a used engine or 4 grand for a new engine replacment... that's just engine.... what a frickin rip off.. and as you know 5-7 hours as they 'estimate' what itll take them to replace..and thats like.. what.. 98bux an hour that they earn.. shitty ass canadian tyre..

Being a 1996 Ford Taurus GL... its just not frickin worth it.

The engine is the 3.0L Vulcan 12 valve engine.

Any one have ANY idea what's up?!

We are about to frickin buy a new car tomorrow because we need a frickin car........ BUT I DONT WANT TO THIS, its a shitty waste of money, if we can fix her up... oh man..... may God bless you all, its really big thing... don't want to dish out 16 grand for a new taurus... since father already found a 2003 with 40,000km... we are in canada so i'm talking canadian dollars here..

Our taurus is 243,000km it was running so smooth and all that.. then this happened... we ran synthetic... so we were hoping for one of those miracle 300,000km+ since we hear people go that much...

Argh, this would help us so much if we got this solved...

The guys at the ford delearship will probably give us like 500 bux MAYBE, and they definetely rather sell a new ford taurus then help us fix the damn car.. please asap HELP US :(

Bah! You may not think it at the mo, but getting rid of the Taurus'd be a blessing in disguise. My mates dad had one- had a similar problem (But it was the starter motor) and then the Transmission shat itself. I think the ECU died at one point as well.


NOTE: The car had a Duratec, not a Vulcan like yours.

Id say it would be better to sell the car and good riddance

Well quite definetely fixing her up... finding problem and solution... would be much happier for us at the moment then buying new car :( Especially right now at a certain moment that we're in and all that.......

Otherwise.. what kind of alternatives do you have cars that would be worth getting and why are they better, etc... otherwise my father will go for that 40,000km 2003 taurus sel... 16,000 grand or below is 'budget' (virtually inexistant but we'll have to pay monthly finance...)

A car that has low milage, can be financed credit, 16 grand max, also.. my father is 6'2 and he always complains about space.. hence why he got a taurus.... plus.. in regards to non-domestics he's like.. japanese and euro cars parts cost more...

We've replaced little on this car, we had brake pads, brake rotors, front and back replaced, alternator, battery, underdrive pulley, some sensors and tyres that's about it... it was running just fine... IN FACT we spent 800 bux (parts and service... we dont have a house.. so no garage to work ourselves..) on new rotors and brake pads... its hell.. now this car isn't even worth that much...argh When we bought car I think he replaced engine mounts, and a while ago when he replaced brake rotors and pads also had to replace some part on rear wheel I forget what happened and what it was... but it all cost a shitload... and that was recently argh...

Europpean cars and jap car parts are more expensive and harder to find (depending on what you need) but they do last longer. With 16 grand (depending on where you live) you can get a good car

give some examples what to look for. 16 grand and under... although still I'd love to have this problem fixed rather then buying new car :( We were even thinking about buying house finally and all kinds of crap happened to us lately... now this...

Where do you live?
www.autotrader.ca (canada obviously)
www.autotrader.com (states)
Browse to your heart's content

Toyota Camry and Honda Accord. Those are two very reliable cars in the price bracket :)

Since no body told a solution we sold the pos (trade in, worth 300$.......) and we got a black 2003 Taurus Se... much nicer car of course.. and duratec engine... ah well... anyway its better car then old one naturally.. it's got 47,000km almost

The Duratec Engine is allot more reliable than the Vulcan, it has may interesting new ways that thae used to build the engine, making it allot stronger (Noble puts twin Turbos on it for their supercar) and it has more power to boot