new 12/14/02
----- Original Message -----
From: Kathleen Wells
To: Timothy Wright
Sent: Saturday, December 14, 2002 9:55 PM
Subject: Re: Taurus law suit
Kathleen and Michael Wells
'97 Ford Taurus SHO bought from Dewey Ford in May of 1999. Had around 28,000 miles on it when we bought it. We had absolutely no problems until the last week in June of 2002 (approximately 68,000 miles).
The Taurus stopped running and was towed to a local garage. They indicated it was "something major". We contacted a Ford specialist in the area (Kevin Cassel), who in turn called three different Ford dealerships. They indicated that they had seen similar cam gear slipage failures and the average cost of repairs was $6500. Our total cost neared $5800. That included replacing the rear most cam shaft, and bent valves, which required removing the entire drive train from the engine bay and chassis. It took over 4 weeks to get the parts.
Since that time, my husband has had contact with approximately 6 Ford Motor dealers, service managers or parts managers who have either seen first hand or heard of this poorly designed cam shaft.
Since it has 4 cams in this Yamaha engine, we fear that it is only a matter of time for another cam to have similar failure.
Please tell us if there is anything else that we should do.
Thanks,
Kathleen Wells
----- Original Message -----
From: Kathleen Wells
To: Buford@v8sho.com
Sent: Friday, December 13, 2002 7:11 PM
Subject: re: Taurus law suit
My husband and I own a '97 SHO. This past summer it had cam sprocket slipping which caused bent valves. The replacement cam shaft was incredibly expensive! Our total bill was close to the amount reported in the Autoweek article.
We heard through our repair person that he had heard of other's experiencing problems. I contacted Ford and they basically said, in a very nice way, that there was nothing regarding cams that had been reported as defective and, of course, there was no compensation since the car was out of warranty.
The terrible part is I really like this car!!! My husband is afraid that it's a time bomb just waiting to fall apart again. We had anticipated keeping it for a very long time, but now are wondering if that is possible.
Please keep this email address and I will add the VIN of our vehicle. (1FALP54N6VA275472)
Thanks for your interest and keep us posted on the latest in the litigation.
Kathleen Wells