2008 Ford Taurus: harsh or hard shifting

8 of the 175 complaints about the 2008 Ford Taurus describe harsh or hard shifting.

owner complaints: 8
of this car's complaints: 5%
typical mileage: 93,000
recalls: 0

Is there a fix? 5 service bulletins cover this area of the car. See below

Harsh or hard shifting by model year

2013
5
2011
2
2010
5
2009
4
2008
8
2005
4
2004
1
2003
4
2002
14
2001
11
2000
13
1999
2
1998
2
1997
11
1996
4
1995
8
1994
8
1993
9
1992
6
1991
3
1990
6

What owners say

Filed Jul 16, 2020 · ME

The car looses power. The RPM go up but speedometer doesn't move. Dash shows dashes. When you stop and cut the car off and turn it back on it slams into gear. After waiting a few minutes the car drives fine

Filed Apr 14, 2020 · Electrical · 153,000 miles · SC

Filed Mar 11, 2019 · Brakes, Transmission · 123,000 miles · FL

Transmission clunks into each gear when driving slow. When brake pedal is pressed to move shifter from park, there is an alarm that is fairly loud coming from the dash. The brakes seem to work well and I have maintained my own vehicles, so there is no reason this should be wrong with the car. It has very low miles for the year and has mostly highway driving. It has been this way for months, getting progressively worse.

Filed May 4, 2018 · Transmission · 85,000 miles · AL

On 5/4/18. I had backed out put 2008 ford taurus in drive and pulling forward in traffic the cars RPM rev up loadly and car moved slowly forward with on coming traffic coming up behind me and several cars going around me. I pulled to left turning lane and stopped. I put the car in neutral then reverse felt a jerk then park. I sat there a few seconds. The wrench light appeared on dash. I put car in drive and proceeded home. While driving home the rpms rev up again twice. I pulled in my drive way as I put the car in reverse the car made aloud clunk sound and again in park the same loud clunk. In regards to recall for 2008 ford taurus. Website http://www.revbase.com/bbbmotor/tsb/download?pdfid=139970 and id=147402 respectively.

Filed Jan 24, 2018 · Acceleration, Driver assistance · 94,000 miles · AL

On 1/23/2018, my 2008 ford taurus experienced, for the first (and so far, only) time, the same powertrain symptoms described at ford tsb numbers 07-21-11 and 08-26-13 (found at http://www.revbase.com/bbbmotor/tsb/downloadpdf?id=139970 and http://www.revbase.com/bbbmotor/tsb/downloadpdf?id=147402, respectively). Specifically, while idling at a stop light in preparation for a turn, my vehicle shifted out of gear with no input from me. I noticed this when, as I attempted to slowly accelerate into the merge lane, the vehicle did not move. There was no sound or other sign that the vehicle had shifted out of gear spontaneously. I shifted the vehicle into reverse, and the vehicle rolled back as it should. When I shifted back into drive, there was a small clunk. The vehicle did not respond to the accelerator, up to around 1,500 rpms. I put the car in park, and heard/felt a larger clunk, and noticed that the yellow wrench icon on the dash illuminated. I turned off the engine, waited 30 seconds, and restarted the engine. The vehicle then operated normally from that point forward with no signs of transmission or shifting issues. The yellow wrench light did not reappear, and no check engine light has illuminated since that time. I have driven approximately 100 miles and 6 drive cycles since that time with no symptoms. My research into this issue identified the above tsbs and I contacted ford directly about the issue. They told me that, while those tsbs do apply to the same model and year of vehicle, my VIN was not included on the list. They said I needed to have my vehicle inspected by the federal safety agency so that it can be added to this list.

Filed Jun 15, 2016 · Transmission · 80,000 miles · VA

Transmission speed sensor issue: car would get stuck in high gear losing power at slow speeds. Attempts to put the car in reverse or park would cause a large clunk. Speedometer would also fluctuate uncontrollably during this time. Diagnostic codes showed failed output sensor and I had it replaced. Function of transmission after sensor replacement is still rough. The safety issue caused by this caused me to lose forward power several times while in traffic almost causing several accidents.

Filed Dec 8, 2015 · Transmission · 93,000 miles · CA

My 2008 taurus sel felt like it was slipping between gears when pulling out of a parking lot. 100 yards later, on an uphill street, the car would barely move and roll backwards when I let off the brake. I was blocking traffic so I had to rev the engine at max RPM to barely make it out of traffic and onto the shoulder. When I started the engine, there was a loud clunk coming from the transmission. When I shifted into reverse, there was a loud clunk and a jolt like someone just rear-ended me. Same when shifting into n or l. The car needed to be towed. The obd code reader indicated a pending p720 failure, "output speed sensor circuit malfunction". I contacted ford customer service and they pretended to be unaware of this problem. The output speed sensor is located inside the transmission, not a user serviceable part. Even the most meticulous maintenance could not have avoided the sensor failure which clearly points to a design flaw in the sensor. My taurus is 7 years old with 93,000 miles. A request for financial aid was declined by ford customer service. Any car with a 6f50 transmission should be recalled as these time bombs are a highway safety hazards.

Filed Aug 2, 2011 · Transmission · 47,760 miles · CA

On two separate occasions, my 2008 ford taurus sel automatic transmission dropped out of gear while I was accelerating slowly away from a stop and then slammed into gear. The first time it occurred I was leaving my driveway. It dropped out of gear at about 5 MPH and made a growling noise. I stopped the car, thinking somehow the shift lever wasn't in the right position, I put it in gear and the transmission slammed into first. I had my foot on the brake, so I just shifted it into neutral and turned the engine off. When I started it again everything worked fine. About a year and a half later I had a similar incident. I was leaving a parking lot and I had reached a speed of 5-15 MPH when there was no longer any gear, then it slammed into gear for a moment, went a few feet, then dropped out again, then slammed into gear again. I was able to coast to the curb in a residential area and turn the engine off. Fortunately no traffic was coming. I started the engine again and had no further trouble, but this time I took it into the ford dealer where I had bought it new. They checked it out keeping it two days but said they could find nothing wrong with either the transmission or the software controlling it. I was told that there was no memory access to the transmission so that they couldn't find out or verify that there was a problem. I was checking out recalls and service bulletins on it today and I found that other owners reported similar problems. If I had been pulling out into traffic and my transmission failed the way it did, there could easily have been an accident.