Ford Taurus Sho engine failure problems

Filed Aug 20, 2008 · Engine · 111,949 miles · MI

Engine failure as a result of camshaft gear spinning on cam. During normal driving engine stopped in roadway,requiring tow off roadway to repair shop for diagnosis. The auto is a 1996 ford taurus sho 3.4 v8 .after studying this problem I find this cam failure is a known problem to many and could be prevented by welding the cam sprocket to the camshaft. The repair to this engine is very expensive,and I thought nhsta should be aware of my failure.

Filed May 17, 2008 · Engine · 80,127 miles · OH

I have a1996 ford taurus sho v-8,it just turned 80,000 miles and has had all regular service and now the camshaft gear has failed on the camshaft and damaged the engine!I work at a ford dealer and see this engine failure often. It seems that this is common on the v-8 sho engine around 75,000-85,000 miles and sometimes there is a ticking noise that is considered a warning sign too get repairs but there was not any warning from my engine. I have done all kinds of research and found that there are lawsuits and numerous complaints and blogs devoted to this exact issue but I don,t have any information available for assistance on these very expensive repairs that are definitely due to a design flaw and I have 18 ford technicians that are factory trained too back this up!I did not buy this vehicle new so I can,t say it was never abused but after partially disassembling the engine so far it is clear that it was very well maintained and cared for (it looks brand new inside)there is zero sludge and cams and followers are spotless. I will need to pull the rear head and send to machine shop for exhaust valve replacement and depending on how much damage maybe guides as well. I am very curious as too how many of these engine failures are always only the rear head exhaust camshaft because so far all I have seen is the rear exhaust camshaft gear failure and that is a f- in my grade book!

Filed Apr 28, 2005 · Engine · 66,985 miles · NC

Experienced a camshaft related engine failure at 70 MPH in the left lane of a major interstate. Vehicle had to take emergency action to cross 3 lanes of traffic to get to the shoulder while the engine was off and no power assist was available to brakes or steering. Vehicle had been operating for approximately 30 minutes of city driving and 1 hour of highway speeds leading up to the failure. The dealer showed me that the failure was the exact same condition reported on www.v8sho.com. There over 530 documented cases of camshaft to sprocket spleen failures where the pistons then impact stationary valves and destroy the motor. The dealers service manager recommended I contact ford engineering to advise them of the failure since it did not appear to be a maintenance or wear related issue. The engine had to be replaced with a junk yard motor at a cost of over $6000 since the pistons and valves had destroyed the engine. There have been no service bulletins, contact from the manufacturer or even acknowledgement of this problem. There are no new factory engines available and 3rd party motors were twice the blue book value of the car.*ak please investigate the scope of this problem and require the manufacturer to take ownership of this engineering flaw. This failure is a catastrophic one that destroys an engine and is certainly solvable if addressed early enough. My family was most fortunate that this problem did not cause a serious accident.

Filed Feb 7, 2005 · Engine · 74,500 miles · TN

Camshaft striped out causing engine failure.

Filed Nov 19, 2004 · Engine · MN

I had to drive to chicago and spend over $500 to have my cams welded to prevent the common engine failure that is documented here and other sources.

Filed Jan 18, 2004 · Engine · 66,000 miles · NY

Engine failure due to frozen cam shaft due to faulty press fit cam container reported on 30% of yamaha built ford taurus sho v8 engines (original equipment) built between 1996 & 1999. * cb

Filed Dec 22, 2003 · Engine · 108,000 miles · IL

Engine replacement costs $16,000.

Filed Jul 24, 2003 · Engine · 80,000 miles · ND · crash · 1 injury

The camshaft in my car failed and caused engine failure. It was a 1996 ford taurus sho. It caused a complete power loss around a corner and I was almost involed in a head on collision. This has been happening to many sho owners. The repair costs are running me $5000 dollars. This is nothing compared to what it could have done to my family. Please help this not happen again. Ford knows there is a problem. Some may not be as lucky as me.

Filed Jul 15, 2003 · Engine · 78,267 miles · CT

I was making a turn from a main street onto a side road when my engine failed. I was almost rear ended by a truck making the same turn. The engine failed because the timing gear on one of the intake camshafts sheared off of the shaft. This destroyed the engine. This is a common problem with 1996-1999 ford sho's.

Filed Apr 4, 2003 · Engine · 63,800 miles · NY

On august 18, 2002 I had catastrophic engine failure due to a camshaft sprocket failure. A website http://www.v8sho.com shows 241 failures that they can document.